Although commercial considerations may sometimes dampen creative efforts, commercial rivalry may also sometimes serve as a goad.
That was clearly the case with WKRP.
When the show first came on the air, there was an ABC radio station in Cincinnati with call letters “WKRC.” WKRP in Cincinnati was produced by CBS. So the comedy series consisted of the CBS network making good, clean fun of a station at a rival network.
While that isn’t hard to understand, it’s quite hard to deny.
Even so, I’ve never seen an article about WKRP in the popular mass media that makes that obvious connection.
Assorted folk chatting on the Internet do, however, often make that connection–as may be verified by going through some of the many commentaries on WKRP which may be accessed through Google.
Now, in 1978, when WKRP made its entry on CBS, the Cincinnati ABC station was owned by the Taft family of Ohio. Until recently my perception was that the character of “Mr. Carlson” in the CBS comedy was based on a real-life “Mr. Eddie Taft,” but I now think I may have been slightly misinformed.
The year before, in 1977, a Mr. D.S. Taft had been President and CEO of Taft Broadcasting. That information is from Moody’s business listings for that year. “D.S.” Taft, I believe, would have been the Mr. Dudley S. Taft, who has already been mentioned. A Mr. C.P. Taft was also a director then. The name of Taft Broadcasting was later changed to “Great American Communications Corporation.” A listing of the officers for the latter company in the early ‘80s included Mr. Carl H. Lindner, Neil A. Armstrong, who had been the first man on the moon, and Robert Taft Jr., who later became governor of Ohio.
Back in ‘77, early '77, I’d run afoul of the Cincinnati media operation when I’d tried to run an ad for a show about space colonization.
The ad had been intended for one of the Cincinnati newspapers. I forget now whether it had been the Enquirer or the Post. The Enquirer was owned by Mr. Carl Lindner, mentioned above as an business ally of the Tafts. The Post was a Scripps paper. However, whether it was the Enquirer or the Post, the paper went back on its agreement to run the ad.
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