Always loved this show! I was living in Chicago at the time and this really highlighted the old Midwestern urban centers like Cincinnati, Indianapolis, Chicago, etc
“As God is my witness, I thought turkeys could fly.”
8 Likes
But the end music had complete gibberish for lyrics.
http://www.oocities.org/wkrpvote/faq.htm
“Before you get excited about finding those long lost lyrics, the actual answer is – there are none! Tom Chehak, a first season writer who was present at the Atlanta recording session of the theme, recalls how Tom Welles, theme writer, suggested to Chehak and Hugh Wilson a closing theme for the song. According to Chehak, the singer just started blarring out a bunch of nonsense words; if any of them were actual words, they’re lost to history. Indeed, Chehak recalls how great they all thought it would be to leave fans guessing forever – looks like they got their wish.”
I always considered the MTM kitten meow part of the song. 
9 Likes
I always loved the end theme as a kid–MTM meow and all–and was amused to no end to find this out as an adult via internet search. I was going to post this if you hadn’t.
as to the larger question posed ITT, I can’t speak about home video releases but the syndicated network television re-broadcasts still include the original music. One of the many classic-tv formatted networks I get over-the-air had the WKRP re-runs on for a few years pretty recently. Really was a great show and the music selection was surprisingly good, if not downright excellent at times. Also, I love trainspotting all the promotional posters in the booth and hallway. Some great stuff there, too, and really reminiscent of the atmosphere at my college radio studio in the 90s.
5 Likes
Oh and yes pretty babies Boogerrrrrr!!!
3 Likes
Loved this show. Great work spreadsheet-er!
It’s a serious pain watching the hacked up episodes on YouTube.
2 Likes
There was a Clash poster (Black Market Clash IIRC) hanging in the booth for a couple of episodes.
4 Likes
I remember that.
1 Like
The two shows that I would love to see released with the original music are Frank’s Place and Homefront
3 Likes
I didn’t read the article upthread, but my recollection is that WKRP was videotaped, instead of filmed, and that for some reason this made all the difference where the music licensing is concerned. Somehow, the film rights would’ve lasted longer (if not in perpetuity) than the videotape rights.
I remember that the reruns (after the series ended, but still during the 80s) had the music intact. I’ve read that when Nick started airing reruns (I didn’t see these, at that time) the rights ran out, and not only did they have to remove the music, but they had to re-dub some actors’ lines because the music and dialogue were on the same soundtrack. Any reruns since then have the music removed and, in some cases, altered audio (we watched them on Antenna TV some years ago). There’s a particular episode where it’s really obvious that Herb’s voice was different.
3 Likes
Man does that kitten meow bring back memories!
3 Likes
One of my all time favorite sitcoms.
Interestingly enough, I had to watch one of the episodes in a college class on the broadcast industry. The one where the station is pouring over the ratings book. It evidently reflected actual attitudes of professional in radio.
1 Like
This topic was automatically closed after 5 days. New replies are no longer allowed.
