In Concert (WKRP In Cincinnati)
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"In Concert" is a
very special episode A "very special episode" is an advertising term originally used in American television promos to refer to an episode of a sitcom or drama series which deals with a difficult or controversial social issue. The usage of the term peaked in the 198 ...
of the television series ''
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 ...
''. Airing as the 19th episode of the second season, it was first broadcast in the United States on February 11, 1980 on
CBS CBS Broadcasting Inc., commonly shortened to CBS (an abbreviation of its original name, Columbia Broadcasting System), is an American commercial broadcast television and radio network serving as the flagship property of the CBS Entertainme ...
, and the concept for the episode was described as "admirably ambitious" by William Beamon, writing in the St. Petersburg ''
Evening Independent The ''Evening Independent'' was St. Petersburg, Florida's first daily newspaper. The sister evening newspaper of the '' St. Petersburg Times'', it was launched as a weekly newspaper in March 1906 under the ownership of Willis B. Powell. In Nove ...
'' before he had viewed the episode. The plot is centered around the deadly gate-rushing incident that occurred in Cincinnati prior to the December 3, 1979, performance 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 ...
at
Riverfront Coliseum Heritage Bank Center is an indoor arena in downtown Cincinnati, adjacent to Great American Ball Park. It was completed in September 1975 and named Riverfront Coliseum because of its placement next to Riverfront Stadium. In 1997, the facility be ...
, eleven weeks before the episode aired.


Plot

The
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 ...
promotes 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 ...
, and employees prepare to attend the concert. Station employees are overcome with guilt after a push for seats by attending fans results in some fans being crushed to death. The next day, they discuss the tragic events, the fallibility of
festival seating In live entertainment there are several possible schemes for the seating assignment of spectators, including completely unassigned seating. There are several schemes most commonly used, though there are no firm rules, and alternate or modified sc ...
, and the sorrow felt by both the staff and the people of Cincinnati.


Background

The December 3, 1979, concert at the
Riverfront Coliseum Heritage Bank Center is an indoor arena in downtown Cincinnati, adjacent to Great American Ball Park. It was completed in September 1975 and named Riverfront Coliseum because of its placement next to Riverfront Stadium. In 1997, the facility be ...
in Cincinnati was the 14th stop during The Who's 1979 world tour. Of the 18,348 tickets sold for the concert, 14,770 were for unassigned seats known as
festival seating In live entertainment there are several possible schemes for the seating assignment of spectators, including completely unassigned seating. There are several schemes most commonly used, though there are no firm rules, and alternate or modified sc ...
, obtained on a
first-come, first-served Queueing theory is the mathematical study of Queue area, waiting lines, or wikt:queue, queues. A queueing model is constructed so that queue lengths and waiting time can be predicted. Queueing theory is generally considered a branch of operatio ...
basis. City officials had objected to the use of festival seating at the facility as early as October 1976. Attendees arrived as much as six hours before the start of the concert to attempt to garner the best available seats, and a crowd had gathered by 3:00 p.m. ET. An hour before the start of the concert, "thousands were tightly packed around the entrance doors", and by 7:20 p.m. ET the crowd consisted of 8,000 people. Some members of the crowd rushed the gates on the plaza level on the west side of the Coliseum, crushing those at the front. The incident resulted in the death of 11 individuals by
compressive asphyxia Asphyxia or asphyxiation is a condition of deficient supply of oxygen to the body which arises from abnormal breathing. Asphyxia causes generalized hypoxia, which affects all the tissues and organs, some more rapidly than others. There are m ...
and injuries to 23. In a
press conference A press conference, also called news conference or press briefing, is a media event in which notable individuals or organizations invite journalism, journalists to hear them speak and ask questions. Press conferences are often held by politicia ...
after the concert, police lieutenant Dale Menkhaus stated that too few gate doors had been opened, and witnesses stated only one door had been opened at the main gate. Menkahus stated that the doors had been purposely kept closed because The Who had arrived late for a
soundcheck A soundcheck is the preparation that takes place before a concert, speech, or similar performance to adjust the sound on the venue's sound reinforcement or public address system. The performer and the audio engineers run through a small po ...
. An emergency room supervisor stated that the victims had sustained "multiple
contusion A bruise, also known as a contusion, is a type of hematoma of tissue, the most common cause being capillaries damaged by trauma, causing localized bleeding that extravasates into the surrounding interstitial tissues. Most bruises occur clo ...
s and
hemorrhages Bleeding, hemorrhage, haemorrhage or blood loss, is blood escaping from the circulatory system from damaged blood vessels. Bleeding can occur internally, or externally either through a natural opening such as the mouth, nose, ear, urethra, vag ...
". The facility and its executives had received lawful orders from the city's
fire chief A fire chief or fire commissioner is a top executive rank or commanding officer in a fire department. Nomenclature Various official English-language titles for a fire chief include ''fire chief'', ''chief fire officer'' and ''fire commissioner ...
as early as 1976 concerning event actions, such as "locking and barring of exit doors during performances, overcrowded conditions and the blocking of aisles". Executives were later charged for failure to comply with those lawful orders. Security for a concert by The Who in
Buffalo, New York Buffalo is a Administrative divisions of New York (state), city in the U.S. state of New York (state), New York and county seat of Erie County, New York, Erie County. It lies in Western New York at the eastern end of Lake Erie, at the head of ...
, the next night was doubled, and the band dedicated it to the victims. Two concerts scheduled at Riverfront Coliseum were postponed: that by
Blue Öyster Cult Blue Öyster Cult ( ; sometimes abbreviated BÖC or BOC) is an American rock band formed on Long Island, New York, in the hamlet of Stony Brook, in 1967. They have sold 25 million records worldwide, including 7 million in the United States. ...
on December 14, and that by
Aerosmith Aerosmith is an American Rock music, rock band formed in Boston in 1970. The group consists of lead vocalist Steven Tyler, bassist Tom Hamilton (musician), Tom Hamilton, drummer Joey Kramer, and guitarists Joe Perry (musician), Joe Perry and B ...
on December 21. On December 27, 1979, the Cincinnati municipal council enacted bylaws banning festival seating as a result of this event. The council and the
Government of Ohio The government of the U.S. state of Ohio consists of the executive, judicial, and legislative branches. Its basic structure is set forth in the Constitution of Ohio, Constitution and law of Ohio. Executive branch The daily administration of the st ...
also passed laws involving
crowd control Crowd control is a public security practice in which large crowds are managed in order to prevent the outbreak of crowd crushes, affray, fights involving drunk and disorderly people or riots. Crowd crushes in particular can cause many hundre ...
. The cities of
Indianapolis Indianapolis ( ), colloquially known as Indy, is the List of capitals in the United States, capital and List of municipalities in Indiana, most populous city of the U.S. state of Indiana and the county seat of Marion County, Indiana, Marion ...
and
Louisville Louisville is the most populous city in the Commonwealth of Kentucky, sixth-most populous city in the Southeast, and the 27th-most-populous city in the United States. By land area, it is the country's 24th-largest city; however, by populatio ...
prepared ordinances to ban festival seating.


Conception and development

Hugh Wilson, the show's producer, said he initially rejected the idea for the episode, but later accepted when writers told him that the incident happened in Cincinnati, in which the show is based, and involved
rock and roll Rock and roll (often written as rock & roll, rock-n-roll, and rock 'n' roll) is a Genre (music), genre of popular music that evolved in the United States during the late 1940s and early 1950s. It Origins of rock and roll, originated from African ...
, the show's primary subject. The episode would focus on the fact that few cities in the United States addressed the issue of festival and unreserved seating after the incident. Richard Sanders stated that the cast had a "hard time to get up for some of the comic parts of the show" because of the subject of the episode. He stated that the "whole cast had read the articles, everything we could get hold of, about the incident" and that it was a "hard week to get through". In an interview with
WEBN WEBN (102.7 FM) – branded as 102-7 WEBN – is a commercial active rock radio station licensed to Cincinnati, Ohio, serving Greater Cincinnati. Owned by iHeartMedia, WEBN serves as the FM flagship for the Cincinnati Bengals Radio Net ...
, Sanders stated that the cast "had an objective in mind" so that "other cities will become conscious of the dangers" of festival seating. The production team had requested from
WCPO-TV WCPO-TV (channel 9) is a television station in Cincinnati, Ohio, United States, affiliated with ABC. It is the flagship television property of locally based E. W. Scripps Company, which has owned the station since its inception. WCPO-TV's ...
(the CBS affiliate station in Cincinnati from 1961 to 1996)
footage In filmmaking and video production, footage is raw, unedited material as originally filmed by a movie camera or recorded by a digital video camera, which typically must be film editing, edited to create a motion picture, digital video, video cli ...
of a candlelight memorial service for the victims held at the Coliseum. The station's
vice president A vice president or vice-president, also director in British English, is an officer in government or business who is below the president (chief executive officer) in rank. It can also refer to executive vice presidents, signifying that the vi ...
Robert Gordon rejected the request stating "this incident is so sensitive that we don't wish to participate without greater control or knowledge of the end product". Gordon had stated that the station would not broadcast the episode. After he and other network officials previewed it, they "found it in good taste and allowed it to be aired". Before being broadcast, CBS vice president of operations Donn O'Brien told Wilson that the episode would not include the ending with a printed crawl message listing all cities in the United States to enact bylaws or pass an ordinance banning festival and unreserved seating. Cincinnati was the only city listed.


Notes


References

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Further reading

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External links

* {{The Who 1980 American television episodes WKRP in Cincinnati Television episodes about advertising Television episodes about death Television episodes about disasters Television episodes about social issues Works based on actual events Television episodes set in Ohio The Who