It is possibly the most famous radio promotion in history. And as WKRP General Manager Jeff Ziesmann tells Radio Ink: “Everyone, from the minute we signed on WKRP, has been demanding the return of the turkey drop. Now, they will have their wish.”
Immortalized in the 1978 WKRP in Cincinnati episode “Turkeys Away,” Mr. Carlson’s Thanksgiving promotion goes wrong when he and Herb Tarlek drop live turkeys from a helicopter onto unaware onlookers at the fictional Pinedale Shopping Mall as Les Nessman reports from the ground.
Nearly 50 years after the line “As God as my witness, I thought turkeys could fly” first aired, WKRP became a real station. On May 4, Randy Michaels and Jeff Ziesmann flipped their Cincinnati, Dayton and Northern Kentucky station The Oasis to WKRP. They got the call letters, held for 12 years by Oak City Media’s 100-watt LPFM in Raleigh, NC, after its GM, D.P. McIntire, auctioned them as a fundraiser for struggling LPFMs.
Now listeners will gather on November 25 at 7:30p at Casual Pint and Municipal Brew Works in Hamilton, OH, where rubber turkeys, purchased in advance, will go soaring from the top of a fire-truck ladder. The turkey that lands closest to the targets wins cash and a permanent place in WKRP lore.
WKRP owner Randy Michaels told Radio Ink, “We’ve been experimenting and it turns out, with enough thrust, turkeys will fly pretty far.”
All net proceeds from turkey and commemorative T-shirt sales will support Open Door Food Pantry in Ohio’s Butler County, helping local families during the holiday season. Only 3,000 turkeys are available, and the station encourages supporters to reserve theirs early. Out-of-town fans can take part too, which the station says lets WKRP fans nationwide join the 2026 revival. Once the turkeys sell out, T-shirts remain available through November 24.
Turkeys and T-shirts are now on sale online at wherethemusicwent.com. The promotion is open to US residents 18 and older.
The event, supported by Cincinnati Door & Window, South Dayton Toyota, Brown Financial Advisors, and Campers Inn RV, will be live-streamed.
