Next 'WKRP' DVDs will include original rock music
The biggest news from the "WKRP in Cincinnati" reunion live streamed from Los Angeles on Wednesday night was plans for a DVD release with the original music.
The old "WKRP" gang also made a couple of surprising statements at the Paley Center for Media event about Dr. Johnny Fever (Howard Hesseman's character) being based on a former WSAI-AM DJ, and about the episode about The Who concert tragedy here in 1979 ... things I hadn't heard in my 29 years on the TV beat.
DVD RELEASE: The Shout! Factory, which issues DVDs and Blu-ray discs of old TV shows and movies, has acquired the home video rights to "WKRP." All four seasons will be released in a boxed set with the original rock music, said Tim Reid, who played DJ Venus Flytrap.
In 2007, Fox Home Entertainment released the first season with generic rock replacing the 1970s hit songs because of the high cost for the music rights, to the disappointment of many fans.
There's no timetable for the release.
One more musical note: Creator Hugh Wilson said Reid and Hesseman (a former San Francisco FM DJ) "programmed their own music." Reid said he was the first to play Bob Marley records on the air, and some other artists. "Nobody was playing Bob Marley," Reid said.
THE WHO: I believe Tim Reid misspoke when he said that Cincinnati City Council members pre-screened the February 1980 episode about the December 1979 Who concert tragedy. So does Vice Mayor David Mann, who was on the council in 1980.
"The network was very concerned. We were concerned," Reid said Wednesday night. "They wouldn't allow it to air until the City Council of Cincinnati saw the episode."
Mann "has no memory of that. Why would they let us approve it?"
What Reid probably meant to say was that Cincinnati's CBS affiliate – WCPO-TV (Channel 9) at the time – previewed the episode. That's what Wikipedia says.
The idea to do an episode about the WKRP staff in shock over the 11 deaths outside old Riverfront Coliseum (now US Bank Arena) came from a staff party at Wilson's house, Reid said. In the show, WKRP promoted the concert.
DR. JOHNNY FEVER: I knew 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."
What I heard for the first time Wednesday: Wilson said Johnny Fever was based on an Atlanta morning drive DJ named Skinny Bobby Harper. Harper was a WSAI-AM DJ in 1964, one of the five "Good Guys" (including Dusty Rhodes) who brought the Beatles to Cincinnati Gardens that year.
Wilson would see Harper in an Atlanta bar after work. "He had to leave at 6:30 p.m. (to get to bed), so he'd get drunk around 2."
Rhodes, now Hamilton County auditor, had never heard that Harper was the inspiration for Johnny Fever. But he could see the comparisons.
"He was a little wild. He was a crazy personality, a free spirit. He wasn't here long," Rhodes said.
Harper, who worked for seven Atlanta stations, died of lung cancer in 2003.
OTHER WKRP NEWS:
Loni Anderson (Receptionist Jennifer Marlowe): She dyed her hair for the role, at Hugh Wilson's request, and it changed her life.
"I had been a brunette until that time, so blondness was not something I was interested in. … I was a serious brunette actress. But I wouldn't be me, if it wasn't for you (Wilson)."
Jennifer also was independently wealthy and could speak seven languages. Wilson wanted to "have the glamorous woman be the smartest person in the room," she said.
Howard Hesseman (Dr. Johnny Fever): Two weeks before taping the pilot, Wilson hadn't found actors to play Dr. Johnny Fever or General Manager Arthur Carlson. Director Jay Sandrich suggested Hesseman and Dayton native Gordon Jump. Hesseman was totally convinced about the job and did the pilot without a signed contract.
Wilson said: "I wanted him so badly, I didn't care if he didn't have a contract. It was madness, not having a contract, but (MTM studio president) Grant Tinker and Jay Sandrich went along with it."
Hesseman was a rock DJ on San Francisco's KMPX-FM in the Summer of Love in 1967. When he auditioned for Fever, "I knew who this guy is. Components of this guy existed in my experience," Hesseman said.
Tim Reid (DJ Venus Flytrap): CBS initially objected to the spring 1979 "Who is Gordon Sims?" episode about Venus Flytrap going AWOL from the U.S. Army to protest the Vietnam War before getting into radio. "No show on television, not even 'Lou Grant,' had done a show on Vietnam, and the network said no," Reid said.
The cast was expecting to be canceled as the first season (1978-79) was winding down. CBS asked Wilson for one more script for that season, and Wilson again offered the Gordon Sims story. CBS relented, on the condition that "the military sat in the audience every day to watch rehearsals," Reid said.
Reid also said "WKRP" changed his life: "It was an incredible four years. I would have liked it to go another six. I wish we could have gone for 20 years."
Richard Sanders (Newsman Les Nessman): Cast members told a couple of great stories about Sanders, who did not attend the panel discussion. (His absence was not explained.)
Wilson recalled that Dr. Johnny Fever "would always say, 'More music and less Nessman.' And he (Les) never got it."
In the pilot, Sanders wore a small bandage over a recent cut. Wilson tried to think of a way to rewrite the script to explain the bandage but finally gave up. It was Sanders' idea to wear a bandage on a different part of his body in every episode, as an inside joke, Wilson said.
"He got a photo from fans, and they all had bandages!" Anderson said.
It was a great 90 minutes ... except for the fact that nobody talked about the show's most famous episode, the Thanksgiving "turkey drop" promotion. As God is my witness, I thought turkeys could fly.