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 Jan Smithers, 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.
A new program director arrives at WKRP and pushes for a switch to rock 'n' roll.
While Andy tries to come up with a publicity stunt to advertise the format change, a group of elderly listeners invades the station protesting the removal of their favorite music.
When an athlete accuses him of being gay, Les climbs out on the ledge of WKRP's building and threatens to jump.
Andy takes a lot of heat for arranging to sponsor a British punk rock group's concert.
A stereo store is held up while Johnny is there doing a live remote broadcast.
In spite of Bailey's lack of experience, Andy lets her produce a public affairs program.
When Arthur feels threatened by Andy's success and useless in general, he decides to have a turkey giveaway on Thanksgiving with disastrous results.
Andy has to choose between love and work when his ex-girlfriend offers him the chance to go on the road with her.
In a clip show, Andy and Mr. Carlson recount to Mama Carlson what has been happening at the station since it switched to a rock format. This episode was designed to reintroduce audiences to the show after the two-month hiatus.
When Les wins the coveted Silver Sow Award, he asks Jennifer to be his date for the banquet, and she says yes. A jealous Herb tries to get Mr. Carlson to institute a policy against employee dating.
Johnny accidentally announces the prize in a promotional contest as $5,000 instead of the proposed $50.
A tornado hits Cincinnati and catches the staff unprepared.
Johnny is offered a job in California at three times his present salary.
Johnny returns and finds that his old job has already been filled.
Herb anticipates a swinging bachelor life after separating from his wife.
A baby is left in a basket on the doorstep of the radio station.
The staff tries to create an appealing advertising campaign for a mortician.
Venus mysteriously refuses to let a photo of himself appear in a newspaper ad.
Jennifer's childhood sweetheart arrives to make her keep her vow to marry him.
When Arthur Carlson Jr. is kicked out of military school, his grandmother decides he should learn the radio business.
On the day Carlson and Travis are being interviewed by a newspaper, everything around them goes wrong in the silliest way possible.
A 300-pound wrestler-turned-preacher causes problems by selling fake religious artifacts on his Sunday morning broadcast.
Johnny's ex-girlfriend comes to town and threatens him with a palimony suit.
Johnny learns the real reason his ex-girlfriend is suing him.
Les arranges a softball game with rival radio station WPIG.
Les takes it upon himself to cover the news in a World War I biplane.Flying stunts were performed by Harold Johnson, an accomplished aviator and then-serving mayor of Moraine, Ohio, just north of Cincinnati.
Jennifer is ecstatic about her new Victorian home on a quiet street until she meets her neighbors.
Herb's home is invaded by a TV crew documenting his family life for a show called "Real Families".
WKRP receives a bomb threat from the terrorist group "Black Monday," and Andy sends Johnny and Venus to broadcast from the transmitter while the station is being searched. Meanwhile, Mr. Carlson's former secretary visits, and he misreads her desire to meet for lunch.
Andy realizes the threatened bomb is actually at the transmitter where he's sent Johnny and Venus. He tries to contact them, but Johnny has smashed the phone out of frustration over a missed bet on a horse. Luckily, with help from the police, Johnny and Venus get out before the bomb explodes.
Complete episode guide for WKRP in Cincinnati with detailed information about every season and episode including air dates, summaries, ratings, and streaming availability in United States.
This episode guide is organized by seasons, making it easy to track your viewing progress or find specific episodes. Use the episode information to plan your binge-watching sessions or catch up on missed episodes.
Herb manages to sell Les enough insurance coverage for six men after the newsman is involved in a bizarre accident.
Jennifer falls for a poor but handsome man.
Mr. Carlson discovers the hazards of politics when he runs for a seat on the city council.
Johnny loses his ability to talk on the air when a flippant remark gets him in trouble with City Hall.
Mr. Carlson's wife announces she is pregnant.
Everyone at the station is happy to learn that they've gone from 16th to 14th in the market... except Andy.
Les feels threatened by Bailey's promotion to on-air newscaster.
Everyone, with the exception of Jennifer, is anxious to leave the staff Christmas party.
Mr. Carlson hires baseball manager Sparky Anderson as the host of a new sports show.
Johnny thinks he is going insane when he hears God talking to him.
Andy's prejudices are revealed when he is angered over a date between his sister and Venus.
Herb's father runs away from the rest home and shows up for an unwelcome visit.
Jennifer decides to call Herb's bluff by finally accepting a date with him.
A Soviet defector turns to Bailey for help.
An overzealous fan invades Les' life.
The entire WKRP staff is overcome with feelings of guilt and anger after a major rock concert they helped to promote results in the death of eleven concertgoers. This episode directly referenced The Who concert disaster at Cincinnati's Riverfront Coliseum on December 3, 1979.
Johnny's grown-up daughter shows up with her shiftless boyfriend.
Mr. Carlson learns that the photographer who took promotional photos of Jennifer secretly photographed her as she was changing.
After the nude photos of Jennifer and the blackmail plot is revealed, the radio staff tries to recover the photos and negatives from the unscrupulous photographer.
Venus is offered a higher paying job as the program director of a rival station.
Johnny's co-workers become jealous when he receives a broadcasting award.
The Carlsons' childbirth preparations appear to be wasted when Arthur gets cold feet just before entering the delivery room.
Andy, Herb and Mr. Carlson journey to Dayton in hopes of impressing a designer and landing her prestigious jeans account.
When Herb is called for jury duty, Andy takes over as salesman and Venus becomes program director.
Mr. Carlson falls asleep and is transported into a dream world populated by Christmas ghosts.
The station's furnace goes on the blink on a freezing day when Momma Carlson is visiting.
Herb purchases a painting from Mr. Carlson's church auction and tries to con Les into paying for half of it.
A jittery Mr. Carlson tries out an important speech on the staff, with interesting results.
Herb accidentally paints his 5-year-old daughter's pet frog pink.
A station employee asks Venus to convince her 16-year-old not to drop out of school.The original broadcast of this episode featured a pre-credits sequence in which Loni Anderson, surrounded by the entire cast and crew, spoke directly to the viewing audience, breaking the Fourth Wall to welcome home those who had just returned from the Iran Hostage Crisis.
Johnny takes a job as a TV disco-show host.
Johnny's disco persona begins to spill even further into his personal life, as he goes out as Rip Tide at night and finds he enjoys the money and fame.
Andy and Herb convince Mr. Carlson to program a call-in advice show.
The staff unites in protest after learning that their landmark building is about to be leveled.
The Secret Service refuses to issue Les press credentials so he can attend a presidential press conference.
The staff tries to help Herb find out if he has a drinking problem.
Twenty-five years after their elopement, Arthur and Carmen plan a "simple little wedding".
Everyone becomes paranoid after the station is robbed.
A surprise telephone call from his ex-wife has Johnny convinced he's finally going to be free of alimony payments.
A preacher who heads up a media task force to clean up radio makes WKRP his first Cincinnati stop.
While the station's employees consider unionizing, Mr. Carlson deals with feelings of betrayal.
Johnny stays at Bailey's place while his apartment is being fumigated, leading to rumors that the two are having a sexual affair.
Herb secretly checks into a hospital for heart tests, but then sneaks out and takes Les to a 3D pornographic movie.
Mr. Carlson has to pretend to be Herb to make a sale while Herb is in the hospital, while Les pretends to be Mr. Carlson, and Johnny pretends to be Andy to avoid paying a gambling debt.
Johnny receives a $24,000 legal settlement from the L.A. station that fired him. To stop Johnny from wasting the windfall, Venus advises Fever to invest in a condo at Gone With the Wind Estates.
After Jennifer's elderly boyfriend Colonel Buchanan dies while out on a date with her, she discovers she has been named executrix of his will.
Mama Carlson hires a professional radio consultant to evaluate WKRP, and the consultant threatens Andy with a bad report unless the station subscribes to his programming services.
Andy goes out with Lillian to discuss getting a new transmitter for the station, but Lillian has other plans when she realizes that everyone thinks she and Andy are dating.
Mr. Carlson learns that his wife Carmen first went out with him in college only because her sorority dared her to date someone on the "dip list."
WKRP has to do commercials for a client whose "diet pills" are actually a legalized form of speed.
Venus tries to act and dress more stereotypically "black" to prepare for an interview with a militant magazine, whose writer turns out to be white; meanwhile, Herb adopts a classier image with Jennifer's help.
Class conflict is in the air when Johnny's friends from the fire-damaged Vine Street Mission meet Jennifer's wealthy friends who are preparing to donate money to rebuild it.
Les goes out with a woman he met through a computer dating service, not realizing the service is a front for prostitution.
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.
Herb and Jennifer are stuck in an elevator together when a fire shuts down the Flimm Building.
In a take-off on the Janet Cooke scandal, 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.
When Venus lets it slip that he was a schoolteacher before he came to WKRP, Andy has to tell Mama Carlson the truth about how he hired Gordon Sims as a DJ and how they came up with the persona of Venus Flytrap.
Egged on by his mother, Les announces that he is going to fulfil his lifelong dream by going to New York to audition for the CBS Evening News.
Herb screws up yet again and Mr. Carlson is finally ready to fire him, but Jennifer tries to find a way to save Herb's job by talking to the businessman Herb offended. (This was actually the last episode filmed for the series).
The new ratings arrive, and WKRP has finally become a successful station, rising to #6 in the Cincinnati market with Johnny Fever as the #1 DJ. But when a new news director shows up and says he was hired by Mama Carlson, Andy soon finds out that she plans to change the station to a 24-hour news format.