Just Maybe Think Of Me Once In Awhile

“Baby, if you've ever wondered,
Wondered, whatever became of me.
I'm livin' on the air in Cincinnati,
Cincinnati, WKRP.

Got kinda tired of packing and unpacking,
Town to town, up and down the dial.
Maybe you and me were never meant to be.
Just maybe think of me once in awhile.

I'm at WKRP in Cincinnati.”

I’ve had this swimming up and down my mind all day. “Town to town, up and down the dial.” I started this morning (2am) with a few episodes of WKRP. After sneaking into our neighbor’s hot tub, my roommate, drinking rum & Coke, and I, drinking whiskey and Coke, reminisced about our respective father’s fondness for late 70’s sitcoms. While I myself am a recovering Soap-aholic, my buddy’s drink of choice, I found out, resembles a tall glass of Taxi.

I can’t state how comfortable and at ease I feel when I’m reminded of my early years. The triggers of these mental time machines seem to happen at the most unexpected and welcoming times. Little did I know that by compiling a Statler Brothers disc (a disc I appropriately titled: The Best of The Statler Brothers According to Lueptow) I’d find the single most effective tool to trigger my budding years of growing up in a small Midwestern town. I’d be daft if I didn’t capitalize on these magnificent gifts.

WKRP in Cincinnati, a show I hadn’t seen in over 20 years was now invoking these same feelings of comfort and wellbeing. Much of this can be attributed to the show’s catchy and lovable theme song written by T. Wells and H. Wilson. “I’m livin’ on the air in Cincinnati, Cincinnati, WKRP.”

It’s shows like this that for me make discovering my own past a not unpleasant experience. The simple joy brought on by this whole reinvigorating metamorphosis is that you can’t see it coming, which makes the experience even more hospitable and worthy of comment.