As a teenager, this episode was funny. I thought (and still think) it was one of the funniest episodes of television comedy EVER! However, later on I had the chance to actually work in a small market radio station and whenever something went awry, I would just think to myself "This is The Turkey Episode made real". Such as the time we did a live broadcast from a car dealer and our guy on the scene gave away 6 new cars...they were HOT WHEELS! We didn't get the positive response we were hoping for on that one.
Or the automated music system that consisted of 16 six-disc cd changers that would - if the lights flickered - reboot and start playing all 16 cd's at once. Sounded like the very Gates Of Hell had been opened.
Then there was the guy who walked into our studio one time and asked if we could turn off the big satellite dish outside because it was interfering with his brain waves.
For me, the "Turkeys Away" episode is simply a slightly exaggerated version of reality!

what a great show - anybody know the song Johnny plays after he says "film at eleven" Deep Purple? Babies?

The Thanksgiving episode has to be one of the best works of 1/2 hour TV comedy ever made. I've included this episode in my "party reel", which contained other WKRP outtakes and other funny stuff that I grabbed off the air. This I had to play in whole...The Hindenburg parody is absolutely gut-busting! The odd thing is that turkeys CAN fly. A town in Arkansas celebrates Thanksgiving every year by dropping a live turkey from an airplane. The turkey can fly just enough to make it to the ground safely. Strange but true.

...this is arguably the best half hour of tv ever made. Even the actors have a hard time keeping straight faces. Once the helicopter lands -"it gets pretty strange after that"