The call letters made famous by the television sitcom “WKRP in Cincinnati” are set to return to the Ohio city, according to the head of a nonprofit organization that has controlled the brand for more than a decade.
“I cannot, by contract, tell you when. I cannot tell you who. But I can tell you, direct to the camera, WKRP, after 48 years, is coming to Cincinnati,” D.P. McIntire, who leads the media nonprofit that has been auctioning the call letters, tells The Associated Press. “Book it! It’s done!”
The WKRP call sign became widely known through the CBS sitcom that aired from 1978 to 1982 and featured fictional radio station employees, including disc jockeys and a hapless newsman. The show helped launch the careers of several actors and remains remembered for a comedic Thanksgiving episode involving live turkeys dropped from a helicopter.
McIntire said the program influenced his own career ambitions. “And at the end of the 30-minute episode,” he said, “I got up and I proclaimed, ‘I’m going to be in radio. And if I ever have the opportunity, I’m going to run a station called WKRP.’”
He began working in radio as a teenager and, in 2014, his North Carolina-based nonprofit acquired the WKRP call letters from the Federal Communications Commission. The designation had previously been used by stations in Georgia and Tennessee.
The nonprofit launched WKRP-LP, a low-power FM station, in 2015. Broadcasting at 101.9 FM, the station featured a mix of music formats and locally oriented programming. Low-power FM stations, limited to nonprofit operators, typically cover a small geographic area with reduced transmission strength.
McIntire described the station’s approach as a throwback to earlier eras of radio. “Our format is what radio used to be 35 years ago in small-town America,” he said.
After a decade, McIntire said the organization decided to transfer control of the WKRP brand as its founding members step back. The nonprofit has sought bids for the use of the call letters across radio, television and digital platforms. Proceeds are expected to support a new venture, Independent Broadcast Consultants, aimed at helping emerging broadcasters.
McIntire said an agreement to bring WKRP back to Cincinnati has been finalized, though he declined to provide details. “It will be radio,” he said. “But that’s all I can tell you at this time.”
He added that he hopes any future use of the call sign will honor its cultural legacy. “It has a special place in the hearts of an awful lot of people,” he said. “And we have been very, very, very proud to have been a steward of that legacy.”