Is WKRP Coming to Cincinnati for Real?

It appears WKRP is coming to Cincinnati as a real life radio station.

WKRP in Cincinnati, the CBS TV show created by Hugh Wilson that centered on the staff of a fictional radio station, ran from 1978 to 1982, but the real life call letters have been in use via 101.9 WKRP-LP in Raleigh, North Carolina since 2015. In February, the rights to those call letters went up for sale and evidently found a buyer in Cincinnati.

“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 runs the media nonprofit that is auctioning the call letters, told The Associated Press. “Book it! It’s done!”

McEntire, who watched the show as a child, has always had his eye on the name — he can recall watching the very first episode with his family.

“And at the end of the 30-minute episode,” he said to the AP, “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.'”

For now, McEntire says he can’t share any further details for legal reasons.

“It will be radio,” he said. “But that’s all I can tell you at this time.”

You Can (Sort of) Listen to WKRP Online

In the meantime, for fans of WKRP in Cincinnati, you can get an idea of what listening to a WKRP show would be like via a multi-hour listening experience created by a fan online. It consists of a three-hour Johnny Fever radio block, using clips from the actual TV show, plus full songs, intros, outros, commercials and Les Nessman news breaks.

Classic Rock Songs That Became TV Themes