It did open with sound of it going up and down the dial. One brief stop was something about “…and the senator couldn’t explain” from there I forget the rest of the words but it had something to do with being naked. After that snippet it moved on to another station playing "Baby,if you ever wondered…"sounding like it was being broadcast on AM radio. After a few notes, it transitioned to the untinny sound for the balance of the song.
Like fishbicycle I was a radio guy, and I love WKRP with the same passion I loved my first girlfirend.
That said, it’s not in my Top 10 list.
On the one hand, it had brilliant individual bits, and the “Turkeys Away” episode ranks right up with the final episode of Newhart and the “Chuckles Bites the Dust” episode of Mary Tyler Moore as a classic.
On the other hand, it could be preachy and heavy-handed, Jennifer was a caricature and Herb wasn’t much better, the original conflict between Carlson and Travis was forgotten and Johnny Fever, like Fonzie, became so popular that the show got thrown out of balance.
It never got so bad that it jumped the shark, and it’s definitely one of my Top 15 of all time. But it falls just short of great.
Uh, no. Jennifer was almost always the smartest person in the room! Loni Anderson insisted on that, after having been informed that the character was envisioned as the stereotypical dumb blonde.
Unfortunately, those are bootlegs and quite illegal. I wouldn’t go around promoting them, lest The Straight Dope be accused of perpetuating a criminal act.
“As God is my witness, I thought turkeys could fly”.
The sobriety test. To the trooper’s consternation, Johnny Fever’s reaction time gets faster as he drinks. Until he walks out of the booth and sees a giant pink pig - the WPIG mascot.
A serious episode - the WHO concert disaster, which actually happened. I remember when the episode went on the air the first time, and it was right after it happened. It took a lot of guts to make a sitcom half hour out of it.