On one of his first days at WNYC in 2007, longtime Soundcheck producer Joel Meyer scheduled an interview with Hugh Wilson, the creator and executive producer of WKRP In Cincinnati -- the TV show that inspired him to work at a radio station in the first place. Except that interview never happened: A backhoe took out Wilson's telephone minutes before the show went live. Joel's history with WKRP runs deep. He saw the show first with his family huddled around the TV during dinner time, and now he sings the show's theme song to his newborn baby.
The beloved sitcom revolved around a cast of oddballs working at a struggling top-40 rock station in Cincinnati, and while it ran from on CBS from 1978 to 1982, it was a bumpy first run. It eventually ended up in syndication in the '80s, where it became a fixture of midday and late night reruns. But when the show was first released on DVD, licensing the original soundtrack -- comprised of classic rock, soul and pop hits of the time -- was difficult to negotiate, and producers were forced to include sound-alike songs. For instance, Foreigner's hit "Hot Blooded" or songs by The Commodores were replaced with vague imitations that left fans -- like Joel -- a little miffed.
Now, after a long wait, a newly-reissued deluxe box set of WKRP In Cincinnati has restored most of the show's original music. So, it's only fitting that on his last day at Soundcheck, Joel finally gets to speak with Hugh Wilson about the show, its classic rock soundtrack, and that iconic theme song.
Interview Highlights
WKRP creator Hugh Wilson, on restoring the original music to the show:
When we did the pilot, there was a big time debate over whether we were going to use sound-alikes -- songs that sound like The Beatles, but aren't quite. My feeling was we’d be best off not doing the show all together if were were going to use fake music. I got my way and got the music. Then years later when it came to re-license it, it all had increased 20 times in the price. Twentieth Century Fox who by then owned the rights to the show didn't want to pay it. So they put out a DVD with the music literally cut out. I think it was a disaster for them. I never watched those shows. I looked at half of one and stopped.
On writing the lyrics for the opening theme song:
I wrote the lyrics, my dear friend Tommy Wells, who has passed away, was a songwriter in Atlanta and he owned a studio there. Tommy fixed my lyrics up. He told me, "Hey. Hugh you should write the lyrics. You’ll get a check every time it plays." And so I did, I wrote them on an airplane with my wife, and that’s the last song I've written.
On the actors picking music for the show:
Howard Hesseman, who's Johnny Fever -- boy, he owned a lot of vinyl. He really knew music. He said he'd like to pick his own music and I said sure. Howard loved old time rock and roll. And then the evening guy, Venus Flytrap, played by Tim Reid. Tim knew more about the type of music he liked than I did, so he picked his music. I remember going down there one day and hearing the Commodores for the first time.