It may seem bizarre, but WKRP in Cincinnati apparently began in part because of my efforts to publicize or to advocate a serious cause. It was the cause of space colonization. My amateurish “publicity releases” on that topic had evidently caught the attention of people to whom the material had been directed. Those had been people working for CBS (Channel 2 TV, WBBM radio) in Chicago in 1973/74.
Then, in 1978, there came an omen. I didn’t have enough other information then to interpret it correctly, but it consisted of Mary Tyler Moore (MTM) riding on a motorcycle down a road in Whitmore Lake, Michigan. At the time I was working in that town, and I was surprised to see her. But that was the extent of my thought processes about MTM then. Shortly thereafter, in the fall schedule on CBS, WKRP made its debut. The show was produced by MTM’s production company.
By then my cause of space colonization had, remarkably enough, made a certain splash in the popular media including the CBS Evening News.
NASA had also taken it up, so my advocacy effort had proved to be, at least, prescient. But I suspect that, to my friends at CBS, it was the amateurishness of my salesmanship that had proved chiefly memorable–and thus worthy of satire.
And I suppose I should nevertheless feel honored--since the show that resulted is sometimes acknowledged as one of the best TV sitcoms ever produced.
In All Fairness:
Before going further I should note that I’ve made every effort to give others who were involved in WKRP a chance to look at this material and to offer their own version of events.
Some of them were actors. For them, my effort has consisted largely of phoning or e-mailing their agents. Some, such as Mr. Richard Sanders, seem to have left the acting profession and, therefore, no longer have agents. And Mr. Gordon Jump is now deceased. But I have been in touch with agents for Mary Tyler Moore, Mr, Howard Hesseman, and Mr. Tim Reid.
Valerie Harper has a web site. I left a message there and received a phone call, by way of return, from a gentleman who is associated with her in some capacity. So far I’ve received no denials or protestations as a result of those efforts.
And then there’s the Taft family. I phoned the office of Gov. Bob Taft of Ohio. I couldn't get any comment in that fashion, however. Mr. Dudley Taft was on the board of Tribune Company, so I e-mailed Tribune media relations, and they said they'd pass it on to Dudley, but there was no other response to that.
One of the things I've learned from all these adventures and follies is that the lack of an immediate response doesn't always mean that one's message hasn't been noticed.
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