‘WKRP’ on DVD: Rock but no soul

The show they thought would never come to DVD actually comes to DVD next week.

And all the reasons they thought it would never arrive may actually be good reasons why it shouldn’t be here now.

“WKRP in Cincinnati” was a late-’70s rock radio comedy filled with, shock of shocks, actual rock songs. Foreigner’s “Hot Blooded” provided the punch line when bland newsman Les Nessman (Richard Sanders) donned a “hip” curly wig for a date with sexy station receptionist Jennifer (Loni Anderson). Pink Floyd’s “Dogs” spun on the turntable as square boss Arthur Carlson (Gordon Jump) tried to discern what song zoned-out DJ Johnny Fever (Howard Hesseman) was playing.

Note the past tense.

None of those songs makes it onto the first-season DVD set coming Tuesday from Fox Home Entertainment. Every episode has had music replaced, and in places where a song was integral to a scene, footage has been trimmed out. (See a list of changes at https://zvbxrpl.blogspot.com/2007/03/wkrp-dvd-not-ok.html.)

The blame for what “WKRP” die-hards decry as a travesty lies with, your choice:

(A) Music licensing costs that have skyrocketed as composers, performers or anybody with a hand in the till has tried to make a buck from TV DVDs.

(B) Greedy corporations that are unconcerned with preserving the integrity of a show, taking the easiest/cheapest path toward throwing product onto store shelves.

(C) Consumers who prize low prices above all else, making even well-intentioned distributors figure it’s not worth shelling out to license original music if it means the set costs more.

Any or all answers might be apt. “It’s the kind of a situation that Fox couldn’t really win with,” says Gord Lacey, whose authoritative TV Shows on DVD website was recently incorporated into TV Guide’s online domain. “They either release the show with music substitutions or they don’t release it at all.”

During “WKRP’s” original 1978-82 CBS run, the rights to the rock songs it played would have been licensed for TV series broadcast. Retaining the rights to those songs in new digital media means relicensing their use. And that means getting permission from everyone involved.

While fans like to blame DVD distributors’ greed, “sometimes people simply won’t license [the use of] their songs” at all, Lacey says. Or they demand fees exorbitant enough to drastically hike DVD costs. NBC’s cult fave “Freaks & Geeks,” for instance, was released with its many ‘80s pop songs intact -- but the 18-episode set had a list price of $70, at least $10 more than most drama sets of 22-plus episodes.

“WKRP” fans are livid, filling online message boards with vows to boycott.

They might note, however, that series creator Hugh Wilson acknowledges in the DVD’s pilot commentary that music was replaced because it cost so much. Wilson later says in commentary for the classic “Turkeys Away” episode that he finds the substitutions “pretty good. I don’t mind those music replacements.”

Well, sure. He’s probably busy admiring the scripts he wrote and the actors he cast, both of which hold up remarkably well.

Could Fox have done it differently? If it had licensed even a couple of joke-essential songs, say “Hot Blooded” and “Dogs,” fans might not have gotten quite so worked up. Suppose Fox had spent so much to license music that it raised the price from $40 to $50. Would that have cut into DVD sales? The first seasons of “Scrubs” and “Home Improvement” came out listed at $50. But most sitcoms of the “WKRP” vintage list for less.

At least the catchy “WKRP” theme song (“Baby, if you’ve ever wondered / Wondered whatever became of me”) is there at the start of every episode.

Thank God Wilson wrote it.