Anyone know?
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tryingcake — 10 years ago(May 20, 2015 03:22 PM)
When WKRP was on the air in 1978, I was 16. I had been listening to an FM, hard rock, album station for a few years at that point. I would safely say at least since 73, if not earlier. And it was well established when I started listening. I grew up in the Akron area listening to Cleveland radio. We were also not far from Cincinnati at all. There were a few AM stations still kicking' it. But they were typically only listened to by older people or younger and middle-aged people still listening to doo-wop music (Oldies). I am sure they existed, but I do not remember any "new" rock AM stations in the area. I don't think we could pick up Cincinnati radio, though.
In other words, you are correct. It was not a new radio format or frequency.
How can you expect your life to change if you don't change? -
Doug-Oh — 9 years ago(November 30, 2016 07:10 PM)
Well, it wasn't really the early days of FM. It had been around since after WWII, and we had an FM radio in the early 1960s.
For most Americans, the 70s were the early days of FM radio, particularly the early 70s.
AM radio was still king of Top 40 music until the mid-late 70s.
KIMN-AM was a Top Denver top-40 station through the mid-70s. I recall my older cousins having it on in their car back then.
Most car radios were AM-only until the late 70s and those that were AM-FM had FM mono only, at least on my mom's Plymouth then.
Yes, FM radio had been invented after WWII, but there were few (if any) FM stations. So no one owned FM receivers.
Why would one buy an FM receiver if there weren't any stations broadcasting on the band?
In a late
Leave It To Beaver
episode (1963),
Eddie Haskell
tells Wally he has an FM radio in his car, but it's staticy and the only station on it plays classical music.
Like
COLOR TV,
sure, it was "around" but again, few (if any) TV stations were broadcasting in color until the mid-1960s.
Though some programs were produced in color, it wasn't widely adapted.
Many people didn't get color TVs until the late 60s or early 70s when prices became more affordable. -
jefgg — 11 years ago(April 20, 2014 03:36 PM)
Dr. Johnny Fever was based on the late "Skinny" Bobby Harper. He was a DJ who worked at Cincinnati Top 40 station WSAI AM before moving to 11 other stations.
I heard that large and/or blue collar Midwestern cities were strong markets for rock and roll music. -
tryingcake — 10 years ago(May 20, 2015 03:14 PM)
You are right. A lot was ran through Cleveland (grow up in the area). But I think Cleveland would have been too large for a the show's premise. We would drive to Cincinnati for concerts, though. So, it was still close enough to the hub of the pulse of R-N-R, but far enough away to be it's own entity. It's large enough to draw crowds, but small enough for no professional DJ trying to strike it big to want to end up there.
How can you expect your life to change if you don't change? -
vinsane — 11 years ago(September 17, 2014 12:53 PM)
Why was the show based in Cincinnati?
According to show creator Hugh Wilson:
Wilson created "WKRP" from his days as an Atlanta advertising executive, when he listened to Atlanta radio stations. He had never been to Cincinnati, but picked this city as the setting because it went with "WKRP," the call letters he chose because they stood for "crap." ~ John Kiesewetter, jkiesewetter@enquirer.com
This agrees with research I did earlier that suggested the call letters led to the choice of city, at least roughly. Once he picked the name of the fictitious station, it narrowed his choices down to that geographical area and
WKRP in Dayton
just didn't sound right I suppose. All of the guesses of which particular old AM station in Cincinnati the show was based on are wrong. It was just inspired by Wilson's time in the Atlanta area listening to radio. The real life basis for
Johnny Fever
worked morning drive in the Atlanta market, though he may have once worked in Ohio too.
Eeek!!! I'm getting dressed. -
pepperdog61 — 10 years ago(April 04, 2015 06:53 AM)
Wait wait wait, I always suspected KRP was a subversive hint at "Crap" but how does this address the question? Why is Cincinnati more KRPy than St. Louis or Pittsburgh or KC or Atlanta for that matter? Did Wilson have a bad experience with Cincinnati, or was there a specific reason for him picking it?
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vinsane — 10 years ago(April 04, 2015 09:27 AM)
how does this address the question?
The geographical area (of Cincinnati) corresponds with the (then at least) fictitious call letters. American broadcasters can't or couldn't choose any random set of letters since sometime between the World Wars. The W or K was based on east or west side of the country and there was a specified list of available choices for the 2nd thru 4th letters assigned by state/region on a next available letter basis. You can find a detailed wiki about it if you do a search.
There were and still are exceptions to all this but it's the common reasoning. They certainly could have gotten away with any of the cities you mentioned too - after all it was just a fictional comedy. In that case people would now likely be pointing out various errors based on the historical naming convention and so on.
Eeek!!! I'm getting dressed. -
macpro75 — 10 years ago(May 03, 2015 01:47 AM)
Wait wait wait, I always suspected KRP was a subversive hint at "Crap" but how does this address the question? Why is Cincinnati more KRPy than St. Louis or Pittsburgh or KC or Atlanta for that matter? Did Wilson have a bad experience with Cincinnati, or was there a specific reason for him picking it?
I think that phonetically WKRP simply sounded better with Cincinnati than say, Albuquerque which has the same number of syllables.
"It's a real burden being right so often." Captain Malcolm Reynolds, Firefly