Ep. 41 - In Concert

March 15, 2017

Writer: Steven Kampmann
Director: Linda Day
Original Air Date: February 11, 1980
***VERY IMPORTANT***

This is the episode that only "WKRP in Cincinnati" could have made. A vitally important episode in the show's canon, I think most people who know about this tragic event in rock history know it because of this episode.

Before I discuss what happened, I want to look at how the episode itself was constructed and plays out.

Notice everything in this episode is kept in-house. Steven Kampmann is a staff writer credited on many episodes. Linda Day is a regular associate director helming her first episode. There are no guest stars or location shots. This episode aired a mere 70 days after the concert took place.

The episode is divided evenly in half - before and after the concert. Before the concert is very funny, and when you first watch this in syndication, you will have no idea what is about to take place. Mr. Carlson gets a lot of laughs from forgetting he is wearing an European Face Pack to help cure his cold. Johnny, becoming ever more desperate in his search for a date to the show, culminating in his "break-up exchange" with Les, is crisp, if standard WKRP fare. But watch what else is being established.

Venus will be the guest DJ, driven to the concert in a yellow limo with a group of women in "gold ankle braclets." That's sexy fun, but it also sets us up with a voice from backstage, letting us know when and where the band knew what was happening. Carlson is going to his first rock concert, giving the audience his newcomers' view of the experience. One newsperson, Bailey is established as going to the show but Les, in his conversation with Johnny, lets the audience know he will not be there.

The event is referred to in the first half of the show strictly as the "big concert." When Mr. Carlson gives the staff the afternoon off at about the eight minute mark, that is the first mention of general admission seating. The band is specifically not named until the last line of the first half, in which Johnny says of Mr. Carlson, that it looks like he's "going to see The Who in the company of a narc!" Fade to commercial.

As stated in the show, on December 3, 1979, about 18,000 people gathered at Riverfront Coliseum to see The Who on tour in support of their "Who Are You" album. This was the first tour with new drummer Kenney Jones, as Keith Moon had died previous year. Only 25 police officers had been hired for security for the entire event. Although crowds were gathered by every entrance, one set of doors was opened early and people rushed to get through those doors. Eleven people were killed by asphyxiation and another 26 people were injured in the crush. It was at the time the deadliest concert tragedy in U.S. history.

Back to the show and the action opens in the bullpen, with most of the cast discussing the night's events. The box set reveals about ten seconds of dialogue not usually shown in syndication, with Herb blaming rock music for riling up the kids. This scene typically begins where Jennifer says "It just seems so unreal." Mr. Carlson enters humming and happy that he's been to his first rock concert, to the astonishment of his employees. The exposition needed to have the events of this tragedy explained to him is even more important to those of us watching this show 37 years after the fact. Although handled fairly even-handedly, a biggest chunk of the blame is given to "festival seating." Carlson is as shocked as we would be if this were out first introduction to this tragedy.

The episode wraps up with Venus and Mr. Carlson speaking in the booth. It's a gentle conversation and keeping Bill Evans' "Remembering the Rain" jazz song is fittingly gentle - a choice that shows how Venus is in touch with the needs of the city (playing jazz on a rock station). It's also another reason to love that the box set got most of the music rights. Mr. Carlson offering Venus the European Aqua Mask here finally gives us the laugh we have been so desperately waiting for.

In my Ep. 40 blog post, I criticized Richard Sanders' over the top performance of an emotional Les. In this episode, in these scenes with a very upset Bailey, he shows the warmth, compassion and strength he didn't just last week. Bailey is "so sad and so angry" she doesn't believe she can even report properly on this story. Anyone who has ever suffered through a grieving process recognizes that combination of sadness and anger.  When Les says the two of them could handle this story  better than anyone "local or national," he could just as well be talking about WKRP in Cincinnati itself! There will never be another TV show situated in a rock radio station in the city where the deaths took place at the time they took place. Only one show EVER did an episode about this event. Only one show ever could.

Roy

Other Notes: This is the first television episode Linda Day is ever credited with directing. She would go on to direct over 350 episodes of television, mostly sit-coms, most notably on "Married With Children. She would even be nominated for an Emmy later in her career. A memorial plaque was finally installed at US Bank Arena (the new name for Riverfront Coliseum)... in 2015.