The Truth Behind the WKRP Turkey Incident

How one Thanksgiving broadcast turned into decades of denial

People still argue about what actually happened in 1978 when WKRP in Cincinnati ran that Thanksgiving promotion that ended with birds dropping like sandbags. The official version has always been, “Relax, it was just a stunt.” But anyone who remembers that year knows the station scrambled hard to explain what came down and why.

Since then, we have all been told the same line over and over, turkeys do not fly, end of discussion. Convenient, considering how many people swear they have seen heavy, wobbling shapes drift over parking lots every November. The moment anyone mentions it, someone pops up with, “Geese. Tricks of the light. You are mistaken.” The excuses arrive faster than the sightings.

And the WKRP broadcast gets treated like nothing more than sitcom lore, even though that one line, “As God is my witness, I thought turkeys could fly,” still sounds less like a joke and more like somebody trying to explain a fiasco they never expected to be caught on air.

Believe whatever makes you feel comfortable. Just maybe do not stand under any power lines this week.

Happy Thanksgiving from Red Herrings & False Flags!