Arthur Carlson, aka "The Big Guy" is a fictional character on the television
situation comedy
A sitcom (short for situation comedy or situational comedy) is a genre of comedy produced for radio and television, that centers on a recurring cast of character (arts), characters as they navigate humorous situations within a consistent settin ...
''
WKRP in Cincinnati
''WKRP in Cincinnati'' is an American sitcom television series about the misadventures of the staff of a struggling fictional AM radio station in Cincinnati, Ohio. The show was created by Hugh Wilson. It was based upon his experiences obs ...
'' (1978–82), the
general manager
A general manager (GM) is an executive who has overall responsibility for managing both the revenue and cost elements of a company's income statement, known as profit & loss (P&L) responsibility. A general manager usually oversees most or all of ...
of the low-rated
Cincinnati
Cincinnati ( ; colloquially nicknamed Cincy) is a city in Hamilton County, Ohio, United States, and its county seat. Settled in 1788, the city is located on the northern side of the confluence of the Licking River (Kentucky), Licking and Ohio Ri ...
radio station
Radio broadcasting is the broadcasting of audio (sound), sometimes with related metadata, by radio waves to radio receivers belonging to a public audience. In terrestrial radio broadcasting the radio waves are broadcast by a land-based rad ...
WKRP. The character was also a regular on the "revival" series, ''
The New WKRP in Cincinnati'' (1991–93), still working as general manager of WKRP. He was played by
Gordon Jump
Alexander Gordon Jump (April 1, 1932 – September 22, 2003) was an American actor best known for playing Arthur "Big Guy" Carlson in the series ''WKRP in Cincinnati'' (1978–1982); he reprised the role in its spinoff '' The New WKRP in Cincin ...
in both shows.
Before and after the format change
Carlson is a well-meaning, bumbling, childlike man who is completely out of touch with the changes that have occurred in the radio and music business. He keeps his job as general manager of WKRP only because his mother, Lillian Carlson, better known as "
Mama Carlson", owns the station. Unbeknownst to him, his mother has set up WKRP as a tax write-off that is intended to lose money, and she keeps him at the station not because she wants him to succeed but because she expects him to fail.
Flashbacks in the episode "Bah, Humbug" reveal that Carlson joined WKRP as sales manager in the early 1950s. When his mother fired the previous station manager for being too generous to the employees, Arthur got his job. With the rise of
rock n' roll music, WKRP's "beautiful music" format became outdated and a sure money-loser, appealing only to senior citizens.
In the pilot of ''WKRP'', the new program director,
Andy Travis, convinces Carlson that switching the format to rock n' roll might make the station successful and profitable; Carlson, who wants desperately to prove to his mother that he can be a success, goes along with the change and even gets the nerve to defend Andy's changes to his mother. Only when Arthur shows that much backbone does his mother relent and keep to the format change....although it's much later revealed that she fully expects that format to be a money-loser as well.
"Management" style
Though he accepts the format change, Carlson is not a fan of rock n' roll music (though he does admit to Andy that he likes
Crosby, Stills and Nash), and frequently does not even listen to his own station because he doesn't enjoy the songs or the modern, with-it styles of the
disc jockeys
A disc jockey, more commonly abbreviated as DJ, is a person who plays recorded music for an audience. Types of DJs include radio DJs (who host programs on music radio stations), club DJs (who work at nightclubs or music festivals), mobile D ...
. As the series goes on, however, Carlson becomes more accepting of the format and the changing cultural trends. In the episode "
In Concert," after eleven kids are trampled to death at a concert by
The Who
The Who are an English Rock music, rock band formed in London in 1964. Their classic lineup (1964–1978) consisted of lead vocalist Roger Daltrey, guitarist Pete Townshend, bassist John Entwistle and drummer Keith Moon. Considered one of th ...
(based on a
real-life incident that happened in Cincinnati in 1979), the staff fears that Carlson, who feels guilty about having helped to promote the concert, will change their format back to "
elevator music
Elevator music (also known as Muzak, piped music, or lift music) is a type of background music played in elevators, in rooms where many people come together for reasons other than listening to music, and during telephone calls when placed on ho ...
." But Carlson, who was at the concert and actually found himself enjoying the music (before he learned what happened), understands that the stadium's first-come, first-served seating was to blame for the tragedy, and not the band or the music. "We're a rock n' roll station," he declares, "and we're going to stay a rock n' roll station."
Because Carlson doesn't know much about music or business, he spends most of his time sleeping or playing with various toys he keeps in his office:
model trains, a miniature
basketball
Basketball is a team sport in which two teams, most commonly of five players each, opposing one another on a rectangular Basketball court, court, compete with the primary objective of #Shooting, shooting a basketball (ball), basketball (appro ...
and hoop, or toy soldiers. He defends this practice by saying "I'm not a child -- I'm a hobbyist." He is also an avid
fisherman
A fisherman or fisher is someone who captures fish and other animals from a body of water, or gathers shellfish.
Worldwide, there are about 38 million Commercial fishing, commercial and Artisan fishing, subsistence fishers and Fish farming, fi ...
, keeping several rods and reels in his office at all times and speaking eloquently of the joys of hooking a fish and then throwing it back.
Carlson has trouble dealing with people, especially with saying "no"; he will buy anything from a salesman (WKRP sales manager
Herb Tarlek once sold him an
insurance policy
In insurance, the insurance policy is a contract (generally a standard form contract) between the insurer and the policyholder, which determines the claim (legal), claims which the insurer is law, legally required to pay. In exchange for an initial ...
) and tends to whimper when someone yells at him. To protect him from the outside world, he depends on his receptionist,
Jennifer Marlowe, whose main job is keeping people away from her boss by any means necessary, including telling them that he's dead. Jennifer and Carlson have an agreement: she doesn't take memos, and she doesn't serve coffee. ("Turkeys Away")
Despite these foibles, Carlson has a very strong sense of right and wrong, and at times, stands up for what he believes in and can even be confrontational. This is revealed in an episode where a sleazy
photographer
A photographer (the Greek φῶς (''phos''), meaning "light", and γραφή (''graphê''), meaning "drawing, writing", together meaning "drawing with light") is a person who uses a camera to make photographs.
Duties and types of photograp ...
(
George Wyner) snaps
nude pictures of Jennifer as she is changing in another room following a cheesecake photo shoot with Andy Travis. When Carlson finds the pictures in the photographer's studio, he grabs the photographer by his shirt and threatens a lawsuit. In another episode, he gently but firmly supports Andy's decision to fire a new disc jockey replacing Johnny Fever, after it is proven that the DJ (
Philip Charles MacKenzie) is being paid with
cocaine
Cocaine is a tropane alkaloid and central nervous system stimulant, derived primarily from the leaves of two South American coca plants, ''Erythroxylum coca'' and ''Erythroxylum novogranatense, E. novogranatense'', which are cultivated a ...
under a
payola
Payola, in the music industry, is the name given to
the illegal practice of paying a commercial radio station to play a song without the station disclosing the payment. Under U.S. law, a radio station must disclose songs they were paid to pla ...
plan with a
record producer
A record producer or music producer is a music creating project's overall supervisor whose responsibilities can involve a range of creative and technical leadership roles. Typically the job involves hands-on oversight of recording sessions; ensu ...
.
Some episodes, particularly in the first season, show Carlson feeling left out at the station and wanting to prove that he, too, can come up with good ideas to make WKRP more successful. The most famous such attempt is chronicled in "
Turkeys Away," where Carlson tries to become actively involved in every aspect of running the station, driving the employees crazy with incessant suggestions. He then comes up with what he describes as a brilliant idea for a
Thanksgiving
Thanksgiving is a national holiday celebrated on various dates in October and November in the United States, Canada, Saint Lucia, Liberia, and unofficially in countries like Brazil and Germany. It is also observed in the Australian territory ...
promotion, but, distrustful of Andy and the other "casually dressed" employees, he won't tell anyone what the promotion is, except the obsequious Herb. On the day of the promotion, with news director
Les Nessman covering it live, the WKRP staff discovers that Carlson and Herb are throwing live
turkeys out of a
helicopter
A helicopter is a type of rotorcraft in which Lift (force), lift and thrust are supplied by horizontally spinning Helicopter rotor, rotors. This allows the helicopter to VTOL, take off and land vertically, to hover (helicopter), hover, and ...
. The birds promptly plummet to their deaths. When Carlson returns, covered with feathers, he admits: "As God is my witness, I thought turkeys could fly." (Carlson had released the remaining turkeys on the ground; they promptly attacked Carlson and Herb, which is how the two of them got covered in feathers.) Despite the fiasco, the employees realize that they need to make Carlson feel more respected and wanted at the station. This was not the only Carlson sales idea fiasco; according to Johnny Fever, Carlson once tried to sell 3,000 blonde
Dolly Parton
Dolly Rebecca Parton (born January 19, 1946) is an American singer, songwriter, musician, actress, and philanthropist, known primarily as a country music, country musician. After achieving success as a songwriter for others, Parton's debut album ...
wigs on the air; when that failed, Carlson donated them to the
Red Cross
The organized International Red Cross and Red Crescent Movement is a Humanitarianism, humanitarian movement with approximately 16million volunteering, volunteers, members, and staff worldwide. It was founded to protect human life and health, to ...
for earthquake victims.
Being generally a straightforward, uncomplicated kind of person, Carlson sometimes acts as a
father figure to members of his staff. By using a low-key, friendly approach, he helps Herb face up to his
alcoholism
Alcoholism is the continued drinking of alcohol despite it causing problems. Some definitions require evidence of dependence and withdrawal. Problematic use of alcohol has been mentioned in the earliest historical records. The World He ...
problems, and in the episode "Who is Gordon Sims", he assists Venus in coming to terms with his past as an Army
deserter (albeit with mixed feelings, as Carlson himself had served in the
Marine Corps and is initially very taken aback at hearing of Venus' desertion).
Although genial and rather bumbling, Carlson does display a quick wit at times. In the episode "Changes", after overhearing Venus and
Johnny Fever discuss Venus' racial identity concerns in the station's record library, Carlson offers some advice to Venus. When Johnny then asks him what he was doing hanging out in the record library in the first place, Carlson replies, deadpan, that he was "looking for old
Guy Lombardo
Gaetano Alberto "Guy" Lombardo (June 19, 1902 – November 5, 1977) was a Canadian and American bandleader, violinist, and hydroplane racing, hydroplane racer whose unique "sweet jazz" style remained popular with audiences for nearly five decade ...
records and smoking
dope."
Personal life
Arthur Carlson was said to be 48 in a 1979 episode; this would give him a birth year of 1930 or '31. He comes from a successful family of Cincinnati business people. Arthur's grandfather, who is seen in one episode in a dream (also played by Gordon Jump), was a miserly businessman who built up Carlson Industries. He left it to Arthur's father, Hank, a sweet-natured man who was more interested in having a good time than running the business. Hank married Lillian, a former actress in
Broadway musicals
Broadway theatre,Although ''theater'' is generally the spelling for this common noun in the United States (see American and British English spelling differences), many of the extant or closed Broadway venues use or used the spelling ''Theatr ...
, who soon proved to have a talent for business and took the family business more seriously than Hank did. Eventually, Lillian took over the corporation entirely, and Hank died soon after. Because his father died when he was very young, Arthur Carlson was raised mostly by his mother and by her sarcastic
butler
A butler is a person who works in a house serving and is a domestic worker in a large household. In great houses, the household is sometimes divided into departments, with the butler in charge of the dining room, wine cellar, and pantries, pantr ...
, Hirsch (Ian Wolfe). Carlson was an officer in the Marine Corps; he has mentioned being at
Guadalcanal
Guadalcanal (; indigenous name: ''Isatabu'') is the principal island in Guadalcanal Province of Solomon Islands, located in the southwestern Pacific Ocean, northeast of Australia. It is the largest island in the Solomons by area and the second- ...
as well having learned some
Japanese. (However, note that any service in WWII would clash with a 1930/31 birthdate; Carlson would have to have been born circa 1924 or earlier in order to have participated in the
Guadalcanal campaign
The Guadalcanal campaign, also known as the Battle of Guadalcanal and codenamed Operation Watchtower by the United States, was an Allies of World War II, Allied offensive against forces of the Empire of Japan in the Solomon Islands during th ...
.) In speaking with "
Venus Flytrap", Carlson says he saw combat, but does not specify which war.
Mama Carlson belittles him and shows no open signs of affection; she rebuffs his attempts to hug him by pushing him aside and saying "keep away from me!" She admits to
Andy Travis that she "pushed and bullied" Arthur to make him tough and self-sufficient, like her; however, she realizes that the tactic failed and made him even more weak-willed than his father.
He is married to Carmen (
Allyn Ann McLerie), a sweet-natured woman who is almost as shy as he is: though they are happily married, their main problem is that they are so anxious to avoid hurting each other's feelings that they rarely tell each other what they really think. They have a son, Arthur Jr. (
Sparky Marcus in the original series, Lightfield Lewis in the revival), whom they sent off to
military school on Mama Carlson's advice; this proved to be a mistake when it turns "Little Arthur" into a nasty, racist, borderline
fascist
Fascism ( ) is a far-right, authoritarian, and ultranationalist political ideology and movement. It is characterized by a dictatorial leader, centralized autocracy, militarism, forcible suppression of opposition, belief in a natural soci ...
. In the first season, Carlson takes his son out of military school, to live with his parents and go to
public school, but later references suggest that Little Arthur gets worse, not better; in one episode, it is revealed that Little Arthur wants to join the American branch of the
Nazi Party
The Nazi Party, officially the National Socialist German Workers' Party ( or NSDAP), was a far-right politics, far-right political party in Germany active between 1920 and 1945 that created and supported the ideology of Nazism. Its precursor ...
, and in another, it's stated that he wants to join the
PLO
The Palestine Liberation Organization (PLO; ) is a Palestinian nationalist coalition that is internationally recognized as the official representative of the Palestinian people in both the occupied Palestinian territories and the diaspora. ...
. Arthur Jr. returns in ''The New WKRP in Cincinnati'', joining the station as an account executive; he has since abandoned his radical ways and become a petulant, spoiled
yuppie
Yuppie, short for "young urban professional" or "young upwardly-mobile professional", is a term coined in the early 1980s for a young professional person working in a city. The term is first attested in 1980, when it was used as a fairly neu ...
who
expects to be promoted to his father's job. Arthur Jr. is not seen after the first season of the revival. During the course of the series, Carmen has a surprise pregnancy and, after she and Arthur decide they want the baby, she gives birth to a daughter, whom she and Arthur hope they can raise their own way, without the mistakes they made with their son. The girl's name is later revealed to be Melanie in a subsequent episode; she does not appear in the revival.
In the episode "A Simple Little Wedding", it is revealed that Arthur and Carmen have been married for 25 years, and that they
eloped when Mama Carlson began taking control of their wedding. When they decide to renew their vows and have a small wedding ceremony (after a humorous aside when Jennifer and Bailey together seductively tell Carlson that he should "play the field" first), Mama Carlson initially agrees to remain in the background. When Mama Carlson's characteristic need to control asserts itself again, Arthur and Carmen decide to elope again for the second time.
Carlson maintains a professional relationship with Jennifer, an attractive employee with the highest pay. She provides the support that his mother did not. He knows that Jennifer, despite her apparent self-reliance, really cares about him and, in her own way, depends on him too; "You need me to need you," he tells Jennifer in one episode. Carmen is friendly with Jennifer and shows no jealousy or suspicions of her.
Aside from Jennifer, Carlson also relies heavily on
Andy Travis. Although their initial meeting was rocky (Carlson didn't remember hiring Andy over the phone, and then tried to fire him after the station's format change to rock and roll), Carlson often turns to Andy for advice (such as when he decided to turn down a funeral home's business because he found their advertising campaign to be tasteless) and often stands behind Andy when Andy's required to make tough decisions (such as firing a DJ who was taking payola from a record company).
Carlson is tempted once in the course of the series, by his first receptionist, Joyce Armour (
Rosemary Forsyth). When Joyce stops by to recruit WKRP's business for her rep firm, she takes Carlson out for drinks and then asks him to come see her at her hotel room. A nervous Carlson initially thinks Joyce is coming on to him and so brushes her off, but eventually decides to visit her. After a couple of drinks, and some confused conversation, Joyce explains to Carlson that she was simply trying to drum up some business for her firm, and never intended to mislead him. Carlson replied that she didn't, it was merely his usual misinterpreting of a situation. Joyce then tells Carlson that she was flattered he was attracted to her, stating "If you weren't married I'd camp on your doorstep," to which Carlson replied before departing, "If I wasn't married, you wouldn't be camping very long."
Carlson is a
Republican; he belongs to the local
Kiwanis Club as well as the
Rotary Club
Rotary International is one of the largest Service club, service organizations in the world. The self-declared mission of Rotary, as stated on its website, is to "provide service to others, promote integrity, and advance world understanding, go ...
, attends church every Sunday (Gordon Jump had been a practicing
Mormon
Mormons are a religious and cultural group related to Mormonism, the principal branch of the Latter Day Saint movement started by Joseph Smith in upstate New York during the 1820s. After Smith's death in 1844, the movement split into several ...
since the 1960s), and teaches
Sunday School
]
A Sunday school, sometimes known as a Sabbath school, is an educational institution, usually Christianity, Christian in character and intended for children or neophytes.
Sunday school classes usually precede a Sunday church service and are u ...
. He also drives a
Dodge
Dodge is an American brand of automobiles and a division of Stellantis, based in Auburn Hills, Michigan. Dodge vehicles have historically included performance cars, and for much of its existence, Dodge was Chrysler's mid-priced brand above P ...
(at a time when Chrysler was teetering on the brink of bankruptcy). In the episode "Clean Up Radio Everywhere," his socially
conservative
Conservatism is a cultural, social, and political philosophy and ideology that seeks to promote and preserve traditional institutions, customs, and values. The central tenets of conservatism may vary in relation to the culture and civiliza ...
leanings cause him to befriend the Reverend Dr. Bob Halyers, the
Jerry Falwell
Jerry Laymon Falwell Sr. (August 11, 1933 – May 15, 2007) was an American Baptist pastor, televangelist, and conservatism in the United States, conservative activist. He was the founding pastor of the Thomas Road Baptist Church, a megachurch ...
-esque leader of an organization dedicated to purging "obscene" songs from the airwaves. Shocked at reading some of the sexually suggestive lyrics that are being played on his station, Carlson orders his employees to follow Halyers' suggestions and not play those songs. But when Halyers delivers another list of songs to ban (including songs WKRP hasn't played yet), Carlson defies Halyers and refuses to cooperate with him anymore, leading to a boycott of WKRP's sponsors. In the closing scene of the episode, Carlson reaffirms that he likes Halyers personally, but that he won't submit to
censorship
Censorship is the suppression of speech, public communication, or other information. This may be done on the basis that such material is considered objectionable, harmful, sensitive, or "inconvenient". Censorship can be conducted by governmen ...
, and he warns Halyers that anyone who would be cowardly enough to cooperate with him is bound to change his tune when the political winds shift. Carlson's religious views are also brought forward in the episode "God Talks to Johnny"; when Johnny believes that
God
In monotheistic belief systems, God is usually viewed as the supreme being, creator, and principal object of faith. In polytheistic belief systems, a god is "a spirit or being believed to have created, or for controlling some part of the un ...
is speaking to him and starts to go a little crazy, Carlson helps Johnny regain a sense of normalcy by telling him that it's all right if he thinks God is speaking to him, as long as God doesn't tell him to "get naked and hang out at the
airport
An airport is an aerodrome with extended facilities, mostly for commercial Aviation, air transport. They usually consist of a landing area, which comprises an aerially accessible open space including at least one operationally active surf ...
".
Inspiration and casting
According to
Jay Sandrich, director of the ''WKRP'' pilot,
MTM Enterprises
MTM Enterprises (also known as MTM Productions) was an American independent production company established in 1969 by Mary Tyler Moore and her then-husband Grant Tinker to produce ''The Mary Tyler Moore Show'' for CBS. The name for the produc ...
originally wanted
Roddy McDowall
Roderick Andrew Anthony Jude McDowall (17 September 1928 – 3 October 1998) was a British-American actor whose career spanned over 270 screen and stage roles across over 60 years. Born in London, he began his acting career as a child in his n ...
to play Carlson. When McDowall was unavailable, Sandrich recommended Jump, who had just played a memorable role for Sandrich as the bumbling Police Chief Tinkler on the show ''
Soap
Soap is a salt (chemistry), salt of a fatty acid (sometimes other carboxylic acids) used for cleaning and lubricating products as well as other applications. In a domestic setting, soaps, specifically "toilet soaps", are surfactants usually u ...
''.
Carlson was a parody of Jerry Blum (c.1932–February 16, 2019), the President and General Manager of
WQXI in
Atlanta, Georgia
Atlanta ( ) is the List of capitals in the United States, capital and List of municipalities in Georgia (U.S. state), most populous city in the U.S. state of Georgia (U.S. state), Georgia. It is the county seat, seat of Fulton County, Georg ...
, from 1960 to 1989. The turkey drop, in particular, was a much-exaggerated version of one of Blum's real stunts, when he attempted to drop turkeys off the back of a truck and caused a melee of people looking for a free turkey; Carlson's postmortem was lifted, with only slight alteration, from Blum's own reaction to his stunt. Whereas Carlson was weak and indecisive, Blum was in many ways the opposite, a brash and in-your-face personality (hence his nickname "Big Guy") frequently seen in
oversized sunglasses and a buttoned-down
leisure suit.
References
{{DEFAULTSORT:Carlson, Arthur
Television characters introduced in 1978
Fictional managers
WKRP in Cincinnati characters