WKRP in Cincinnati - Wikipedia. Johnny Fever unsuccessfully flirts with Jennifer Marlowe (Loni Anderson)WKRP in Cincinnati is an American sitcom that featured the misadventures of the staff of a struggling fictional radio station in Cincinnati, Ohio. The show was created by Hugh Wilson and was based upon his experiences working in advertising sales at Top 4. WQXI in Atlanta. Many of the characters and even some of the stories (including season 1 episode 7, . The characters also developed somewhat over the course of the series. The series won a Humanitas Prize and received 1. Emmy Award nominations, including three for Outstanding Comedy Series.

Andy Ackerman won an Emmy Award for Videotape Editing in season 3. WKRP premiered September 1. CBS television network, and aired for four seasons and 8. April 2. 1, 1. 98.

With Gary Sandy, Gordon Jump, Loni Anderson, Howard Hesseman. The staff of a struggling radio station have a chance at success after the new programming director.

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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. Hesseman, Reid and Anderson also reprised their roles on this show as guest stars. Friends Season Free Download more. Premise. To help bolster ratings, Travis hires a new disc jockey: New Orleans native Venus Flytrap, and allows spaced- out former major market DJ Dr.

Johnny Fever, (already doing mornings in the easy listening format as John Caravella) to be himself. Rounding out the cast are super receptionist Jennifer Marlowe and enthusiastic junior employee Bailey Quarters. Lurking in the background and making an occasional appearance is ruthless business tycoon Mrs. Carlson, the station's owner and the mother of Arthur Carlson. Characters. For the most part, program director Andy 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 distressingly fond. The show's opening theme song is about Andy and his decision to settle down in Cincinnati.

In the episode . His bumbling, indecisive management style is one of the main reasons the station is unprofitable, although he is a principled, kind, decent and sometimes surprisingly wise man. It is revealed in at least two episodes Carlson was an Officer in the United States Marine Corps during WWII, and saw combat in the Pacific Theater. Despite this, Carlson is deathly afraid of his strong- willed mother.

Carlson has far more interest in fishing than he does in the radio station, often trying to prevent people from coming to see him about business.(Coincidentally, Gordon Jump in real life had been a Dayton, Ohio, radio personality.)Dr. Johnny Fever (Howard Hesseman) is a burned- out veteran disc jockey from Los Angeles who came to WKRP after being fired from a major station there when he said . After WKRP changes its format, one of Fever's first on- air words (after being told by Travis . This role is possibly Howard Hesseman's signature role as an actor (as he had been a disc jockey for a brief time). Les Nessman (Richard Sanders), the fastidious, bow- tied news reporter, approaches his job with absurd seriousness, despite being almost totally incompetent (a fact to which he is completely oblivious). For instance, he mispronounces golfer Chi- Chi Rodr.

His best friend is fellow employee Herb Tarlek. As a running gag, Nessman wears a bandage in a different spot each episode. It is suggested these bandages are the result of repeated attacks by Phil, Nessman's monstrous dog (who is never seen but is heard growling in another room in Nessman's apartment). During taping of the pilot, Richard Sanders bumped his head on a studio light and had to wear a bandage to cover the cut. From then on, Sanders decided the character would always wear a bandage. Other gags are Nessman's winning the .

Johnny Fever ribs him with wordplay by describing WKRP on the air as . Despite people's assumptions she is merely . Although very aware of her sex appeal, with various wealthy, powerful 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 doesn't 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), full name Herbert Ruggles Tarlek, Jr., the boorish, tasteless advertising account executive, wears loud plaid suits, with his belt matching his white shoes. He can't land the big accounts but is effective in selling air time, usually for comically trivial products such as .

While Herb is portrayed as buffoonish most of the time, he occasionally shows a sympathetic side. Tarlek was based on radio executive Clarke Brown. His real name, Gordon Sims, is almost never used and he maintains an aura of mystery.

In an early episode it is revealed Gordon Sims is a Vietnam veteran who is wanted for desertion from the US Army. In later episodes Venus's backstory is elaborated upon and it is revealed that after deserting the army he spent several years as a high- school teacher in New Orleans while working part- time as a radio personality. In spite of the fact that he is a night time DJ and Johnny Fever works the early morning shift, the two are often seen together and become fast friends as the series progresses.

Bailey Quarters (Jan Smithers), the young ing. However, having graduated from journalism school with some training in editing, and intent on becoming a broadcast executive, she is later given additional duties as an on- air news reporter, in which she proves more capable than Les Nessman. As the series progressed she overcame her shyness by developing self- confidence. Beginning with the second season two- part episode . The dynamic between Jennifer and Bailey has been likened to that between Ginger and Mary Ann on Gilligan's Island. Jan Smithers was one of the few WKRP cast members who was the first choice for the role she played, with Gordon Jump being the other. Jan was shy. An extremely successful and rich businesswoman, her only regret is that her approach to parenting (the .

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 (Ian Wolfe). Carmen Carlson (Allyn Ann Mc. Lerie) is Mr. Carlson's sweet- natured wife. 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., 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. 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 . Johnny Fever's morning show; and . Another DJ, Doug Winner (Philip Charles Mac.

Kenzie), is hired and fired in the same episode (. Initially receiving poor ratings, WKRP was put on hiatus after only eight episodes, even though they included some of the most famous of the series, including . 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 decided to bring WKRP back without any cast changes. WKRP was given a new timeslot, one of the best on the network, following M*A*S*H.

This allowed creator Hugh Wilson to move away from farcical radio- based stories, which is what CBS mostly wanted at the beginning, and start telling stories that, while not necessarily serious, were more low- key and character- based.