Remembering WKRP, and the music it played

This week marked an anniversary few probably will celebrate, and many will not even remember. Thursday marked the 47th anniversary of the airing of the pilot for "WKRP in Cincinnati." Full admission: The TV show, in its original run, was before my time. "WKRP" debuted two years before I was born, and its last episode ran in April 1982, just a week or so before my second birthday. It was on in syndication for years after that, but for whatever reason, I just never got around to checking it out. As for the cast itself, well, I knew Howard Hesseman better from "Head of the Class," Tim Reid from "Sister, Sister" and Loni Anderson from at one time being married to Burt Reynolds. But as the years went on, I started to hear things about the show. What was this "Thanksgiving Turkey Drop" thing that would come up in conversation every November? Why did so many people refer to Howard Hesseman as "Johnny Fever?" And why did people always laugh when Gordon Jump appeared during commercials as the Maytag? Well, luckily, a number of episodes are available on YouTube and other outlets. And yes, the show still holds up. It's funny — or in the case of the turkey drop episode, downright hilarious — but also poignant. "WKRP" did episodes that dealt with censorship and even did a show about how the station covered the tragic Who stampede in 1979. But for me, what I found the most interesting — and related to the best — was the way Hesseman (as the disc jockey Dr. Johnny Fever) really loved classic rock music. And, in something of a running joke, Johnny Fever hated disco. In many episodes, Fever is rocking out to the music, very little of which were the hits of the time. "Johnny, here's a list of hit songs," said the put-upon station manager Andy Travis (played by actor Gary Sandy). "Do me a favor. Play hit songs. Play one hit song. Play part of a hit song." Hesseman's role was as an old-school, free form rock DJ. He didn't play hits, he just played what he liked, what he wanted to. Even in the late '70s, that type of radio was waning. Some saw Johnny Fever as a burnout; for me, he was just someone who loved music and loved pushing people's buttons. It was a perfect part for Hesseman, a career-defining role. He became so popular that he hosted Saturday Night Live three times (once, on the show, he encouraged the crowd to moon a picture of then-president Ronald Reagan) and went on to have several roles in film and TV. One of the interesting things for me, as an album-cut fan, has been to go back and see what songs he was playing. This hasn't always been easy, since, because of copyright, much of the music has been scrubbed from re-airings, and replaced with generic rock music. But every once in a while, the original tracks can be heard. Hesseman was given the freedom to select the songs played on the show. So it's cool when you see, say, the turkey drop scene, and Johnny Fever is pumping his fists to Joe Cocker's "Fun Time." Apparently, I'm not the only person fascinated by this. Some people have actually gone through the trouble of seeing what songs Fever was playing, and turned all of those tracks — from every episode — into a single playlist. It's pretty great, featuring everything from Van Morrison to Blondie to Prince and Jerry Lee Lewis. Hesseman really could have made a great DJ. Hesseman died in 2022. Other cast members, such as Frank Bonner, Jump and Anderson, have also passed away. But the show still stays with people. Even those of us who didn't see it in its original run. But hey, some of us weren't around for our favorite music's original run, either. It doesn't make it any less great. Zach Baker is sports editor of The Courier.