50 Fun Facts About WKRP in Cincinnati

In WKRP in Cincinnati's famous Thanksgiving episode, live turkeys are dropped on a shopping mall from what?

A helicopter carried the birds on screen, but the real promotion behind the story tossed live turkeys off the back of a truck. Station manager Arthur Carlson kept his plan secret from most of the staff.

Which actress earned three Golden Globe nominations as glamorous Jennifer Marlowe on WKRP in Cincinnati?

Loni Anderson was offered the part after producers saw a poster of her in a red swimsuit. She disliked the character as first written and reshaped the role with Hugh Wilson.

Creator Hugh Wilson first wanted which future late-night host to play WKRP program director Andy Travis?

David Letterman was the first pick, but the studio put him in a variety show that lasted three weeks, and Gary Sandy won the part instead.

WKRP in Cincinnati's episode In Concert dealt with a real hometown crowd tragedy outside a show by which band?

The Who were the headliners when eleven fans died in a crush outside Riverfront Coliseum. The episode aired ten weeks later and follows the station staff's guilt at having promoted the show.

Les Nessman's horrified live report of WKRP's turkey giveaway echoes the famous radio account of which disaster?

The Hindenburg airship burned in 1937 while reporter Herbert Morrison described it in anguish, and Les borrows his tone as the birds fall. The chaos itself is never shown on screen.

Which Blondie hit did WKRP in Cincinnati help break in America, earning its producers a gold record?

Heart of Glass became a major American hit with the show's help, so Blondie's label gave the producers a gold record for the album Parallel Lines. It hangs on the office wall in many episodes.

Why can nobody make out the words of the hard-rock closing theme of WKRP in Cincinnati?

They are gibberish: the singer had no lyrics yet, so he mumbled nonsense on his demo. Hugh Wilson kept that take as a joke about how hard rock vocals are to understand.

WKRP in Cincinnati came from a production company founded by which sitcom star and her husband Grant Tinker?

Mary Tyler Moore and Grant Tinker set up MTM Enterprises in 1969 to make her own sitcom. The studio later turned out Hill Street Blues and St. Elsewhere.

WKRP's Arthur Carlson actor later spent years in commercials as the lonely repairman for which appliance brand?

Maytag cast him in 1989, and he played the idle repairman with nothing to fix until he retired in 2003.

WKRP in Cincinnati creator Hugh Wilson went on to direct which 1984 comedy that launched a seven-film franchise?

Police Academy came his way when he agreed to rewrite a low-budget comedy on condition that he could direct it. His biggest later hit was The First Wives Club.

Which actor, a real former San Francisco disc jockey, played burned-out morning man Dr. Johnny Fever on WKRP?

Howard Hesseman had spun records on San Francisco's underground station KMPX under the alias Don Sturdy. He was first considered for Herb Tarlek but decided Johnny was the part he wanted.

Which actor played smooth evening disc jockey Venus Flytrap on WKRP and later starred in Frank's Place?

Tim Reid also wrote for the show, including an episode about race and friendship in which Venus dates Andy's sister. His future wife, Daphne Maxwell, turned up as a guest star.

Which WKRP in Cincinnati actor doubled as his own character's embittered, fiercely anti-Communist mother?

Richard Sanders played both newsman Les Nessman and the mother who raised Les to see Communists everywhere. He also co-wrote several of the show's scripts.

On WKRP in Cincinnati, what is the real name of the smooth evening disc jockey known as Venus Flytrap?

Gordon Sims is almost never called by his real name, which stays hidden until late in the first season. Andy picked Venus after the planet that rules his star sign.

Which secret from Venus Flytrap's past surfaces late in WKRP's first season, prompting Mr. Carlson to step in?

He was a deserter from the Army, having walked away after his Vietnam service with little time left to serve. Persuaded to turn himself in, he receives a general discharge.

In a prize-winning WKRP episode, Venus Flytrap wins a bet by teaching a gang leader what in two minutes?

The atom becomes a turf war in his telling, with protons, neutrons and electrons as rival gangs. Hugh Wilson's script, Venus and the Man, won the Humanitas Prize.

What is the name of the disco-loving television persona that gradually takes over WKRP's Dr. Johnny Fever?

Rip Tide is the slick host Johnny invents for a well-paid TV dance show, only to find the character creeping onto his radio programme. He finally sends Rip off with an on-air meltdown.

Which WKRP co-worker, a shy journalism graduate played by Jan Smithers, has an on-off romance with Johnny Fever?

Bailey Quarters starts out handling billing and traffic, then grows into an on-air reporter. Hugh Wilson based her on his own wife.

WKRP in Cincinnati's final episode reveals that owner Mama Carlson had always wanted the station to do what?

Lose money was the plan all along: she kept the station as a tax write-off, which is why its hapless staff were never fired. Johnny uses the secret to save the rock format.

What is the name of Mama Carlson's sarcastic, elderly butler on WKRP in Cincinnati, played by Ian Wolfe?

Hirsch is the one person who regularly gets the better of his fearsome employer, insulting her in the politest of tones. His coffee is terrible unless there is a guest.

Dr. Johnny Fever landed at lowly WKRP after a big Los Angeles station fired him for saying which word on air?

Booger was the word that cost him the job, and on his first rock show in Cincinnati he gleefully says it again. He later wins a cash settlement from the station that sacked him.

WKRP newsman Les Nessman wears what in a different spot each episode, a running gag that is never explained?

A bandage first appeared because the actor had genuinely hurt himself backstage. The writers kept it going, with only hints that Les's huge unseen dog, Phil, was to blame.

What does WKRP newsman Les Nessman put on the floor around his desk to mark the walls of his imaginary office?

Masking tape marks out the walls, and Les insists that colleagues knock on a door that is not there. He has even been seen locking it with a set of keys.

WKRP sales manager Herb Tarlek pairs his loud plaid suits with a belt and shoes in which colour?

White belt and white shoes are his trademark, bought with his suits at a golf pro shop across the river in Kentucky. When he tries tasteful clothes, his clients stop trusting him.

WKRP's glamorous Jennifer Marlowe grew up in the fictional small town of Rock Throw in which state?

West Virginia is the home she left at seventeen, and her mountain accent slips back whenever her mother phones. She takes offence when Mama Carlson calls the town Rock Pile.

In WKRP's final episode, Mama Carlson plans to scrap rock for which radio format just as the ratings soar?

All news was her answer to an awkward success: the station had climbed to sixth in town with the top morning show. She backs down before her son learns why.

Which office does WKRP's Arthur Carlson seek, then try to throw the race after blurting out a rival's secret?

City council is the prize, but the kindly Carlson feels so guilty about wounding the incumbent in a televised debate that he sets out to sabotage his own campaign.

Herb Tarlek dresses as which creature, the WKRP mascot, for a publicity outing that ends in a brawl?

A carp is the station's mascot, and Herb's costume ends up brawling with a rival station's pig. Hugh Wilson wrote the slapstick script under a made-up name to signal his annoyance with the network.

In an on-air drinking test on WKRP, what happens to Johnny Fever's reflexes with every drink he takes?

They get faster with every round, to the bafflement of the officer running the test. Years of heavy drinking have apparently given Johnny a near superhuman tolerance.

WKRP in Cincinnati creator Hugh Wilson based the series on what he saw at radio station WQXI in which city?

Atlanta was where he worked in advertising and got to know the Top 40 station WQXI. Its general manager and one of its disc jockeys became the models for Arthur Carlson and Johnny Fever.

The WKRP actors who played Andy Travis and Arthur Carlson both came from which Ohio city?

Dayton linked them long before the audition: the older man had once edited a publication that singled out his future co-star as a promising youth.

WKRP's Venus Flytrap taught school and moonlighted as a disc jockey in which Southern city before Cincinnati?

New Orleans is his hometown, where he spun records as the Duke of Funk. He gave up teaching because he could not get through to his pupils.

Besides model trains and toy soldiers, WKRP's Arthur Carlson keeps gear in his office for which outdoor hobby?

Fishing rods and reels stand ready in his office, and he can talk at length about the joy of hooking a catch and then letting it go. He would rather play than run a radio station.

Which nickname does WKRP station manager Arthur Carlson share with the real radio boss who inspired him?

Big Guy was borrowed from Jerry Blum, who ran the station behind the series for nearly thirty years. Unlike the timid Carlson, Blum was brash and in-your-face.

Where does WKRP newsman Les Nessman take refuge during the chaos of the Thanksgiving turkey giveaway?

A phone booth becomes his bunker, in what looks like a nod to Hitchcock's The Birds, where a victim is trapped in one by attacking birds. He returns to the station badly shaken.

WKRP's In Concert episode blamed a deadly arena crush on which first-come, first-served ticketing practice?

Festival seating meant most tickets had no assigned place, so fans surged for the doors. Cincinnati banned the practice weeks after the tragedy and kept the ban for 25 years.

Creator Hugh Wilson said WKRP in Cincinnati was shot on videotape rather than film for which reason?

Cheaper song rights applied to taped shows, a loophole meant for variety programmes. When those deals later expired, reruns swapped many hits for stock tunes.

Which network aired WKRP in Cincinnati and shuffled its time slot so often that the ratings slid?

CBS moved the comedy again and again from its second season, shedding about 2.5 million viewers with each of four changes in one year. Cancelled in 1982, it then thrived in reruns.

WKRP in Cincinnati returned from an early hiatus in a prized time slot straight after which long-running hit?

M*A*S*H gave the struggling newcomer one of the best lead-ins on television, and the writers used the breathing room for quieter, character-based stories. The slot later went to House Calls.

What job does Jennifer Marlowe, the highest-paid employee at WKRP in Cincinnati, hold at the station?

Receptionist though she is, she earns more than the station's star DJ and refuses to type letters or fetch coffee. Her real task is shielding Mr. Carlson from callers.

The sequel series The New WKRP in Cincinnati skipped the networks and reached viewers through which system?

Syndication was where the original had become an unexpected hit in reruns, outperforming every other sitcom from its studio. Three of the old regulars came back for the revival.

Which actress, later in Ferris Bueller's Day Off, played Herb Tarlek's devoted wife Lucille on WKRP in Cincinnati?

Edie McClurg gave Lucille a nasal voice and total devotion to Herb, even though she knows he chases Jennifer. She had appeared in the horror film Carrie before joining the show.

Which longtime host of the Miss America telecast guest-starred on WKRP as Herb Tarlek's salesman father?

Bert Parks played Herb Tarlek Sr., who slips out of his nursing home dreaming of one more scheme in California. He had fronted the pageant from 1955 to 1979.

Which singer-songwriter guest-starred on WKRP as the childhood sweetheart who turns up to marry Jennifer Marlowe?

Hoyt Axton, whose Joy to the World was a hit for Three Dog Night, played her old flame from back home. Jennifer pretends Johnny is her husband to put him off.

Which Oscar-nominated film veteran played station owner Mama Carlson in the WKRP pilot before Carol Bruce took over?

Sylvia Sidney played the imperious owner only once, so a later flashback to the pilot had to be reshot with her successor. She went on to appear in Beetlejuice.

Producers first hoped which London-born former child star would play WKRP's bumbling station manager Arthur Carlson?

Roddy McDowall was unavailable, so the pilot's director suggested an actor he had just used as a bumbling lawman on Soap. Carlson was the first role to be cast.

On WKRP in Cincinnati, the station's offices and studios sit in which art deco office block?

Flimm Building is the station's fictional home, and one episode follows a staff campaign to save it from demolition. The exterior in the opening credits is a real newspaper headquarters.

The doorbell at Jennifer Marlowe's penthouse on WKRP first chimed which standard, later swapped out over copyright?

Fly Me to the Moon rang out in the first broadcasts, but later prints swapped in Beautiful Dreamer for copyright reasons. A complete DVD set eventually restored the original chime.

What is the name of the well-dressed British hoodlum rock band that plays WKRP's first sponsored concert?

Scum of the Earth arrive in smart suits with perfect manners, then live down to their name. Michael Des Barres fronted the group, and his real band Detective supplied the music.

In WKRP's Jennifer and the Will, how much does her late admirer Colonel Buchanan leave Jennifer Marlowe?

One dollar is her whole bequest, the symbolic first dollar he ever earned, because she had asked him to leave her nothing. He also names her executrix, to his greedy family's fury.