Song of the Day 8/7: Steve Carlisle, “WKRP in Cincinnati” theme

Guest post by Nathan Arizona

When you think of the old TV show “WKRP in Cincinnati,” the first thing you might remember is mousy newscaster Les Nessman tossing live turkeys out of an airplane and being shocked that they went splat when they hit the ground.

Or it might be the song that opened the show.

It enters the back of my mind whenever I think of the show, and sometimes right in the front. “I’m living on the air in Cincinnati…” But I’m hearing it there even more after the death this week of Loni Anderson, who played the not-really-dumb blonde station receptionist.

TV themes rarely hit the charts, but in 1981 this one reached No. 65 on the billboard Hot 100. The soft rock (yacht rock?) tune was written by show creator Hugh Wilson, who knew what he was talking about after his own career in radio. He brought in Tom Wells to write the music, and Wells recruited a singer from Akron named Steve Carlisle to sing it. Carlisle made a follow-up album that sunk quickly, and he was never heard from again, at least by me.

The song is written from the perspective of a radio lifer who has moved from station to station throughout his career. That reflects reflects realty, as any DJ or newscaster can tell you. The focal point of the show, station manager Andy Travis, alludes to the song in one episode. “Got kinda tired of packing from town to town, up and down the dial.”

There’s a rumor that timid yet arrogant news guy Nesmann sang the theme song. Not true, unfortunately. But he did sing a snippet of it in a promotional spot for a short-lived sequel.

One thing is true, though. The WKRP theme song was not a turkey. Here’s Steve Carlisle singing the WKRP theme, with clips from the show.