Whatever Happened To: The Cast Of "WKRP In Cincinnati"

Baby, if you ever wondered, wondered whatever became of them....they lived on the air in Cincinnati...Cincinnati WKRP.

WKRP in Cincinnati was a CBS sitcom that featured the wacky adventures of the staff of a struggling fictional radio station in Cincinnati, Ohio.

It all started on September 18, 1978, when a new program director, Andy Travis suddenly brought major changes to WKRP...in Cincinnati, a radio station that had been losing money for years by playing sedate music.

Andy decided to turn WKRP into a “top 40” rock ‘n' roll station which alienated its elderly audience, and also its few sponsors.  It also created a trying situation for Arthur Carlson, the inept and bumbling general manager.  Oh, the hilarity of it all!!!

The staff of WKRP was full of offbeat characters.

Les Nessman was the naive, gullible, and pompous news director, more concerned with his farm reports than with national and international stories.

Bailey Quarters was Andy's enthusiastic young assistant, who handled billing and traffic and was eventually given the added responsibilities of backup news reporter working with Les.

The two WKRP disc jockeys seen regularly were morning man Dr. Johnny Fever, a jive-talking counterculture type who seemed constantly spaced out, and night man Venus Flytrap, who had worked with Andy at other stations.

Jennifer Marlowe was the sexy but efficient receptionist played by Loni Anderson who quickly became the star of the show, and was one of the major sex symbols of the late 1970s.

The final regular was Herb Tarlek, WKRP's high-pressure advertising salesman who, though married, spent much of his time making passes at Jennifer. Pre #MeToo....clearly.

The series received 10 Emmy Award nominations and ran for four seasons and 90 episodes before ending its run on April 21, 1982.

So what happened to the original cast?

Take a look:

Bringing back canceled shows is pretty standard now (Will & Grace, Full House, Roseanne, Murphy Brown, Magnum PI, etc.), but WKPR was one of the first.

Nine years after WKRP in Cincinnati left CBS, it returned to the air in first-run syndication as The New WKRP.

Arthur, Herb, and Les were back. Was Loni Anderson THAT booked up?  There were a few new additions to the staff, but in their two seasons on the air, they underwent many cast changes.

French Stewart was a wacky DJ named Razor Dee in a pre 30 Rock role, and Tawny Kitaen made up for Ms. Anderson.

Unfortunately, the  New WKPR couldn't capture lighting again, and it was soon the end for the series.   Even Howard Hesseman retuning as Dr. Johnny Fever, and some original cast members making cameos couldn't save this sinking ship.

We miss the days of the original WKRP In Cincinnati.  It was a fun sit-com with a great theme song.

Makes you wonder if there is a third leg of this series in the works?  WKRP....at Sirus?

WKRP In Cincinnati, we think of you every once in a while and we ❤️ ya