Thursday, July 08, 1999
'WKRP' budget hurt quality of reruns
Comedy, but not color, ages well
BY JOHN KIESEWETTER
The Cincinnati Enquirer
It's so nice to see WKRP living on the air in Cincinnati — and everywhere else — on Nickelodeon's Nick at Nite.
The comedy holds up well,but the colors seem faded. That's because WKRP in Cincinnati was one of the first MTM sitcoms shot on videotape in 1978. Most other shows that year (Mary Tyler Moore, Newhart, Taxi) were on film. Cheers and M*A*S*H also have sharper colors due to film.
Why was WKRP shot on tape?
“We wanted to use real music from rock albums at the station, and for some reason, it was cheaper to do on videotape than on film,” says Bill Dial, story editoron WKRP (9 p.m.-1 a.m., Nick at Nite).
The WKRP budget was lower than Mary Tyler Moore or Newhart because there were no big-name stars.
“That show has made more cash than any other show in the history of MTM Studios,” Mr. Dial says. “It's been in syndication since Day One, and was cheaper to produce than Mary Tyler Moore or Rhoda.”
When Mr. Dial produced the short-lived WKRP revival (1991-93), there was no cost difference between shooting on film or tape. But by that time, the cost for popular music was prohibitive, “$15,000 for 15 seconds of the Rolling Stones,” he says. “So we used a lot of sound-alike stuff.”
Nick at Nite has rights to the syndicated revival, but doesn't plan to air them. The “new” WKRP starred Gordon Jump, Richard Sanders, Frank Bonner, Mykel T. Williamson (before For rest Gump) and French Stewart (before 3rd Rock from the Sun) and Tawny Kitaen (after Bachelor Party and her Whitesnake music video). The new gang certainly didn't compare favorably to the original.
“Howard Hesseman, Frank Bonner, Loni Anderson, Gordon Jump and Richard Sanders were like money in the bank. It was a great cast. You have to be lucky that way,” says Mr. Dial, executive producer of Sliders (9 p.m. Friday, Sci-Fi Channel).
FLIGHT NIGHT: Les Nessman, who beat his chest to imitate the sound of a helicopter during traffic reports, does his first airborne traffic reports in the 9:30 p.m. episode today. The show was filmed here in October 1980 (third season) with Mr. Sanders riding around the the Tristate in Kings Island's biplane.
Also tonight: Dr. Johnny Fever sells out to host a disco show as “Rip Tide” in a two-parter (11:30-12:30).
ENQUIRERING MIND: This Enquirering mind wants to know: Have you noticed newsman Les Nessman's bandage on WKRP? On every show, he has a bandage on a different body part — head, finger, thumb, arm, etc. Why?
Minutes before he taped the 1978 pilot, Mr. Sanders bumped into a spotlight and cut his forehead. It was decided to make it a running gag, with a bandage on a different appendage every episode.
PROGRAMMING CHANGE: Bill Cunningham has a new boss. Former WKRC-AM program director Darryl Parks has been named director of programming for Clear Channel's (formerly Jacor) four Cincinnati AM stations: WLW (700), WKRC (550), WCKY (1360) and WSAI (1530).
Mr. Cunningham, named station operations director a year ago, in addition to his on-air talk show duties, will continue as WLW-AM program director and talk host. He will relinquish responsibility for all-sports WCKY-AM, also known as “HOMER,” which competes with rival Chancellor Media's WBOB-AM (1160) and WUBE-FM (1230), also known as “BOB2.” Dave Mason remains programmer for WKRC-AM and WSAI-AM.
“Operating four AM stations, you need to keep each one separate with programming, and have one person looking out for all of them,” says Mike Kenney, Cincinnati market manager for Clear Channel's eight stations. Mr. Parks also will serve as a regional AM programming executive for Clear Channel.
DRAMATIC MOVE: Cincinnati's Quality Theatrical Players have produced a weekly radio mystery series, Proceed with Caution, which airs at 9:30 a.m. Fridays this summer on WAIF-FM (88.3). Creator Willie James Jones calls the half-hour shows “a cross between Alfred Hitchcock and Rod Serling.”
LIVE FROM KENTUCKY: The Exit 89 local music show has returned to Northern Kentucky's WNKU-FM (89.7) in a new time slot, 9 p.m. Tuesday.
Scheduled to perform on live half-hour concerts are the Bromwell-Diehl band (Tuesday), the Hilders with Niki Buehrig (July 20), Similar Nature (July 27) and the Kelly Richey Band (Aug. 3).
Each show will repeat at 6:30 p.m. Saturday, starting this weekend with the Shades of Blue band.
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