There is a new trend in the morning updates. This holiday week has concentrated on the sad news of murder. The ones in Idaho started things off, and had sensational aspects that follow the hunt for the still-unlocated perpetrator. This morning it was about the murders at the Walmart. That line evolved a little as the morning went on. But the first theme in the reporting was designed to evoke a common response: “Hey, there is a Walmart down the street!”
In the next few iterations of the breaking story it turned out the Walmart was located in a State. We were naturally interested when they mentioned it happens to be the one we are in. The latest version is that it is in Tidewater, Virginia. We have a great pal down there and he was up on our broadcast to geolocate the shooting’s location. “Four miles down the road!”
We switched back over to holiday movies. The adjustment to high-bandwidth living requires a little time.
Most of the former Farm Dwellers have seen the teasers from the classic moment on an old TV show. WKRP Cincinnati sitcom. 1978. You may remember the episode from the time 42 years ago when it first hit the airwaves. It was on the 7th episode, so the writers and cast were still trying to find the sweet spot in their show. The Turkey episode did it for them.
We recall it fondly, though and are not alone. The show has been in syndication ever since it went off network in 1982. It was a good show but not an iconic hit. Multiple time-slots may have kept the show from keeping audience. It was only in syndication that “WKRP in Cincinnati” found its sweet spot, and it has been seen in reruns and streaming ever since.
The signature episode is the one we recall today. Fictional Station Manager Carlson is shown attempting to take a more “hand’s on approach” to demonstrate he still has the energy and verve to run the station in the midst of a format change.
That is a matter we are all familiar with in our times, since we apparently are trying several social formats, workable or not. The reference in the Turkey plot is to an actual event held down in Arkansas. In the town of “Yellville,” a pilot passes over the town’s “Turkey Trot” festival and ejects live turkeys from his plane. While maintaining speed sufficient for safe flight. Which is, of course, faster than wild turkeys can manage and ten times higher in altitude than they normally fly. The consequences in Yellville are the distribution of Thanksgiving main courses to a waiting crowd, slightly dented, for the celebratory dinner tomorrow.
Like everything these days, there are those who celebrate and others who castigate it. But as a TV re-run, the Turkey episode works out. Addition of a quotation from radio journalist Herbert Morrison’s live commentary on the 1937 Hindenburg explosion at Lakehurst, New Jersey, adds a surreal aspect to: “Oh! The Humanity!”
Given the times, we should remember some of the dropped birds survived the fall. After they landed, they were incensed and turned on the crowd and attacked. We are not expecting that tomorrow, but should there be an outbreak of discontent, we will let you know, not later than Sunday.
Copyright 2022 Vic Socotra
www.vicsocotra.com