'WKRP in Cincinnati' Turkey Drop episode aired 46 years ago Wednesday. Looking back
Grace TuckerIf you're a true Cincinnatian, you know a thing or two about a turkey drop.
Wednesday, Oct. 30, marks the 46th anniversary of the classic "WKRP in Cincinnati" episode, which showed that turkeys do not, in fact, fly.
The sitcom follows the trials and tribulations of a fictional radio station in Cincinnati. In the seventh episode of the first season, aptly titled "Turkeys Away," released on Oct. 30, 1978, the struggling station puts on a well-intended but poorly executed Thanksgiving promotion, dropping live turkeys from a helicopter outside a busy shopping center.
In the episode, reporter Les Nessman (Richard Sanders) delivers a dramatic on-the-scene recount of the incident, mimicking journalist Herbert Morrison's broadcast of the 1937 Hindenburg disaster, "One just went through the windshield of a parked car. This is terrible. Oh, the humanity!"
Station manager Arthur Carlson (Gordon Jump) delivered another oft-quoted line at the end of the episode: "As God as my witness, I thought turkeys could fly."
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Nearly half a century later, the beloved "WKRP in Cincinnati" episode is still referenced in mainstream media, baked into Jeopardy questions and holiday pies alike. Cincy Shirts even has its own line of merchandise dedicated to the sitcom episode.
How to watch 'WKRP in Cincinnati'
"WKRP in Cincinnati" is currently available to stream on Apple TV.