Originally Posted by
OldPhiKap
I watch that episode every Thanksgiving.
Unfortunately, WKRP never secured the rights to the music on the original shows so the syndication episodes all have generic music put in later.* But still, one of the greatest shows of my childhood.
(And I’m still in love with Loni Anderson, despite her mishaps after leaving the show.)
* From Wikipedia entry on WKRP:
When I decided I wanted to watch, I did my research! I had to go on ebay (1/2 the $ of Amazon) to get the 2014 Shout! DVD releases -
From the same wiki -
"20th Century Fox Home Entertainment released the first season of WKRP on DVD in Region 1 in April 2007. However, due to heavy music replacement, sales of the set were poor, and Fox released no further seasons. In May 2014, Shout! Factory acquired rights to the series for DVD release.[30] Shout! had planned to include all of the copyrighted music that originally aired on the show,[31] but was only able to obtain rights for 111 of the original musical artists. A disclaimer later stated, "In a few cases, it was simply impossible to get the rights."[32] Fans of the show compiled lists documenting that the re-release featured approximately 85% of the series' original soundtrack. Along with this, almost all of the re-dubs done for the 1990s syndication airings were removed and the original dialogue was restored."
85% of the music rights was probably about the best anyone could hope for in this day and age. I mean, they had to balance their projected sales vs. how much they were willing to invest in the music. I'm more than pleased with the efforts on the Shout! DVDs, especially that they went back and "un-dubbed" the re-dubs. I'm not even through the first season but so far, so good!
"That young man has an extra step on his ladder the rest of us just don't have."