WKRP in Cincinnati is now a live radio station

CINCINNATI — WKRP is back in Cincinnati -- only this time, it is in real life, and at a real live radio station.

The Oasis, a Cincinnati-based station at 97.7 FM, is part of a three-station network that officially became WKRP on Monday, according to The Hollywood Reporter. According to its website, the new WKRP is also heard simultaneously on 106.7 FM in Georgetown, Kentucky; and at 94.5 FM in Dayton, Ohio.

The call letters were made famous by the sitcom “WKRP in Cincinnati,” that aired from 1978 to 1982. It starred Gary Sandy, Howard Hesseman, Tim Reid, Gordon Jump, Loni Anderson, Richard Sanders, Jan Smithers and Frank Bonner.

The Oasis entered into a call-sharing agreement with Oak City Media, a nonprofit organization in North Carolina, station co-owner Jeff Ziesmann told The Associated Press.

A radio station owner in Cincinnati has purchased the call letters WKRP and the station made the switch at 6am with “Andy Travis” welcoming listeners..The call letters belonged to a small low watt station in Raleigh and were auctioned off..Wonder if they need a sports guy 😂 pic.twitter.com/ZTOjyFUTlA
— Todd Miller (@PlayByPlayGuy1) May 4, 2026

The Oasis made a donation to Oak City Media, whose low-power radio station had owned the rights to the call letters since 2014 at WKRP-LP in Raleigh, the news organization reported. Ziesmann said his full-power station can use the same call letters since the North Carolina station is considered a separate class under FCC regulations.

Ziesmann said the listening audience in the Cincinnati area was “stoked” by the return of WKRP. The Cincinnati station celebrated by playing the “WKRP” theme song for six consecutive hours early Monday before the call letters became official, according to The Hollywood Reporter.

“Our phones have been mobbed this morning, as I’m sure you can imagine,” Ziesmann told the AP.

The station’s format will not change, as it will continue to air classic rock and pop from the 1960s, ’70s and ’80s. Sandy, who played program director Andy Travis on the television series, cut a series of promos leading into the switch, the entertainment news website reported.

“While we brought back the best music, why not bring back the most legendary radio station the tri-state has ever known?” the new WKRP posted on its website. “WKRP is HERE! It’s ‘Where The Music Went’ and it’s still an Oasis: Your haven for the best music on the dial in the Cincinnati and Dayton metro areas.”

WRKP in Cincinnati Is Now a Real-Life Radio Station https://t.co/VVuf5UWTBf
— The Hollywood Reporter (@THR) May 4, 2026

“We play essentially the same music that they played on WKRP,” Ziesmann told WVXU, a public radio station in Cincinnati. “It made more sense for us to do this than any other station in town.”

Sanders, who played bumbling newsman Les Nessman, sent a humorous -- and very in-character -- statement to the AP.

“I have spoken with Les Nessman regarding the resurrection of WKRP in Cincinnati. After the failure of his dream to replace Walter Cronkite on the CBS evening news, he is hopeful that he can resume his duties as the News, Sports, Weather, Traffic, and Farm Report Director at WKRP,” Sanders wrote. “I think we can all hope that WKRP will return to the airwaves with more music and Les Nessman.”