
WKRP in Cincinnati Episode Rating Graph
Sep 1978 - Apr 1982

Sep 1978 - Apr 1982
7.9
When a Cincinnati radio station switches from sedate music to top-40 rock 'n' roll, its staff of oddball characters is forced to switch gears quickly. New programming director Andy Travis brings in a new DJ named Venus Flytrap to work with the station's burned-out veteran, Dr. Johnny Fever. Neurotic newsman Les Nessman, eager beaver Bailey Quarters, sleazy salesman Herb Tarlek, blonde bombshell Jennifer Marlowe, who serves as the station's ultra-capable receptionist, and station manager Arthur Carlson, whose domineering mother owns WKRP, round out the eccentric bunch.
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S1 Ep7
8.6
30th Oct 1978
Feeling left out because he doesn't have anything to do, Mr. Carlson suddenly decides to take full charge of every aspect of the station. He then proceeds to come up with a special, top-secret Thanksgiving day promotion involving twenty live turkeys.
S2 Ep19
8.0
11th Feb 1980
At a concert by the Who in Cincinnati on December 3, 1979, eleven kids were trampled to death when the crowd rushed to get seats. The first part of this episode takes place before that concert; the second act takes place the day after, and presents the characters' reactions to the tragedy.
S4 Ep6
7.9
11th Nov 1981
With Herb in the hospital, Mr. Carlson pretends he is Herb and is impersonated by Les for an advertising client.
S1 Ep17
7.9
26th Mar 1979
The head of a chain of funeral homes wants to advertise on WKRP, in the hopes of convincing young people to make funeral arrangements early. The staff creates a singing commercial aimed at ""young and swingin'"" listeners.
S1 Ep10
7.9
22nd Jan 1979
When Les wins the coveted Silver Sow award, he asks Jennifer to be his date for the awards banquet. To Les's delight, and Herb's horror, she accepts.
S4 Ep7
7.9
18th Nov 1981
When Johnny receives $24,000 in a legal settlement, Venus convinces him to use the money to invest in a condominium at Gone With the Wind Estates.
S2 Ep11
7.9
17th Dec 1979
Jennifer tells her friends that she has nothing special planned for Christmas, and that she doesn't have a tree this year. Everyone begins to suspect that she might be alone for the holidays.
S1 Ep1
7.9
18th Sep 1978
Andy Travis, a young program director from Santa Fe, takes over at WKRP, a radio station in Cincinnati. WKRP is a ""beautiful music"" station that ranks 16th in an 18 station market. Andy soon wins the confidence of station manager Mr. Carlson, who is terrified of his mother, the station's owner. But Andy discovers that news director Les Nessman and sales manager Herb Tarlek were both after the program director's job and resent his appointment. He also meets receptionist Jennifer Marlowe, who spends most of her time watering her plants and fending off Herb's sexual advances, and morning disc jockey Johnny Caravella, who was a top DJ in Los Angeles until he was fired for saying the word ""booger"" on the air. Andy's first act as program director is to change the format of WKRP to top 40 rock and roll. In response, Johnny adopts the new, energetic on-air persona of ""Dr. Johnny Fever."" Andy has other plans, including an expanded role for shy but intelligent continuity director Bailey Qua
S1 Ep5
7.9
16th Oct 1978
Herb arranges for the station to do a live remote broadcast from Del's Stereo and Sound. It doesn't go very well, especially when an out-of-work DJ shows up with a gun and hijacks the broadcast.
S1 Ep14
7.9
26th Feb 1979
A sleazy record company promoter recommends Doug Winner, a talented young DJ, as Johnny's replacement. When Johnny returns, having been fired in L.A. again, he has to settle for working the late-night graveyard shift.
S3 Ep8
7.8
3rd Jan 1981
On a day when the furnace has broken down, Mama Carlson pays a surprise visit to the station and catches Johnny drinking in the broadcast booth.
S1 Ep18
7.8
2nd Apr 1979
After Venus refuses to pose for a publicity photo, the truth about his past is revealed: He's wanted by the law as a deserter from the United States army.
S1 Ep4
7.8
9th Oct 1978
With the help of a concert-promoter friend of Mr. Carlson's, Andy arranges for the station to sponsor a concert by the English rock group ""Scum of the Earth."" But everyone soon discovers that Scum's onstage viciousness and insanity isn't just an act.
S1 Ep2
7.8
25th Sep 1978
Mr. Carlson won't give Andy any money to advertise WKRP's format change. While Andy tries to come up with a publicity stunt to get the station in the news, a group of irate former listeners demands a return to the old format and an on-air apology to Lawrence Welk.
S4 Ep2
7.7
14th Oct 1981
Andy is unable to warn Johnny and Venus when he realizes that the bomb is at the transmitter.
S4 Ep10
7.7
6th Jan 1982
Andy starts taking Mama Carlson out after hours in the hopes of getting her to pay for a new transmitter for the station. But he begins to suspect that she might have more-than-businesslike expectations of him.
S4 Ep8
7.7
2nd Dec 1981
Colonel Buchanan, Jennifer's elderly gentleman friend, dies suddenly. As executrix of his will, Jennifer must deal with the press and with the Colonel's money-grubbing, rumor mongering relatives.
S1 Ep19
7.7
23rd Apr 1979
Jennifer's childhood sweetheart from Rock Throw, West Virginia arrives at the station, expecting her to keep her promise to marry him. To get rid of him, Jennifer pretends to be married to Johnny.
S4 Ep22
7.7
21st Apr 1982
Just as WKRP hits #6 in the ratings, Mama Carlson announces that she plans to switch the format of the station to 24 hours a day of news.
S4 Ep21
7.7
14th Apr 1982
After Herb screws up an important advertising account, Mr. Carlson finally intends to fire him, but Jennifer takes pity on Herb and tries to help him keep his job.
S1 Ep15
7.7
5th Mar 1979
Herb separates from his wife Lucille, and winds up staying at Johnny's apartment until he can get a bachelor pad of his own. Jennifer, horrified at the prospect of having to deal with an unattached Herb, tries to get Herb and Lucille back together again.
S4 Ep20
7.6
7th Apr 1982
On his birthday, Les announces that he's going to New York to pursue his dream of becoming a world-famous broadcast journalist by auditioning for The CBS Evening News.
S2 Ep24
7.6
31st Mar 1980
Everyone starts bickering after the station loses a broadcasting award.
S1 Ep3
7.6
2nd Oct 1978
Les is banned from conducting interviews at Riverfront stadium when a baseball player accuses him of being gay. Mortified at what he sees as an insult to his reputation as ""a fairly macho kind of guy,"" Les climbs out on the ledge of the Flimm building and threatens to jump. Meanwhile, Johnny comes up with a way to stop Herb from bothering Jennifer.
S3 Ep12
7.6
31st Jan 1981
The station's cleaning woman asks Venus to convince her big, tough teenage son not to drop out of school.
S2 Ep9
7.6
3rd Dec 1979
The new ratings book arrives, and WKRP has climbed from 16th to 14th place in the Cincinnati market. Everyone is happy about the gain except Andy, who knows that the station has not improved enough, in part because of his own unwillingness to fire incompetent employees like Herb and Les.
S1 Ep12
7.6
5th Feb 1979
While Japanese radio executives are touring the station, the city experiences a series of tornadoes.
S2 Ep12
6.9
24th Dec 1979
Mr. Carlson hires legendary baseball manager Sparky Anderson as the host of a new sports interview show. But when the show proves a complete disaster, it falls to Mr. Carlson to fire his hero.
S4 Ep18
6.9
24th Mar 1982
When Bailey writes a news story on the Northside Children's Clinic, Les steals it and reads it on the air. This turns out to be a blow to the station's integrity in more ways than one when Bailey admits that she fictionalized part of the story.
S2 Ep15
7.0
14th Jan 1980
Herb's father, a lifelong salesman who shares Herb's taste in clothes, runs away from the Shady Hills Rest Home and visits the station.
S3 Ep14
7.0
7th Feb 1981
Johnny signs a contract to host a music TV program unaware that the songs will be disco.
S2 Ep1
7.0
17th Sep 1979
Johnny forgets about his date with Bailey when he gets a call from Buffy, his old girlfriend from California. He borrows Jennifer's apartment to impress Buffy; however, that plan ends when she tells him she's suing him for palimony.
S2 Ep5
7.0
22nd Oct 1979
For the first time in her life, Jennifer is in love, with a penniless but handsome repairman who turns out to be even more of a gold digger than she is. Meanwhile, Les tries to get a raise, and Johnny becomes convinced that he's the man Jennifer is in love with.
S2 Ep20
7.0
18th Feb 1980
Johnny's daughter shows up and moves in, and Johnny has to decide whether to express his disapproval of the shiftless boyfriend she's brought along.
S4 Ep16
7.1
24th Feb 1982
Venus's latest date gives him an expensive diamond earring as a gift and then runs out on him; it turns out that she's a thief who has used the stolen earring to frame Venus as her accomplice.
S4 Ep14
7.1
3rd Feb 1982
When a fire destroys the kitchen at the Vine Street Mission, Johnny recruits Jennifer to help raise the $40,000 dollars to rebuild it. Jennifer throws a party for her rich friends and asks them to contribute, and everything is going fine until the contributors meet the people involved.
S1 Ep8
7.1
6th Nov 1978
Andy's old girlfriend, now a famous country singer, arrives in Cincinnati on a promotional tour. After she and Andy meet and fall in love again, Andy has to decide whether to stay at WKRP or go on the road with her. Meanwhile, Johnny and Venus participate in a ""Win a date with a DJ"" contest.
S4 Ep13
7.2
27th Jan 1982
When Venus learns that he's going to be interviewed by a militant black magazine, he adopts a new wardrobe and manner in order to seem more in touch with black culture. Meanwhile, Jennifer offers to change Herb's image, starting with picking out new, tasteful clothes for him.
S2 Ep6
7.2
5th Nov 1979
Mr. Carlson runs for Cincinnati City Council. When Bailey discovers a potentially damaging piece of information about the front-runner in the election, Mr. Carlson considers using that information in a televised debate.
S3 Ep22
7.2
12th Apr 1981
Dr. Bob Halyers, head of the organization Clean Up Radio Broadcasting (CURB), visits Mr. Carlson with a list of obscene songs that he wants the station to stop playing.
S4 Ep4
7.2
28th Oct 1981
While his apartment is being fumigated, Johnny accepts Bailey's offer to stay at her place, causing everyone at the station to think that the two are sleeping together. Johnny's also afraid that he's in danger of losing his time slot to Rex, the afternoon DJ, and when Bailey tries to cheer him up, he mistakes her friendliness for a come-on.
S2 Ep17
7.2
28th Jan 1980
Bailey and Les attend a press conference given by a group of visiting Russian hog experts. One of the Russians falls for Bailey and asks her to help him defect to the United States.
S2 Ep4
7.2
22nd Oct 1979
Herb starts selling insurance as a sideline, and sells a comprehensive policy to Les, who promptly has an accident.
S3 Ep10
7.2
17th Jan 1981
When Mr. Carlson rehearses a dull speech in front of the WKRP staff, all the staffers drift off into daydreams about what they would most like to be: Herb as a Latin-American dictator, Jennifer as a '30s movie star, Les as a reporter covering the Blitz in 1940, Bailey as the President of the United States, Andy as a radio Mafioso, Venus as a standup comedian, and Johnny as a rock star.
S3 Ep6
7.2
6th Dec 1980
When Herb is called for jury duty, Andy takes over as sales manager and soon discovers just how tough it is trying to sell advertising time or collect from deadbeat clients. Meanwhile, Venus becomes acting program director and has to deal with Les's plan to disguise himself as a black man so that he can do a series of reports based on the book Black Like Me.
S3 Ep21
7.2
5th Apr 1981
When Johnny learns that his first ex-wife is planning to remarry, he is overjoyed at the thought of not having to pay alimony, and celebrates by inviting Bailey to take a trip with him. But he feels less happy about the situation when he meets the obnoxious womanizer his ex-wife is going to marry.
S4 Ep17
7.2
17th Mar 1982
Herb and Jennifer are trapped in an elevator when a fire breaks out in the Flimm Building.
S4 Ep15
7.3
17th Feb 1982
Herb fixes Les up with a date through his latest client, the I'll Take Romance Dating Service. Les hits it off with his date immediately, not knowing that the dating service is a front for prostitution.
S3 Ep4
7.3
22nd Nov 1980
Mr. Carlson's wife goes into labor and the WKRP staffers all visit the hospital to be there when she gives birth.
S2 Ep2
7.3
24th Sep 1979
Johnny calls his friends over to Jennifer's apartment to help him deal with Buffy and her threat of a lawsuit. Buffy arrives and, after having a drink with Johnny, tells him that she put poison in his drink.
S1 Ep20
7.3
30th Apr 1979
Mr. Carlson's son runs away from military school, and Mama Carlson brings him to WKRP, ordering Mr. Carlson to let the boy work at the station for a while. But Little Arthur soon alienates everybody at the station with his fascistic tendencies.
S3 Ep13
7.3
7th Feb 1981
Johnny signs a contract to host a music TV program unaware that the songs will be disco.
S1 Ep9
7.3
15th Jan 1979
Mama Carlson arrives for a quarterly review to discuss WKRP's personnel and profits. Andy and Mr. Carlson try to explain what's gone on since the format change, illustrated with clips from previous episodes.
S4 Ep5
7.3
4th Nov 1981
Herb tells everyone that he's going on vacation, but Les and Jennifer discover that he's actually checked into the hospital for heart tests.
S1 Ep1
7.9
18th Sep 1978
Andy Travis, a young program director from Santa Fe, takes over at WKRP, a radio station in Cincinnati. WKRP is a ""beautiful music"" station that ranks 16th in an 18 station market. Andy soon wins the confidence of station manager Mr. Carlson, who is terrified of his mother, the station's owner. But Andy discovers that news director Les Nessman and sales manager Herb Tarlek were both after the program director's job and resent his appointment. He also meets receptionist Jennifer Marlowe, who spends most of her time watering her plants and fending off Herb's sexual advances, and morning disc jockey Johnny Caravella, who was a top DJ in Los Angeles until he was fired for saying the word ""booger"" on the air. Andy's first act as program director is to change the format of WKRP to top 40 rock and roll. In response, Johnny adopts the new, energetic on-air persona of ""Dr. Johnny Fever."" Andy has other plans, including an expanded role for shy but intelligent continuity director Bailey Qua
S1 Ep2
7.8
25th Sep 1978
Mr. Carlson won't give Andy any money to advertise WKRP's format change. While Andy tries to come up with a publicity stunt to get the station in the news, a group of irate former listeners demands a return to the old format and an on-air apology to Lawrence Welk.
S1 Ep3
7.6
2nd Oct 1978
Les is banned from conducting interviews at Riverfront stadium when a baseball player accuses him of being gay. Mortified at what he sees as an insult to his reputation as ""a fairly macho kind of guy,"" Les climbs out on the ledge of the Flimm building and threatens to jump. Meanwhile, Johnny comes up with a way to stop Herb from bothering Jennifer.
S1 Ep4
7.8
9th Oct 1978
With the help of a concert-promoter friend of Mr. Carlson's, Andy arranges for the station to sponsor a concert by the English rock group ""Scum of the Earth."" But everyone soon discovers that Scum's onstage viciousness and insanity isn't just an act.
S1 Ep5
7.9
16th Oct 1978
Herb arranges for the station to do a live remote broadcast from Del's Stereo and Sound. It doesn't go very well, especially when an out-of-work DJ shows up with a gun and hijacks the broadcast.
S1 Ep6
7.6
23rd Oct 1978
Bailey finally gets a chance to fulfill her ambition to be a broadcast producer when Andy lets her produce a new public-service interview show, ""Cincinnati Beat."" But she soon finds that all the potential guests are out of their minds, while Herb plots to get her fired from the show.
S1 Ep7
8.6
30th Oct 1978
Feeling left out because he doesn't have anything to do, Mr. Carlson suddenly decides to take full charge of every aspect of the station. He then proceeds to come up with a special, top-secret Thanksgiving day promotion involving twenty live turkeys.
S1 Ep8
7.1
6th Nov 1978
Andy's old girlfriend, now a famous country singer, arrives in Cincinnati on a promotional tour. After she and Andy meet and fall in love again, Andy has to decide whether to stay at WKRP or go on the road with her. Meanwhile, Johnny and Venus participate in a ""Win a date with a DJ"" contest.
S1 Ep9
7.3
15th Jan 1979
Mama Carlson arrives for a quarterly review to discuss WKRP's personnel and profits. Andy and Mr. Carlson try to explain what's gone on since the format change, illustrated with clips from previous episodes.
S1 Ep10
7.9
22nd Jan 1979
When Les wins the coveted Silver Sow award, he asks Jennifer to be his date for the awards banquet. To Les's delight, and Herb's horror, she accepts.
S1 Ep11
7.5
29th Jan 1979
Johnny, misreading a memo, announces the prize in a contest as $5000 when it's actually supposed to be $50. Andy and Venus come up with a plan to make the contest so difficult that no one can win.
S1 Ep12
7.6
5th Feb 1979
While Japanese radio executives are touring the station, the city experiences a series of tornadoes.
S1 Ep13
7.6
19th Feb 1979
Johnny is offered a job in Los Angeles. When it becomes clear that he intends to accept the offer, the other staffers throw a going-away party where they try to manipulate him into staying.
S1 Ep14
7.9
26th Feb 1979
A sleazy record company promoter recommends Doug Winner, a talented young DJ, as Johnny's replacement. When Johnny returns, having been fired in L.A. again, he has to settle for working the late-night graveyard shift.
S1 Ep15
7.7
5th Mar 1979
Herb separates from his wife Lucille, and winds up staying at Johnny's apartment until he can get a bachelor pad of his own. Jennifer, horrified at the prospect of having to deal with an unattached Herb, tries to get Herb and Lucille back together again.
S1 Ep16
7.4
12th Mar 1979
A young single mother, who listens to Johnny every day and feels as though he's the only person in town she really knows, leaves her baby at the station. Johnny becomes attached to the baby and refuses to turn it over to the family-services people until he has had a chance to contact the mother again.
S1 Ep17
7.9
26th Mar 1979
The head of a chain of funeral homes wants to advertise on WKRP, in the hopes of convincing young people to make funeral arrangements early. The staff creates a singing commercial aimed at ""young and swingin'"" listeners.
S1 Ep18
7.8
2nd Apr 1979
After Venus refuses to pose for a publicity photo, the truth about his past is revealed: He's wanted by the law as a deserter from the United States army.
S1 Ep19
7.7
23rd Apr 1979
Jennifer's childhood sweetheart from Rock Throw, West Virginia arrives at the station, expecting her to keep her promise to marry him. To get rid of him, Jennifer pretends to be married to Johnny.
S1 Ep20
7.3
30th Apr 1979
Mr. Carlson's son runs away from military school, and Mama Carlson brings him to WKRP, ordering Mr. Carlson to let the boy work at the station for a while. But Little Arthur soon alienates everybody at the station with his fascistic tendencies.
S1 Ep21
7.6
28th May 1979
On a day when a reporter is coming to do a story on WKRP, Mr. Carlson unveils his latest promotion idea: dressing Herb up as the station mascot, the KRP Carp. At the same time, Johnny and Venus are taking an on-air test to demonstrate the effects of alcohol upon the average driver, and a painter is very slowly repainting the lobby.
S1 Ep22
7.4
4th Jun 1979
The Rev. Little Ed Pembrook, WKRP's Sunday morning evangelist and a former pro wrestler, is using his broadcasts to sell ""religious artifacts"" like John the Baptist shower curtains. But no one has the nerve to fire the fearsome Little Ed.