The fictional WKRP Cincinnati radio station isn’t fictional anymore. As of Monday morning, the station is on the air in Ohio. A trio of radio stations known as The Oasis are now being rebranded with the new call letters.
Previously, the branding was owned by a small FM station in Raleigh, NC. The station put the call letters up for auction as a fundraiser in April and details were kept under wraps for a month.
“I cannot, by contract, tell you when. I cannot tell you who. But I can tell you, direct to the camera, WKRP, after 48 years, is coming to Cincinnati,” D.P. McIntire, who runs the media nonprofit that auctioned off the famous call letters, told The Associated Press at the time. “Book it! It’s done!”
We now know that WKRP was purchased by Jeff Ziesmann of Cincinnati and his business partner, Randy Michaels.
The three stations covering Cincinnati, northern Kentucky and Dayton, Ohio are simulcasting the station’s programming under the WKRP name. WKRP will play music from the ‘60s to the ’80s. While the station is rebranding, WKRP will keep the same on-air personalities, including Dave Mason, Earnie “The Fat Man” Brown and John “BMAN” Beaulieu, according to the Cincinnati Enquirer.
“This is a rebranding. It’s not a format replacement,” Ziesmann said, in the report from the Enquirer. “We’ll keep The Oasis branding there just to make sure that everyone who already has listened to our radio station stays comfortable, and musically, it’s the same thing that it’s always been.”
The iconic call letters come from the show “WKRP in Cincinnati” which ran from 1978 to 1982 and starred Loni Anderson, Howard Hesseman, Tim Reid, and Richard Sanders as Les Nessman.
In an email shared by ABC News, Sanders channeled his character again, writing: “I have spoken with Les Nessman regarding the resurrection of WKRP in Cincinnati. After the failure of his dream to replace Walter Cronkite on the CBS evening news, he is hopeful that he can resume his duties as the News, Sports, Weather, Traffic, and Farm Report Director at WKRP.”
