Created by

Hugh Wilson

Starring

Gary Sandy
Howard Hesseman
Gordon Jump
Loni Anderson
Tim Reid
Jan Smithers
Richard Sanders
Frank Bonner

Country of origin

United States

No. of seasons 4
No. of episodes 90
Production
Running time 30 minutes
Broadcast
Original channel CBS
Original run September 18, 1978 – September 20, 1982

WKRP in Cincinnati (1978–1982) is an American situation comedy that featured the misadventures of the staff of a struggling radio station in Cincinnati, Ohio. The show was created by Hugh Wilson and was based upon his experiences working in advertising as a client of a classic album-oriented rock radio station. The ensemble cast consisted of Gary Sandy, Howard Hesseman, Gordon Jump, Loni Anderson, Tim Reid, Jan Smithers, Richard Sanders and Frank Bonner.

As was typical of most MTM productions, the humor came more from running gags based on the known predilections and quirks of each character, rather than from outlandish plots or racy situations. The characters also developed somewhat over the course of the series.

The series won a Humanitas Prize and received 10 Emmy Award nominations, including three for Outstanding Comedy Series. Andy Ackerman (who would go on to direct Seinfeld) won an Emmy Award for Videotape Editing in season 3.

WKRP premiered September 18, 1978 on the CBS television network and aired for four seasons and 90 episodes through September 20, 1982. During the third and fourth seasons, CBS repeatedly moved the show around its schedule, contributing to its eventual cancellation.

When WKRP went into syndication, it became an unexpected blockbuster. For the next decade, it was one of the most popular sitcoms in syndication, outperforming many much bigger prime time hits, including all the other MTM sitcoms.

Jump, Sanders, and Bonner reprised their supporting roles in a spinoff/sequel series, The New WKRP in Cincinnati, which ran from 1991 to 1993 in syndication.



 Music licensing

DVD cover for the first season of WKRP in Cincinnati The show was one of the earliest to extensively use contemporary music by big groups and artists of the time such as Foreigner, Pink Floyd, The Who, The Rolling Stones, Queen, The Eagles, Styx, Supertramp, Elvis Presley, The Kinks, Jerry Lee Lewis, Deep Purple, The Knack, Blondie, KISS, Joe Walsh, Earth, Wind & Fire, The Doors, Donna Summer, ELO, and Talking Heads to name a few .

The songs were often tied into the plot of the episode. Music licensing deals cut at the time of production were for a limited amount of time (approximately ten years). In addition, the show was videotaped rather than filmed because it was cheaper to get the rights to rock songs for a taped show. Once the licenses expired, later syndicated versions of the show did not feature the music as first broadcast, but rather generic "sound-alikes" by studio musicians in order to avoid paying additional royalties.

In some cases (when the music was playing in the background of a dialogue scene), some of the characters' lines had to be redubbed by sound-alike actors. This was evident in all prints of the show issued since the early 1990s, which included its brief late-1990s run on Nick at Nite.

As a result, production on a WKRP DVD was delayed for years because of the expense of procuring music licenses. It was feared that fans would reject edited versions. Sales of first-season DVD sets of Roseanne and The Cosby Show suggested that viewers prefer original, uncut episodes.

However, as was done with many other television series, the DVD release of WKRP in Cincinnati - Season One has much of the music replaced by generic substitutes. In addition, some scenes have been cut or truncated and voice overs used to avoid using unlicensed musical content.


Though WKRP was never identified by frequency in the original series (although it was on the AM dial), it was identified as being at AM 1530 in the 1991 series remake.