History Awesome / WKRPInCincinnati

* In "Filthy Pictures," Andy, Carlon, Johnny, and Venus break into a man's office to steal nude photos he took of Jennifer without her knowledge or consent and is trying to sell. Their efforts are quite slapstick and fail, but the fact that they try is a big sign of how seriously they're taking the thing.
** In the final act, Johnny and Bailey run [[TheCon a con]] on the photographer by posing as sleazy, bickering representatives of a magazine that wants to buy his photos. They put on a complicated charade to make him hand over the pictures and negatives and end up getting $500 of his money in the bargain.

* The episode where an old friend of Andy's comes calling... revealing that he'd been hired by Mrs. Carlson to review the station's performance without Andy's knowledge. Said friend also hints that Andy could skate on the "bad things" he's already figured about WKRP if Andy would buy his packaged-programming deal. Andy, betrayed, heads back to the station and convinces everyone there to act completely opposite of how they normally act (including Les). ''It works'': Mrs. Carlson can't believe a word of the review... and compliments Andy on pulling it off.

** There is another version of this episode where the imposter gets away with the money and the scene cuts after Herb, Les and Carlson find out that they gave the money away. This version is only included on the Shout Factory Box set. There final shot of the episode is where Johnny is in the booth asking people to send in donations of $10,000.

* The episode where an old friend of Andy's comes calling... revealing that he'd been hired by Mrs. Carlson to review the station's performance without Andy's knowledge. Said friend also hints that Andy could skate on the "bad things" he's already figured about WKRP if Andy would buy his packaged-programming deal. Andy, betrayed, heads back to the station and convinces everyone there [[MassiveMultiplayerScam to act completely opposite of how they normally act]] (including Les). ''It works'': Mrs. Carlson can't believe a word of the review... and compliments Andy on pulling it off.

* In "The Contest Nobody Could Win," Johnny misreads a press release for a music contest, broadcasting for a week about the WKRP $5,000 Giveaway, when in the prize was actually only $50.00. Despite the staff's best efforts, the prize is easily won the first day of the contest. Johnny narrowly avoids getting fired for his mistake and promises to pay the station back, starting with a down payment of $7.50. Carlson still is furious and Herb sees a way to make himself look good by turning the giveaway into a PR stunt. The next morning, the contest winner shows up at the station early to claim the prize and Herb gives over the money and the man quickly leaves. A second man shows up, also claiming to be the winner and providing ten different forms of ID, commenting "I didn't think you'd be stupid enough to hand out $5,000 without asking for identification." Herb, Les and Carlson panic, thinking they've lost another $5,000 when Johnny comes sauntering in with the briefcase containing the winnings after running into the imposter in the elevator. He hands it back to Herb commenting "That guy knows less about music than you do." He then sticks his hand out to Carlson and says, "I believe you owe me $7.50."

'''Jennifer:''' Oooh!

--->They sit there listening to the song, slower and slower, until, 'Ah, I heard a dirty word!'

* In "The Contest No One Could Win," Johnny misreads a press release for a music contest, broadcasting for a week about the WKRP $5,000 Giveaway, when in the prize was actually only $50.00. Despite the staff's best efforts, the prize is easily won the first day of the contest. Johnny narrowly avoids getting fired for his mistake and promises to pay the station back, starting with a down payment of $7.50. Carlson still is furious and Herb sees a way to make himself look good by turning the giveaway into a PR stunt. The next morning, the contest winner shows up at the station early to claim the prize and Herb gives over the money and the man quickly leaves. A second man shows up, also claiming to be the winner and providing ten different forms of ID, commenting "I didn't think you'd be stupid enough to hand out $5,000 without asking for identification." Herb, Les and Carlson panic, thinking they've lost another $5,000 when Johnny comes sauntering in with the briefcase containing the winnings after running into the imposter in the elevator. He hands it back to Herb commenting "That guy knows less about music than you do." He then sticks his hand out to Carlson and says, "I believe you owe me $7.50."

* The entire "Turkeys Away" episode. Fan reaction to that was so overwhelming that it convinced the network to keep the show - which was struggling in the ratings - on the air. There's a reason "Turkeys Away" was voted the greatest episode of any show, in any genre, ever broadcast in the history of television.

* Johnny, who was fired from another radio station for saying "booger" on the air, gets one in the first episode when he's told he no longer has to follow the "beautiful music" format, and "you can say booger if you want to." In response, he develops the personality of "Dr. Johnny Fever" on the spot, and interrupts the rock song he just started playing with "And I almost forgot, fellow babies...'''BOOGERRRRRRRR'''!"

'''Dr. Bob''': I have no choice but to say on.\\

* Les, of all people, reveals his sure-fire pick-up line: "Hello. I'm extremely wealthy." It even works on Jennifer.

* With his quiet, folksy personality intact and armed only with the lyrics to John Lennon's "Imagine", Arthur Carlson managed to reveal the hypocrisy of Richard Paul's anti-rock televangelist. Dr. Bob, a Jerry Falwell clone, was trying to strong-arm the station into playing no songs other than the ones on his religious-right organization's approved list. Dr. Bob boasted that his organization was made of millions of people who could boycott the station. Arthur Carlson read him the lyrics to John Lennon's "Imagine," asking if it would be added to the Blacklist or not.
-->'''Dr. Bob''': The idea is man-centered, not God-centered. Man is an animal. The Bible tells us to put our reliance in God, not in our fellow mortals. Arthur, this song says there's no heaven.\\

* Johnny gets one in the first episode when he's told he no longer has to follow the "beautiful music" format, develops the personality of "Dr. Johnny Fever" on the spot, and ends his motormouthed rant with "And by the way, Cincinnati...BOOGER!"

** This troper ''still'' thinks of the atom the way Venus taught it.

* Les, of all people, reveals his sure-fire pick-up line: "Hello. I'm incredibly wealthy." It even works on Jennifer.

* In "Venus and the Man", in a tour-de-force performance by Tim Reid, Venus confronts a high-school drop-out who was running with a street gang and reached out to him by taking on the challenge of teaching him the structure of the atom in two minutes, framing the lesson in street-gang politics to make it stick. A rare [[AnAesop Aesop]] episode that worked without being overly sentimental.

* In "Venus and the Man", in a tour-de-force performance by Tim Reid, Venus confronts a high-school drop-out who was running with a street gang and reached out to him by taking on the challenge of teaching him the structure of the atom in two minutes, framing the lesson in street-gang politics to make it stick. A rare [[Aesop AnAesop]] episode that worked without being overly sentimental.

* What's considered the show's finale: Mrs. Carlson arbitrarily decides to switch to an all-news format just as the station is showing a profit. Johnny, of all people, figures out what's going on: Mrs. Carlson never intended for the station to be a success, merely a failed tax write-off. He confronts her about it, pointing out that she promised ''her own son'' that he would be the manager of the top radio station in the market. Confronted with that, Mrs. Carlson relents just as Carlson shows up to insist she keep WKRP the way it is.

* The episode where an old friend of Andy's comes calling... revealing that he'd been hired by Mrs. Carlson to review the station's performance without Andy's knowledge. Said friend also hints that Andy could skate on the "bad things" he's already figured about WKRP if Andy would buy his packaged-programming deal. Andy, betrayed, heads back to the station and [[XanatosGambit convinces everyone]] there [[MassiveMultiplayerScam to act completely opposite of how they normally act]] (including Les). ''It works'': Mrs. Carlson can't believe a word of the review... and compliments Andy on pulling it off.

* The entire "Turkeys Away" episode. Fan reaction to that was so overwhelming that it convinced the network to keep the show - which was struggling in the ratings - on the air.

* With his quiet, folksy personality intact and armed only with the lyrics to John Lennon's "Imagine", Arthur Carlson managed to reveal the hypocrisy of Richard Paul's anti-rock televangelist.

* The episode where an old friend of Andy's comes calling... revealing that he'd been hired by Mrs. Carlson to review the station's performance without Andy's knowledge. Said friend also hints that Andy could skate on the "bad things" he's already figured about WKRP if Andy would buy his packaged-programming deal. Andy, betrayed, heads back to the station and [[XanatosGambit convinces everyone]] there [[MassiveMulitplayerScam to act completely opposite of how they normally act]] (including Les). ''It works'': Mrs. Carlson can't believe a word of the review... and compliments Andy on pulling it off.

* The episode where an old friend of Andy's comes calling... revealing that he'd been hired by Mrs. Carlson to review the station's performance without Andy's knowledge. Said friend also hints that Andy could skate on the "bad things" he's already figured about WKRP if Andy would buy his packaged-programming deal. Andy, betrayed, heads back to the station and [[XanatosGambit convinces everyone there to act completely opposite of how they normally act]] (including Les). It works: Mrs. Carlson can't believe a word of the review... and complements Andy on pulling it off.

* The episode where an old friend of Andy's comes calling... revealing that he'd been hired by Mrs. Carlson to review the station's performance without Andy's knowledge. Said friend also hints that Andy could skate on the "bad things" he's already figured about WKRP if Andy would buy his packaged-programming deal. Andy, betrayed, heads back to the station and convinces everyone there to act completely opposite of how they normally act (including Les). It works: Mrs. Carlson can't believe a word of the review... and complements Andy on pulling it off.

* Bailey in a first season episode telling Herb after an episode of beratement to SHUT UP.

* With his quiet, folksy personality intact and armed only with the lyrics to John Lennon's "Imagine", Arthur Carlson managed to reveal the hypocrisy of Richard Paul's anti-rock televangelist.

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