As we head into the Thanksgiving holiday weekend here in the U.S., I started noticing the other day a number of page views for a post from a couple years ago. I wrote it as a tribute when the creator of “WKRP In Cincinnati,” Hugh Wilson, passed away.
For those of you who’ve been in the radio biz for more than a little while, the show was a fun house mirror reflection of a radio station with all the eccentricities.
Perhaps the most famous “WKRP” episode of all time was about a Thanksgiving promotion that perhaps wasn’t as planned out as it could’ve been. The video embedded in the post is one of the all-time great sitcom scenes.
So, enjoy it, and be thankful your promotion director didn’t come up with this idea. The happiest of Thanksgivings to you, your family and friends. In the spirit of the holiday, thanks to all of you for reading this blog, and making it a part of your day. Back with fresh content to start the end of the year on Monday. – FJ
Go ahead and finish the quote that is the title of today’s blog post.
OK, here it is:
“…I thought turkeys could fly.”
A TV sitcom about radio.
Yes, “WKRP in Cincinnati” only had a four-year run from the late’70s to the early ’80s. But if you worked in radio during that time, those 90 episodes became “Must See TV.” Or perhaps better put, “Must See Radio.”
If you’ve ever been part of a radio station staff past or present, you’ve probably had the same idea that Hugh Wilson had: there are so many funny, crazy things that happen in radio and all those eccentric characters, it 
would probably make a great TV sitcom.
The difference is that Wilson, a former WQXI/Atlanta sales rep, obviously was taking good notes and made it happen. He collected the weird, offbeat stories, as well as the stereotypical staffers that inhabited radio back in the ’70s, and turned his idea into hit TV show.
“WKRP in Cincinnati” was produced by MTM – the studio juggernaut Mary Tyler Moore and Grant Tinker built. The show about an absurd staff of radio crazies trying to turn a bad station around fit right into their lineup.
At the time, MTM was a huge force in television, producing hits like “The Bob Newhart Show,” “Hill Street Blues,” “Lou Grant,” “St. Elsewhere,” and others. Back then, the studio was analogous to the power and influence Shonda Rhimes and her empire hold over prime time TV today.
I was reminded of “WKRP’s” influence when I read the news of Wilson’s passing this week. He created and wrote the show, and even co-penned the lyrics to “WKRP’s” memorable theme song with lyrics like these, that sum up the radio careers experienced by thousands of people:
Got kind of tired packing and unpacking,
Town to town and up and down the dial
Maybe you and me were never meant to be,
Just maybe think of me once in awhile.
When it was on the air, radio people watched the show religiously, comparing notes the next day at the water cooler or in department head meetings. I believe part of the fascination was the very fact that someone decided to make a weekly TV show about radio. “WKRP” was goofy at times, but there was something flattering about it.
And in a clever “wink” to radio, Wilson made sure WKRP wall space and bulletin boards were plastered with actual radio station bumper stickers. Believe me – if your station’s logo made a cameo appearance on “WKRP in Cincinnati,” it was a badge of honor and bragging rights for your morning show the following day.
When Sonia Sotomayor was being questioned about her qualifications to be on the U.S. Supreme Court, she remarked how she was influenced by TV lawyer Perry Mason who ruled prime time TV on the CBS network back in the ’50s and ’60s. And so I wonder how many people who went on to become DJs, PDs, and maybe even radio sales reps, were oddly inspired by “WKRP” to take a shot at radio.
The “WKRP” staff was comprised of every cliché in radio – the anal, uptight PD, the self-important news director, the gregarious but empty-headed GM, the zany, coffee-guzzling morning guy, the hot receptionist, the sleazy sales guy, the cool black DJ, and the quiet young woman who did a lot of the work behind the scenes and became an increasingly important part of WKRP’s operations.
Like in most radio stations, you got to know this crew pretty well. And if you’d worked in radio for any length of time, you probably knew co-workers just like them.
Not surprisingly, I always identified with PD Andy Travis, constantly trying to bring order to the chaos. And I’m sure most of the radio people watching this show had a favorite character, too.
The thing was, “WKRP” was a fun place to work. Of course, things went wrong – just as they do in “real life” radio. But at WKRP in Cincinnati, the interplay between the characters in day to day radio situations made the show special. Media organizations are always intriguing to watch, as I was reminded last weekend when I saw “The Post.”
But in “WKRP’s” case, the show was flat-out funny to the millions who enjoyed it each week, but especially for those of us working in that little fraternity called radio. Perhaps the best and most famous episode aired during the first season – “Turkeys Away” – the hilarious story of a radio promotion gone very wrong, apparently based on a real-life WQXI debacle. The title of today’s post lifts the best line from this classic epsiode, excerpted in the video below. It is most definitely “safe for work,” but you might want to have a chat with your marketing director after you watch it.
As goofy and exaggerated as the “WKRP” characters could be, there was something flattering about someone thinking a sitcom about radio could be funny and a big hit.
Like Hugh Wilson, who signed off for good this week.
I sure wish someone would find radio today as interesting and entertaining as MTM did back in the ’70s. And if there’s someone out there in Hollywood who wants to give it a shot, I volunteer myself as casting director.
I know just the types.
Jacobs Media has consistently walked the walk in the digital space, providing insights and guidance through its well-read national Techsurveys.
In 2008, jacapps was launched - a mobile apps company that has designed and built more than 1,300 apps for both the Apple and Android platforms. In 2013, the DASH Conference was created - a mashup of radio and automotive, designed to foster better understanding of the "connected car" and its impact.
Along with providing the creative and intellectual direction for the company, Fred consults many of Jacobs Media's commercial and public radio clients, in addition to media brands looking to thrive in the rapidly changing tech environment.
Fred was inducted into the Radio Hall of Fame in 2018.
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So many people and stations influenced me to make radio my calling.
We moved around a bit when I was a kid, so I was lucky to experience radio in so many places in the 70s and 80s. At the age of 7 I knew what I wanted to do for the rest of my life. I loved the art of radio; the imaging and imagery (hat tip to KZEW’s ZooLoo’s elephant/lion sound), different formats, the rotations, the marketing, but nothing could have tied it all together more than WKRP. It made what I wanted to do look fun.
Growing up wasnt all that fun for me, but WKRP showed me that social misfits, like me growing up, had place where they (we) fit in. We fit together like family.
I waited every week for that show to come on. It still seek it out today, reference lines from it and even compare characters to the people I work with.
Fred, thanks for bringing up this perennial favorite, its a great memory and a great reminder that radio was relevant then and it is now (maybe just a bit more sanitized and PC)
Steve, thanks for the inspirational story. I suspects there are many working in radio today who were influenced by this sitcom. Happy Thanksgiving to you and yours.
Consolidation has added its own unique twist to the “WKRP” model. In our group, we have a Country, News, Adult Contemporary, Classic Rock, and Classic Hits station—all within a few feet of each other.
The main difference now is there are fewer characters, because currently it’s one guy or girl, putting on different hats and personas and running from room to room to cover various shifts and responsibilities.
The result kind of reminds me of Paul Rudd’s new series “Living With Yourself.”
As a casting director, Fred, you’d need to hire fewer actors than you would’ve in the WKRP days. You’d just need to decide who’ll be believable as “clones” working in different formats.
If you handle the casting, I’ll call dibs on the script writing and/or soundtrack selections; I already have some great ideas!
Happy Turkey (or vegan equivalent) Day!
Done deal, Dave. Pass the stuffing.
Dave, your comment reminded me of a great SNL skit where a deejay is on the air simultaneously at an AM/FM combo, doing a high-energy top 40 sound on the AM, and then instantly slipping into a mellow FM deejay the next moment on the FM station. I just tried to find it on youtube but couldn’t. Perhaps, Fred, if you know the bit I’m referring to, you could track it down. Might make a good topic for a future blog. What SNL was satirizing a few decades ago is reality today!
I remember it well. I’m thinking Dan Ackroyd? I’ll do my best.
i know the post is old, but it’s never too late to share great stories. In 1983 I was commuting between Buffalo and Cincinnati, taking on a new corporately assigned position in The Queen City. Getting to know the staff was fun and socializing was a necessity. One evening Bobby Leach (part-timer and all-around go to guy) and I hit one of the restaurants on Mt. Adams (one of Cincinnati’s 7 hills). After burgers ‘n beer we headed over to the bar for one more – and noticed a familiar face at the bar. It took a minute to realize what we were seeing. It was Gary Sandy, Travis from “WKRP In Cincinnati”. He was IN Cincinnati and we were talking to him! Seems he was doing some kind of theater gig – but I found it very ironic seeing (and meeting) the PD of WKRP in Cincinnati as I was at the beginning of my career as PD of the very real WKR….C in Cincinnati.
Love this, Dave, and you’re right, it’s never too late to share great radio stories! Thanks for sharing!
Was there a U-Haul in the parking lot, Dave? Thanks for sharing a great WKRP story.
The broadcast diginet MeTV aired the “Turkeys Away” episode in its entirety as part of a Thanksgiving special block of programming last weekend.
While the line above no doubt is one of the all-time best last lines of dialogue in a sitcom, I still laugh at a little joke Hugh Wilson inserted to show Les Nessman’s frequent denseness. Les is responsible for getting the banner that ends up being towed by the helicopter, and in one scene quotes its text.
Nevertheless, once live from the scene, he read it as if he had never seen it before: “Happy … Thanks … giving! From W … K … R …P!” (With cutaway to the entire airstaff in the control room making gestures as if they were physically pulling each syllable out of Les’ throat.
The bit is funny enough on its own, but even funnier if you remember the setup earlier in the episode.
Remarkably, this was only the seventh episode in the series.
I did NOT know the episode #7 part, but I remember thinking that Les was always a great poster boy for pre-reading copy. Thanks, KM.
Yet another old story. WKRP resonated strongly to us at an upstate NY AM/FM beautiful music combo. While we had no turkeys to drop, we did have a turkey of an idea.
It was in the early ’80s at the height of the running craze when some genius (me) had the idea to broadcast live the running of a supermarket sponsored foot race. It was sort of important as Bill Rodgers, a multi-race winner of the Boston Marathon, was to compete. We cobbled together a “team” to run this race to get the station some additional exposure. And a shoe manufacturer took us seriously enough to donate shoes for everyone. We were on our way.
Our announcer/driver took the station car through the car wash, actually DROVE through it, with many attendant noises and thankfully minimal damage, before the race. That’s how the day started.
No one thought how the race might sound on air as we were in front of it the entire time. Imagine calling it from the beginning, “And Bill Rodgers takes the lead…” and repeating the same damn thing or a version thereof the entire 90 minutes until he, of course, won. No color, no action, just the same drop-in every time. Everyone on our “team” finished, but so far back that we were never mentioned in our own broadcast. Needless to say, we never did that again.
Ask me sometime about the fire hose and news announcer story. The clean-up alone is worth the telling.
Funny, Bruce. You learn pretty quickly as a programmer or promotion director of continuing to ask yourself (and your team): What could possibly go wrong? And then work from there. Thanks for reminding us of every bad promotion we’ve ever been involved with.