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** The new DJ in "Johnny Comes Back" is taking payola to support his cocaine habit. Played with in the same episode, when to avoid complications when Mr. Carlson is aware of a packet of white stuff. Johnny tells Carlson packet of white stuff is 'foot powder'. The Big Guy promptly tries it out... cue hilariously panicked stomping when he finds out the truth.

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** The new DJ in "Johnny Comes Back" is taking payola to support his cocaine habit. Played with in the same episode, when episode- to avoid complications when Mr. Carlson is aware of a packet of white stuff. Johnny tells Carlson the packet of white stuff is 'foot powder'. The Big Guy promptly tries it out... cue hilariously panicked stomping when he finds out the truth.
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* AnimalMotif: Naturally, rival station [=WPIG=] are associate with pigs a lot, having a pig as their mascot, and being referred to as "swine" for making greedy demands at times.

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* AnimalMotif: Naturally, rival station [=WPIG=] are associate associated with pigs a lot, having a pig as their mascot, and being referred to as "swine" for making greedy demands at times.
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Venus is the only regular Andy hires


The year is 1978. Hotshot program director Andy Travis (Gary Sandy) arrives for his first day of work at WKRP, a small Cincinnati radio station whose "soothing sounds for senior citizens" format (''aka'' [[http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Beautiful_music Beautiful Music]], a Muzak-esque concept that was actually common at the time) has "catapulted" it to a permanent position at the very bottom of the local UsefulNotes/{{ratings}}. After encountering the requisite cast of oddballs working at the station, Andy immediately – as in mid-song – tosses out the old format and replaces it with [[{{Pop}} Top 40]] music, then hires an oddball or two of his own to add to the mix.

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The year is 1978. Hotshot program director Andy Travis (Gary Sandy) arrives for his first day of work at WKRP, a small Cincinnati radio station whose "soothing sounds for senior citizens" format (''aka'' [[http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Beautiful_music Beautiful Music]], a Muzak-esque concept that was actually common at the time) has "catapulted" it to a permanent position at the very bottom of the local UsefulNotes/{{ratings}}. After encountering the requisite cast of oddballs working at the station, Andy immediately – as in mid-song – tosses out the old format and replaces it with [[{{Pop}} Top 40]] music, then hires an oddball or two of his own to add to the mix.
mix. [[note]]Venus Flytrap]]

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Paragraph removed per wick cleanup.


%% * GettingCrapPastThe Radar: Due to overwhelming and persistent misuse, GCPTR is on-page examples only until 01 June 2021. If you are reading this in the future, please check the trope page to make sure your example fits the current definition.



* ShellShockedVeteran: Venus, as per an episode in which it's revealed his Vietnam War experiences left him so shattered that he deserted shortly before the war ended. [[spoiler: It turned out he'd deserted right after being shipped back to the States, two weeks before he was to be discharged. The officer who discovered this decided to just have it smoothed over as a 'paperwork error' and get him his Honorable Discharge.]]

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* ShellShockedVeteran: Venus, as per an episode in which it's revealed his Vietnam War experiences left him so shattered that he deserted shortly before the war ended. [[spoiler: It [[spoiler:It turned out he'd deserted right after being shipped back to the States, two weeks before he was to be discharged. The officer who discovered this decided to just have it smoothed over as a 'paperwork error' and get him his Honorable Discharge.]]
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* SitcomArchNemesis: WKRP's has an ongoing rivalry with WPIG ("Those swine!") the most popular radio station in town.

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* SitcomArchNemesis: WKRP's WKRP has an ongoing rivalry with WPIG ("Those swine!") the most popular radio station in town.



** Imagine being a listener to the former "Beautiful Music" format, and suddenly hearing the DJ howl ''"Boogerrrrrrrrrrrrrrrr!"''

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** Imagine being a listener to the former "Beautiful Music" format, and suddenly hearing the DJ howl ''"Boogerrrrrrrrrrrrrrrr!"'' , followed up with a guitar riff from Music/TedNugent.

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* CompressedVice: Herb's drinking problem in "Out To Lunch". Though the writers did deliberately [[{{Foreshadowing}} foreshadowed]] this in an episode two weeks before, where Jennifer tells Herb that his "three-martini lunches" are causing him to forget things he said. And the drinking problem was [[CallBack referred to]] a couple of times afterward.

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* CompressedVice: Herb's drinking problem in "Out To Lunch". Though the writers did deliberately [[{{Foreshadowing}} foreshadowed]] this in an episode two weeks before, where Jennifer tells Herb that his "three-martini lunches" are causing him to forget things he said. And the drinking problem was [[CallBack referred to]] a couple of times afterward.



** The new DJ in "Johnny Comes Back" is taking payola to support his cocaine habit. Played with in the same episode, when to avoid complications, Johnny tells Carlson the packet of white stuff is 'foot powder'. The Big Guy promptly tries it out... cue hilariously panicked stomping when he finds out the truth.

to:

** The new DJ in "Johnny Comes Back" is taking payola to support his cocaine habit. Played with in the same episode, when to avoid complications, complications when Mr. Carlson is aware of a packet of white stuff. Johnny tells Carlson the packet of white stuff is 'foot powder'. The Big Guy promptly tries it out... cue hilariously panicked stomping when he finds out the truth.truth.
--->"I've got a monkey on my foot!"



---> "Hey, you're young and swingin'
---> No time to think about tomorrow
---> But there ain't no way to deny it
---> Someday you're gonna buy it."

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---> "Hey, you're young and swingin'
--->
swingin'\\
No time to think about tomorrow
--->
tomorrow\\
But there ain't no way to deny it
--->
it\\
Someday you're gonna buy it."
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Never? Close. Rarely is better


** Since the show only follows two of the [=DJs=], the airstaff would appear to be too small. In fact, the station has several on-air personalities that are mentioned but never seen, including the late night DJ Moss Steiger, afternoon DJ Dean the Dream and mid-morning DJ Rex Erhart. In the season 4 episode "The Union," all of the on-air staff is in the room at once. Johnny and Venus also frequently fill in for the other DJ's, explaining why they are around the station outside of their normal times. A lot of conversations about the other staff were cut in the syndicated episodes.

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** Since the show only follows two of the [=DJs=], the airstaff would appear to be too small. In fact, the station has several on-air personalities that are mentioned but never rarely seen, including the late night DJ Moss Steiger, afternoon DJ Dean the Dream and mid-morning DJ Rex Erhart. In the season 4 episode "The Union," all of the on-air staff is in the room at once. Johnny and Venus also frequently fill in for the other DJ's, explaining why they are around the station outside of their normal times. A lot of conversations about the other staff were cut in the syndicated episodes.
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* {{Gaslighting}}: When Mama Carlson hires a consultant to investigate the station, the staff members act like their polar opposites (such as Arthur pretending to be an overworked and attentive manager and Jennifer acting like a DumbBlonde) so that he sounds like a complete idiot when presenting his final report.
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* MassiveMultiplayerScam: The heroes set up one of these to recover some nude pictures of Jennifer taken without her consent, and another to trick a visiting auditor into giving a blatantly inaccurate report on the station to Mama Carlson.
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The year is 1978. Hotshot program director Andy Travis (Gary Sandy) arrives for his first day of work at WKRP, a small Cincinnati radio station whose "soothing sounds for senior citizens" format (''aka'' [[http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Beautiful_music Beautiful Music]], a Muzak-esque concept actually popular at the time) has "catapulted" it to a permanent position at the very bottom of the UsefulNotes/{{ratings}}. After encountering the requisite cast of oddballs working at the station, Andy immediately -- as in mid-song -- throws out the old format and replaces it with [[{{Pop}} Top 40]] music, then hires an oddball or two of his own to add to the mix.

to:

The year is 1978. Hotshot program director Andy Travis (Gary Sandy) arrives for his first day of work at WKRP, a small Cincinnati radio station whose "soothing sounds for senior citizens" format (''aka'' [[http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Beautiful_music Beautiful Music]], a Muzak-esque concept that was actually popular common at the time) has "catapulted" it to a permanent position at the very bottom of the local UsefulNotes/{{ratings}}. After encountering the requisite cast of oddballs working at the station, Andy immediately -- as in mid-song -- throws – tosses out the old format and replaces it with [[{{Pop}} Top 40]] music, then hires an oddball or two of his own to add to the mix.
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* Johnny "Dr. Johnny Fever" Caravella (Howard Hesseman) -- Once legendary, now a down-at-the-heels rock DJ (he got kicked off the air in LA for saying "booger") whose entire life is reinvigorated when Andy changes the station's format. Smart, cynical, but cannot function without coffee. It's also heavily implied that he enjoys light recreational drugs like marijuana, and, famously, alcohol actually ''improves'' his reflexes. (He firmly draws the line at any heavier drugs like cocaine, though.) Due to the effects of his (implied) drug use, Johnny is vulnerable to random irrational neuroses, as for instance his terror of the "phone cops" coming to get him for breaking a phone.

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* Johnny "Dr. Johnny Fever" Caravella (Howard Hesseman) (Creator/HowardHesseman) -- Once legendary, now a down-at-the-heels rock DJ (he got kicked off the air in LA for saying "booger") whose entire life is reinvigorated when Andy changes the station's format. Smart, cynical, but cannot function without coffee. It's also heavily implied that he enjoys light recreational drugs like marijuana, and, famously, alcohol actually ''improves'' his reflexes. (He firmly draws the line at any heavier drugs like cocaine, though.) Due to the effects of his (implied) drug use, Johnny is vulnerable to random irrational neuroses, as for instance his terror of the "phone cops" coming to get him for breaking a phone.
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* ILied: In the pilot, Andy promises to get Les a helicopter for live traffic reports. Many episodes later, Les complains that there is still no helicopter, and Andy unashamedly tells Les he was lying.

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* YoungerThanTheyLook: Les seems like he's somewhere around 50, but Richard Sanders was actually just 38 when the show debuted. It was established in a flashback that in 1954 Les was a rookie reporter at WKRP.

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* YoungerThanTheyLook: YoungerThanTheyLook:
**
Les seems like he's somewhere around 50, but Richard Sanders was actually just 38 when the show debuted. It was established in a flashback that in 1954 Les was a rookie reporter at WKRP.



** Combining this with AbsurdlyYouthfulMother, Carol Bruce (Lillian "Mama" Carlson) was only 13 years older than Gordon Jump, who played her son. They looked practically the same age. Creator/SylviaSidney, who played Mama Carlson in the pilot, had a more realistic 22 years on Jump.

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** Combining this with AbsurdlyYouthfulMother, Carol Bruce Creator/CarolBruce (Lillian "Mama" Carlson) was only 13 years older than Gordon Jump, who played her son. They looked practically the same age. Creator/SylviaSidney, who played Mama Carlson in the pilot, had a more realistic 22 years on Jump.
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** The episode "In Concert" has Andy trying to convince Mr. Carlson to attend a concert the station is promoting. He finally agrees and puts on his fedora along with his three piece suit prompting Andy to say "I'm going to a Who concert with a nark". Que the audience reaction of a big laugh followed by concerned murmurings due to recent [[https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/In_Concert_(WKRP_in_Cincinnati) recent events]].

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** The episode "In Concert" has Andy trying to convince Mr. Carlson to attend a concert the station is promoting. He finally agrees and puts on his fedora along with his three piece suit prompting Andy to say "I'm going to a Who concert with a nark". Que the audience reaction of a big laugh followed by concerned murmurings due to recent [[https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/In_Concert_(WKRP_in_Cincinnati) recent events]].
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Added DiffLines:

**The episode "In Concert" has Andy trying to convince Mr. Carlson to attend a concert the station is promoting. He finally agrees and puts on his fedora along with his three piece suit prompting Andy to say "I'm going to a Who concert with a nark". Que the audience reaction of a big laugh followed by concerned murmurings due to recent [[https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/In_Concert_(WKRP_in_Cincinnati) recent events]].
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** Arthur Carlson could have passed for sixty at any point in the show's history. Gordon Jump was 46 in the first season. Just to put this in perspective, that's how old Will Smith is in 2015. In all fairness, Carlson was depicted as mature, but still young enough to have a preteen son and become a father again during the show's run.

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** Arthur Carlson could have passed for sixty at any point in the show's history. Gordon Jump was 46 in the first season. Just to put this in perspective, that's how old Will Smith is in 2015.Robert Downey, Jr. was when he filmed the first Avengers movie. In all fairness, Carlson was depicted as mature, but still young enough to have a preteen son and become a father again during the show's run.
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Crosswicking.

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* MassiveMultiplayerScam: The heroes set up one of these to recover some nude pictures of Jennifer taken without her consent, and another to trick a visiting auditor into giving a blatantly inaccurate report on the station to Mama Carlson.
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* AndStarring: In seasons one and two, Creator/GordonJump gets "And Gordon Jump" in the opening credits, while in the co-starring end titles, Creator/HowardHesseman gets "And Howard Hesseman as Dr. Johnny Fever." Beginning with the third season, when everyone was billed in the opening credits, Hesseman kept the special billing he received, word-for-word in the first two seasons, while Jump lost the "and" and was just billed second.

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* AndStarring: In seasons one and two, Creator/GordonJump Gordon Jump (billed second behind Gary Sandy) gets "And Gordon Jump" in the opening credits, while in the co-starring end titles, Creator/HowardHesseman titles credits, Howard Hesseman gets "And Howard Hesseman as Dr. Johnny Fever." Beginning with the third season, when everyone was billed in the opening credits, Hesseman kept the special billing he received, word-for-word in the first two seasons, while Jump lost the "and" and was just billed second.simply retained his second billing behind Sandy.
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Added DiffLines:

* AndStarring: In seasons one and two, Creator/GordonJump gets "And Gordon Jump" in the opening credits, while in the co-starring end titles, Creator/HowardHesseman gets "And Howard Hesseman as Dr. Johnny Fever." Beginning with the third season, when everyone was billed in the opening credits, Hesseman kept the special billing he received, word-for-word in the first two seasons, while Jump lost the "and" and was just billed second.
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** In "Secrets of Dayton Heights," Les learns that when he was a month old, his mother divorced his biological father, a military barber accused of spying for Russia due to his Communist sympathies; the man for whom Les is named, Lester Nessman Sr., was in fact his mother's second husband and his stepfather, a secret the pair kept from him to spare Les the potential stigma of being an accused Communist's son in McCarthy-era America.

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** In "Secrets of Dayton Heights," Les learns that when he was a month old, his mother divorced his biological father, a military barber accused of spying for Russia due to his Communist sympathies; the man for whom Les is named, Lester Nessman Sr., was in fact his mother's second husband and his stepfather, a secret the pair kept from him to spare Les the potential stigma of being an accused Communist's son in McCarthy-era [=McCarthy=]-era America.

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* VeryLooselyBasedOnATrueStory: The "Turkeys Away" episode was based on an actual radio station promotion gone wrong, believe it or not.

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* VeryLooselyBasedOnATrueStory: The "Turkeys Away" episode was based on an actual radio station promotion gone wrong, believe it or not. In the real event, the turkeys were thrown from the top of a semi-truck rather than a helicopter, however.



* VerySpecialEpisode: "In Concert", when the station promoted the infamous December 1979 Music/TheWho concert at Riverfront Coliseum where 11 attendees were killed in an accidental uncontrolled rush for the door for "festival seating," (no assigned seats) and the staff spends the next day beating themselves up about it.
** The purpose of that show, besides to memorialize what happened and to call for action for similar action in other cities, was to provide an {{Aesop}} to viewers about letting their kids attend concerts with festival seating.

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* VerySpecialEpisode: Although never as heavy-handed as some other examples from the era, the series had a few-
**
"In Concert", when the station promoted the infamous December 1979 Music/TheWho concert at Riverfront Coliseum where 11 attendees were killed in an accidental uncontrolled rush for the door for "festival seating," (no assigned seats) and the staff spends the next day beating themselves up about it.
**
it.
***
The purpose of that show, besides to memorialize what happened and to call for action for similar action in other cities, was to provide an {{Aesop}} to viewers about letting their kids attend concerts with festival seating.seating.
** "A Family Affair" is one of the earliest episodes of television to deal with microaggressions (and was written by Tim Reid himself). Venus takes Andy's visiting sister out sight seeing after Johnny- whom Andy had originally assigned the task- fails to show up. Andy becomes unexpectedly furious, and is forced to confront that while he enjoys Venus' friendship he's also uncomfortable with the idea of his sister dating a black man; Venus further points out how this is part of a pattern on Andy's part, as Andy is comfortable openly criticizing Venus for his mistakes but not Johnny.
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** The station itself applies. Corporate owned stations with automated programming were quickly becoming the norm even in those days, but Andy sticks to his guns in allowing the DJ's play their own music following a playlist (that Johnny largely ignores as mentioned above).

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** The station itself applies. Corporate owned stations with automated programming were quickly becoming the norm even in those days, but Andy sticks to his guns in allowing the DJ's play their own music following a playlist (that Johnny largely ignores as mentioned above). A few episodes even focus on the shift, with one station wanting to hire Venus away to oversee their automated programming and Mr. Carlson having a nightmare about the station's future in which the only employee left is Herb, who's around to answer sales calls and monitor the computer broadcasting the programming.
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** In "Hold Up," multiple characters tell the hyperactive, apparently high owner of an electronics store "Speed kills."

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* DarkSecret: In "Real Families," once Herb and his family start letting their guards down as the show's hosts are trying to dig up dirt on them, it's clear that all is not always happy in the Tarlek family. In the end, Tarlek kicks them out ... only for them to accept a(n apparently large) cash bonus for appearing live on the show and putting on their "one big happy family" faces.

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* DarkSecret: DarkSecret:
**
In "Real Families," once Herb and his family start letting their guards down as the show's hosts are trying to dig up dirt on them, it's clear that all is not always happy in the Tarlek family. In the end, Tarlek kicks them out ... only for them to accept a(n apparently large) cash bonus for appearing live on the show and putting on their "one big happy family" faces.
** In "Secrets of Dayton Heights," Les learns that when he was a month old, his mother divorced his biological father, a military barber accused of spying for Russia due to his Communist sympathies; the man for whom Les is named, Lester Nessman Sr., was in fact his mother's second husband and his stepfather, a secret the pair kept from him to spare Les the potential stigma of being an accused Communist's son in McCarthy-era America.
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* BlackAndNerdy: Venus. Despite his cool showbiz persona, he's repeatedly shown to know more about business and investments than anyone else at the station. He was also a teacher in New Orleans prior to coming to WKRP.

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* BlackAndNerdy: Venus. Despite his cool showbiz persona, he's repeatedly shown to know more about business and investments than anyone else at the station. He was also a science teacher in New Orleans prior to coming to WKRP.

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Not specific to WKRP


* CuteKitten:
** [[https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=hvJ5hcUQdKc Mimsie]], the MTM Enterprises VanityPlate.
** For the revival, [[LogoJoke Mimsie's mew is]] [[https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=MPaz-vnosEo replaced with the voice of Les saying "Oooohhh!"]]

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