RALEIGH, N.C. (AP) 鈥� Hold on to those Thanksgiving turkeys! WKRP is coming to Cincinnati 鈥� for real this time.
鈥淚 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,鈥� D.P. McIntire, who runs the media nonprofit that is auctioning the famous call letters, told The Associated Press. 鈥淏ook it! It鈥檚 done!鈥�
The call sign was made famous by 鈥淲KRP in Cincinnati,鈥� a CBS television sitcom that ran from 1978 to 1982. It made stars of actors like Loni Anderson and Richard Sanders, whose bumbling newsman Les Nessman reported on a Thanksgiving promotion gone bad when live but flightless turkeys were dropped from a helicopter.
McIntire remembers watching the show鈥檚 first episode 鈥� featuring disc jockeys Dr. Johnny Fever (Howard Hesseman) and Venus Flytrap (Tim Reid) 鈥� in the living room with his parents and older sister.
鈥淎nd at the end of the 30-minute episode,鈥� he said, 鈥淚 got up and I proclaimed, `I鈥檓 going to be in radio. And if I ever have the opportunity, I鈥檓 going to run a station called WKRP.鈥欌��
McIntire said he got his first on-air job at 13 as a news anchor at WNQQ 鈥淲ink FM鈥� in Blairsville, Pennsylvania.
Fast forward to 2014, when his North Carolina-based nonprofit acquired the call sign from the Federal Communications Commission. Stations in Dallas, Georgia, and Alexandria, Tennessee, previously bore the letters.
McIntire laughs as he recalls his chat with a woman in the agency鈥檚 audio division.
He had two sets of call letters in mind. She told him he needed a third.
鈥淏eing the jokester that I am, I said, `Well, if you need three, and if it鈥檚 available, we鈥檒l take WKRP,鈥欌�� he said. 鈥淎nd 90 seconds later, she came back and she said, `Mr. McIntire. Congratulations. You鈥檙e the general manager of WKRP in Raleigh, North Carolina.鈥欌��
WKRP-LP 鈥� 101.9 on the FM dial 鈥� went live Nov. 30, 2015. The LP stands for 鈥渓ow power,鈥� a class of station created to serve more local audiences that didn鈥檛 want mass-market content.
鈥淥ur format is what radio used to be 35 years ago in small-town America,鈥� he said. “There is Greats of the 鈥�80s, Sounds of the 鈥�70s, ’90s Rewind,” as well as local news and 鈥渟pecialty programming.鈥�
LPFM is restricted to nonprofit organizations like his Oak City Media, and it鈥檚 definitely local.
鈥淵our broadcast capacity is limited to 100 watts,鈥� McIntire said. 鈥淪o, your average range is between, depending on your terrain and circumstances, 4 and 12 miles (6 and 19 kilometers) in any direction. Enough to cover a small town.鈥�
And, by necessity, it鈥檚 a low-budget affair.
The transmitter is in a corner of McIntire鈥檚 garage, between a recycling bin and the cleaning supplies. The broadcast antenna sits atop a 25-foot (7.62-meter) metal flagpole in the backyard. The studio 鈥� microphones and a mixing board hooked up to a computer 鈥� is on the first floor of McIntire鈥檚 home.
Like the WKRP of television, McIntire and his partners set out to be 鈥渋rreverent.鈥� One of their offerings is a two-hour show called 鈥淲eird Al and Friends,鈥� focusing on the satirical works of Weird Al Yankovic.
They even had an annual Thanksgiving turkey giveaway. But don鈥檛 call the American Society for the Prevention of Cruelty to Animals 鈥� they hand out gift certificates to a local grocery store.
鈥淲e don鈥檛 toss them out of helicopters,鈥� he said with a laugh.
This news comes hot on the heels of the decision to after nearly a century in operation. After more than a decade on the air, the 56-year-old McIntire decided it was time to pass the reins.
鈥淲e鈥檙e in a position where the older members like me who started the station are turning the leadership over to younger members,鈥� he said. 鈥淭hey鈥檙e not interested in radio.鈥�
They put out a call for bids to use the call letters on FM and AM radio, as well as television and digital television.
They intend to use the proceeds for a new nonprofit venture called Independent Broadcast Consultants. He said IBC will be 鈥済eared specifically toward helping these new broadcasters get up and running, get the consulting that they need in order to be, hopefully, more successful than we have been.鈥�
Oak City Media was all set to hand off the television-related suffixes 鈥� WKRP-TV and WKRP-DT 鈥� when another group defaulted on the agreement, McIntire said. But he said the Cincinnati deal is in the bag, he just can鈥檛 legally discuss it.
鈥淚t will be radio,鈥� he said. 鈥淏ut that鈥檚 all I can tell you at this time.鈥�
Robert Thompson, who uses a season 2 episode of 鈥淲KRP鈥� in his TV history class at Syracuse University, said it鈥檚 telling that people see real value in a fictional station whose call letters invoke the word 鈥渃rap.鈥�
鈥淭he value comes from the love of the characters for each other,鈥� he said. 鈥淎nd now by buying this thing, the value comes from our love of the characters themselves.鈥�
Whatever they do with the call sign, McIntire hopes they will be true to the show that inspired it.
鈥淚t has a special place in the hearts of an awful lot of people,鈥� he said. 鈥淎nd we have been very, very, very proud to have been a steward of that legacy.鈥�
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This story has been updated to correct that the studio is on the first floor of the home, not the basement.
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