Growing up I was a huge fan of WKRP in Cincinnati, and as an adult got into the long running NBC show Frasier. My question is this: 'KRP seemed to take more poetic licence in respect to their radio equipment props while I feel the Fraiser set was more representative of a real world radio studio. Any thoughts? Has anyone considered taking an inventory of the gear depicted on these, and other, shows about radio?
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- Thread starter jimoneal
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jimoneal, you bring up an interesting topic and one I've thought about from time to time.
For the bulk of the potential audience, their idea of what a radio broadcasting setup should look like probably differs from reality. I thought it was great that "WKRP" had actual 'carts'
as props in their studio, as 'carts' were something not used anywhere else than broadcasting, save for a few store advertisments that used them to play audio.
The current 'Geico' spots that use "Geico Radio" as their theme are good, but the studio is stripped-down, probably so as not to be too 'whiz-bang/blinking lights' busy.
One broadcasting-themed program that has become lost to memory is "Six O'Clock Follies",
which was about an Armed Forces TV station in Vietnam. I had recorded a few but found them not all that great and recorded new stuff over them.
For the bulk of the potential audience, their idea of what a radio broadcasting setup should look like probably differs from reality. I thought it was great that "WKRP" had actual 'carts'
as props in their studio, as 'carts' were something not used anywhere else than broadcasting, save for a few store advertisments that used them to play audio.
The current 'Geico' spots that use "Geico Radio" as their theme are good, but the studio is stripped-down, probably so as not to be too 'whiz-bang/blinking lights' busy.
One broadcasting-themed program that has become lost to memory is "Six O'Clock Follies",
which was about an Armed Forces TV station in Vietnam. I had recorded a few but found them not all that great and recorded new stuff over them.
Back in the day of WKRP I was doing top 40 (chr to you youngsters). I can tell you that everybody I knew in radio, at the time, just love that show. Technically, well, it was a little off. Hollywood license. The one thing that did drive radio people crazy was the lack of use of headsets. Jocks then and now are never without their headphones around their necks, even when out of the studio. Think of doctors with their stethoscopes. I read an interview once with Hugh Wilson, the creator of WKRP and he said that was brought up once but was decided the use of headphones would confuse viewers -probably right. The studio equiptment was not real accurate for the times, but it could have been explained that it was homemade stuff to save money. I did work at some stations with homemade boards.
We all knew the characters and had worked with them at one time, especially Johnny, Herb & Les
We all knew the characters and had worked with them at one time, especially Johnny, Herb & Les
therealjm12 said:
Where were the 45s? Seemed the jocks were always playing LPs (nice job in cueing them
up too, Johnny :
).And why did Les always come in to the jock booth and sit down in the jock's seat, to do
the news? Where was the news booth, or at least a second position in the control room?
B
Bob1370
Guest
"And why did Les always come in to the jock booth and sit down in the jock's seat, to do
the news? Where was the news booth, or at least a second position in the control room?"
Probably a little bit of license dictated by cramped space on the set/soundstage where it was being taped. It wasn't at all unusual for the newsperson to be in the same room with the jock, standing at a podium right off to the left of the master control position with his own mini-board and cart decks controlling his news intro, actualities in the cast and spot within the newscast before the weather and outro. That's how we did it at WKBW in Buffalo, where the newscaster stood at a podium which the jock (who ran his show combo) could see just by looking to his left, as he waited for the newscaster's outro and cue to hit a jingle and song to restart the show. I mention WKBW because it was one of the models for WKRP (show writer Casey Piotrowski had been WKBW's overnight jock a few years earlier) along with creator Hugh Wilson's old station WQXI in Atlanta.
the news? Where was the news booth, or at least a second position in the control room?"
Probably a little bit of license dictated by cramped space on the set/soundstage where it was being taped. It wasn't at all unusual for the newsperson to be in the same room with the jock, standing at a podium right off to the left of the master control position with his own mini-board and cart decks controlling his news intro, actualities in the cast and spot within the newscast before the weather and outro. That's how we did it at WKBW in Buffalo, where the newscaster stood at a podium which the jock (who ran his show combo) could see just by looking to his left, as he waited for the newscaster's outro and cue to hit a jingle and song to restart the show. I mention WKBW because it was one of the models for WKRP (show writer Casey Piotrowski had been WKBW's overnight jock a few years earlier) along with creator Hugh Wilson's old station WQXI in Atlanta.
WKRP looked pretty good for the 1970s - 80s. Plenty of mom and pop stations looked (and still do look) worse.
KUPD in Phoenix is a 100,000 watt FM Rock powerhouse that for many years housed their studio in a mobile home set up on the transmitter site for their sister AM station in a less-than-luxurious part of town. By comparison, WKRP would have been a palace.
The radio set on Frasier was based on a station in LA. Ken Levine was part of the Frasier creative team. He also worked on Cheers and MASH, among others. But he spent years in Top 40 radio and wanted the studio to look right. He still does radio, handling part time play-by-play for the Seattle Mariners.
KUPD in Phoenix is a 100,000 watt FM Rock powerhouse that for many years housed their studio in a mobile home set up on the transmitter site for their sister AM station in a less-than-luxurious part of town. By comparison, WKRP would have been a palace.
The radio set on Frasier was based on a station in LA. Ken Levine was part of the Frasier creative team. He also worked on Cheers and MASH, among others. But he spent years in Top 40 radio and wanted the studio to look right. He still does radio, handling part time play-by-play for the Seattle Mariners.
Friday Night Videos was simulcast over WDDJ-FM ("double DJ") in Paducah, KY, back in the 1980s, right before stereo television came into existence. Interesting to also note that the Paducah NBC affiliate (WPSD-TV) is on channel 6, meaning that they were also heard on 87.7 FM anyway.Mastaclocksetta said:
Well, duh! The simulcast over 96.9 (I didn't give the frequency earlier) was for the stereo feed. Of course, this would become unnecessary just a couple of years later, when stereo TV began to become the norm, but by then, Friday Night Videos was itself gone.azumanga said:
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