The Cincinnati
Thanksgiving Turkey Drop
Embedded Files
WKRP in Cincinnati is a radio station based in Cincinnati, Ohio, founded by Lillian Carlson, and is currently owned by Arthur Carlson. Over the many years this station has existed, many controversies have popped up, such as the changing of the music played on the station from soft, calm music to rock and roll (which led to the raiding of the WKRP headquarters).
However, one controversy stands out from the rest.
November 22nd, 1978
Cincinnati, Ohio, United States
This is the Western Village Shopping Mall, formerly known as the Pinedale Shopping Center. WKRP manager Arthur Carlson arranged a publicity stunt deemed the "WKRP Turkey Thanksgiving Giveaway". The act was simple: Arthur Carlson would ride a helicopter above the shopping mall, and have turkeys gracefully fly down to people in the parking lot. To broadcast this even further, they had WKRP newsman, Les Nessman, on the scene to describe the events taking place to WKRP listeners.
It was November 22nd, 1978, around noon. Les Nessman was positioned outside of what is now the Ulta Beauty Cosmetic Store. Many curious, yet well behaved people surrounded the parking lot in wondering of what the Turkey Drop would be. Suddenly, in the sky, there was a helicopter, with a banner that read "HAPPY THANKSGIVING FROM WKRP". A figure popped out of the back of the helicopter, and something fell out.
Photo of the WKRP helicopter and the banner it was flying (in this photo, the banner is cut off)
The full banner reads "HAPPY THANKSGIVING FROM WKRP"
The last known photo of the event aside from the WKRP newscast.
Onlookers had trouble seeing what it was as the object was plummeting from over 2000 feet above the ground. Not even the WKRP news reporter, Les Nessman, could see what it was at first. Many thought it was a skydiver that had not yet released their parachute. It was, in fact, not a skydiver.
The object plummeting from the sky was a turkey.
Mass chaos ensued as turkeys plummeted from the sky into the crowd and the parking lot. One turkey crashed into a car window, breaking the windshield and costing thousands of dollars in damages. Eyewitness account describe the turkeys hitting the ground "like bags of wet cement". Along with the horrific sights of turkeys falling from the sky, crowds chaotically rushed inside to escape the falling turkeys.
A newspaper talking about the event. You can see the landed helicopter in the image.
After Arthur Carlson realized his mistake, he thought that he could salvage something out of the event by letting the rest of the turkeys loose. However, this led to the turkeys attacking people who were at or around the event area, leading to the Animal Control being called. Some say the turkeys were very coordinated, as if it was a "counterattack".
Though traumatizing, the WKRP Thanksgiving Turkey Drop was probably one of the funniest accidents related to Thanksgiving to ever occur. It led to a couple of lawsuits, and a boatload of controversies from the Humane Society. It also led to many children not eating turkeys at Thanksgiving this year. Overall, this was probably one of the strangest yet darkly comical incidents ever to occur.
One last thing: on November 24th, 1978, Arthur Carlson made his official response to the press about the event. These were his final words on the topic.
"As God as my witness, I thought turkeys could fly."
Credits: Adapted from "Turkeys Away," WKRP in Cincinnati, Hugh Wilson, creator, producer, Michael Zinberg, director, Bill Dial, writer, Seas. 1, Ep. 7, air date 30 Oct. 1978.
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