WKRP in Cincinnati is an American sitcom television series about the misadventures of the staff of a struggling fictional AMNPR; December 6, 2014; “WKRP in Perpetuity” by Michaelangelo Matos; retrieved June 3, 2023. radio station in Cincinnati, Ohio. The show was created by Hugh Wilson. It was based upon his experiences observing at Top 40 radio station WQXI in Atlanta. Many of the characters were based on people at that station. Wilson selected WKRP as the call sign to stand for C-R-A-P.
The ensemble cast consists of Gary Sandy (as Andy Travis), Howard Hesseman (Dr. Johnny Fever), Gordon Jump (Arthur Carlson), Loni Anderson (Jennifer Marlowe), Tim Reid (Venus Flytrap), Jan Smithers (Bailey Quarters), Richard Sanders (Les Nessman) and Frank Bonner (Herb Tarlek).
The series won a Humanitas Prize and received 10 Emmy Award nominations, including three for Outstanding Comedy Series. Andy Ackerman won an Emmy Award for Videotape Editing in Season 3.
WKRP premiered on September 18, 1978, on the CBS television network and aired for four seasons and 90 episodes, ending on April 21, 1982. Starting in the middle of the second season, CBS repeatedly moved the show around its schedule, contributing to lower ratings and its eventual cancellation. When WKRP went into syndication, it became an unexpected success. For the next decade, it was one of the most popular sitcoms in syndication, outperforming many programs that had been more successful in prime time, including all the other MTM Enterprises sitcoms.
Jump, Sanders, and Bonner reprised their roles as regular characters in a sequel series, The New WKRP in Cincinnati, which ran from 1991 to 1993 in syndication. Hesseman, Reid, and Anderson also reprised their roles as guest stars.
Premise The station's new program director, Andy Travis, tries to turn around struggling radio station WKRP by switching its format from dated easy-listening music to rock and roll, despite the mostly incompetent efforts of the well-meaning staff: bumbling station manager Arthur Carlson, greasy sales manager Herb Tarlek and clueless news director Les Nessman. To help bolster ratings, Travis hires a new disc jockey, New Orleans native Gordon Sims (with the on-air persona of Venus Flytrap) and allows spaced-out former major-market DJ John Caravella (with the on-air persona of Dr. Johnny Fever), already doing mornings in the easy-listening format, to be himself on-air. Rounding out the cast are "bombshell" receptionist Jennifer Marlowe and junior employee Bailey Quarters. Ruthless business tycoon Lillian Carlson appears periodically as the station's owner and the mother of Arthur Carlson.
Characters Main ensemble Andy Travis (Gary Sandy). For the most part, vice presidentSeason 1, episode 17, "A Commercial Break". and program director Travis serves as the straight man for the eccentric staff of the station he has been hired to run. Before coming to WKRP, he had an unblemished record of turning around failing radio stations, but meets his match in his wacky staff members, of whom he becomes reluctantly fond. The show's opening theme song is about Travis and his decision to settle down in Cincinnati. Arthur Carlson (Gordon Jump), is the middle-aged general manager whose main qualification for the job is that his mother, a business tycoon, is the station's owner. His weak, bumbling, and indecisive management style is one of the main reasons the station is unprofitable. Despite this, he is a principled, kind, decent man. He has far more interest in his hobbies than he does in the radio station - often hiding in his office from people who want to see him on business. Dr. Johnny Fever (Howard Hesseman) (real name John R. Caravella) is a veteran disc jockey who comes to WKRP after being fired from a major Los Angeles station when he said "booger" on the air. Cynical and neurotic, Johnny consumes large amounts of coffee and is usually in trouble. He adopts the "Fever" on-air name upon being told by Travis that the station format was changing to Top 40 rock and roll, but he has used other monikers on the air at other stations, mostly to conform to whatever station format he found himself working with. Les Nessman (Richard Sanders), the fastidious, bow-tied news reporter, approaches his job with absurdly earnest seriousness, despite being almost totally incompetent (a fact to which he is oblivious). As a running gag, Les wears a bandage in a different spot each episode, presumably due to attacks from his unseen monstrous dog Phil. Other gags are his fixation on agricultural news ("the hog report") and putting masking tape on the floor around his desk, which he insists his co-workers treat as the walls of his "office". Jennifer Marlowe (Loni Anderson) is the station's receptionist and highest-paid employee. Not merely "eye candy" for the station, Jennifer is informed, connected, and able to handle practically any situation, no matter how absurd, with aplomb. She herself sees her main job responsibility as deflecting any business calls (in person or over the telephone) for Mr. Carlson. Although very aware of her sex appeal, with various wealthy, powerful older men at her beck and call, she is friendly and good-hearted with the station staff. She is very strict about the limits of her job duties: she does not type letters (though she is in fact an expert typist), and neither makes coffee nor brings any to the office staff. Herb Tarlek (Frank Bonner) is the boorish, tasteless, and vain sales manager at WKRP. He often wears loud plaid suits with his belt matching his white shoes. He is unable to land the big accounts, but is effective in selling air time for products such as "Red Wigglers – the Cadillac of worms!" Although a married man with children, he persistently pursues the uninterested Jennifer. Herb is based on radio executive Clarke Brown. Venus Flytrap (Tim Reid), the soulful, funky evening DJ, runs his show with a smooth-talking persona and mood lighting in the studio. His real name, Gordon Sims, is almost never used, and he maintains an aura of mystery. After deserting the Army during Vietnam, Venus spent several years as a high school teacher in New Orleans while working part-time as a radio personality. He and Johnny are often seen together and become good friends as the series progresses. Bailey Quarters (Jan Smithers), the station ingénue, is originally in charge of billing and station traffic. However, having graduated from journalism school and intent on becoming a broadcast executive, she is later given additional duties in which she proves more capable than Les Nessman. As the series progresses, she overcomes her shyness and develops self-confidence. Jan Smithers was one of two WKRP cast members who was the first choice for the role she played, Gordon Jump being the other. Creator Hugh Wilson said that despite Smithers' lack of experience (she had never acted in a situation comedy before), she was perfect for the character of Bailey as he had conceived her: "Other actresses read better for the part," Wilson recalled, "but they were playing shy. Jan was shy."
Recurring characters Lillian Carlson (Sylvia Sidney in the series pilot, Carol Bruce afterward) is Arthur Carlson's ruthless, domineering mother – often referred to as Mother Carlson (with Arthur calling her Mama) – and the owner of WKRP. An extremely successful and rich businesswoman, her only regret is that her approach to parenting (the "what doesn't kill you, makes you stronger" school of child-rearing) backfired as her son ended up indecisive, weak-willed, and afraid of her. As a display of her cutthroat attitude, she has a painting hanging above her fireplace in her living room of two pairs of dangling legs of people just hanged. In the series' final episode, it is revealed she had always intended WKRP to lose money (for the tax write-off), which explains why she allows the incompetent employees to continue working at the station. The only one who is regularly able to get the better of her is her sarcastic butler, Hirsch. Although she barely tolerated most of the staff, she did have respect for Andy, considering him her intellectual equal. Carmen Carlson (Allyn Ann McLerie) is Mr. Carlson's sweet-natured wife. The two met in college, he being her chosen date to a "bring a loser" dance at the sorority she was pledging, something he was unaware of until their twenty-five-year college reunion as they never did go to the dance and she never did pledge that sorority. Though happily married, they are so anxious to avoid hurting each other's feelings that they rarely tell each other what they really think. They have a son, Arthur Carlson Jr. (Sparky Marcus appearing in one episode), whom they've sent off to military school. During the second season Carmen has a surprise pregnancy and during the third season gives birth to a daughter, Melanie. Hirsch (Ian Wolfe) is Mother Carlson's "houseboy." He is well into his eighties, but is energetic and seems unfazed by any new circumstances. Hirsch regularly expresses his dislike for his employer in otherwise charming and polite exchanges. His coffee is terrible, unless there is a guest, in which case he prepares it with care. Lucille Tarlek (Edie McClurg) is Herb's devoted nasal-voiced wife, who, deep down, knows that he chases after Jennifer. Lucille is perhaps the one woman who does see Herb's charms. Herb and Lucille have an adolescent son and daughter, Herb III and Bunny (N.P. Schoch and Stacy Heather Tolkin, one and two appearances respectively). Three other DJs at the station are mentioned, but (with one exception) never seen. Moss Steiger has the graveyard shift after Venus and is mentioned as having attempted suicide at least twice; he eventually dies in The New WKRP in Cincinnati. Rex Erhardt (who was seen in the fourth-season episode "Rumors", and played by Sam Anderson) hosts a program after Dr. Johnny Fever's morning show; and Dean the Dream has the afternoon drive slot. Another DJ, Doug Winter (Philip Charles MacKenzie), is hired and fired in the same episode ("Johnny Comes Back"). Frank Bartman (Max Wright) is a cynical but practical attorney retained by the station in the fourth season. Series writer Bill Dial infrequently appears as Buckey Dornster, WKRP's station engineer. Longtime actor William Woodson (though not credited) served as the announcer of the series (imploring the audience to stay tuned for the tag scene, in the episodes that had one) and did various voice-over roles during the run, including the pre-recorded announcer of the intro/outro to Les's newscasts, and the narrator of the trial results in the first-season episode "Hold Up".
Throughout its run WKRP featured appearances by several high-profile guest stars, including Colleen Camp, Sparky Anderson, Hoyt Axton, Michael Des Barres, and Bert Parks, as Herb's dad. Hamilton Camp, Craig T. Nelson, and Robert Ridgely also appeared in supporting roles.
Episodes
Timeslots and success WKRP in Cincinnati debuted in 1978 in CBS's Monday 8 p.m. timeslot, competing against ABC's Welcome Back, Kotter and NBC's top-20 show Little House on the Prairie. The show initially earned poor ratings, and WKRP was put on hiatus after only eight episodes, even though they included some of the most famous of the series, including "Turkeys Away." But owing to good reviews and positive fan reaction, especially from disc jockeys, who immediately hailed it as the first show that realistically portrayed the radio business, CBS brought WKRP back without any cast changes.