A Day of Infamy: 45 Years Ago Cincinnati Radio Station Fails Spectacularly with Misguided Turkey Giveaway
It was a chilly November day decades ago that will be forever embedded in the memories of everyone who lived through it. Witnesses who… witnessed this day of infamy will always remember where they were when it happened.
It was the WKRP Turkey Drop, meant to be a cheerful day of community giving but quickly turned into danger from the skies. WKRP news director Les Nessman was on the scene that day when the turkeys fell, now known as “The Day the Turkeys Fell,” relaying the scenes of a panicking crowd fleeing the Pinedale Shopping Mall in Cincinnati, Ohio as they prepared to celebrate the Thanksgiving holiday with their loved ones.
That is, if they survived the projectile turkeys.
Nessman described the scene thusly as a helicopter bearing the banner “Happy Thanksgiving from WKRP” circled the skies above the mall:
What a sight, ladies and gentlemen, what a sight! The copter seems to be circling the parking area now. I guess it’s looking for a place to land… No, something just came out of the back of the helicopter! It’s a dark object, perhaps a skydiver, plummeting to the Earth from only 2,000 feet into the air… A second, a third… There’s no parachutes yet… Those can’t be skydivers.
And no, dear reader, they were not skydivers. Nessman watched in horror as more “dark objects” fell from the whirlybird:
Oh, my god, they’re turkeys! … They’re crashing to the Earth right in front of our eyes! One just went through the windshield of a parked car! This is terrible, everyone’s running around, pushing each other… Oh my goodness! Oh, the humanity! All these people are running about… The turkeys are hitting the ground like sacks of wet cement! I don’t know how much longer– The crowd is running for their lives! I think I’m going to step inside. I can’t watch this any longer.
Nessman had earlier been denied access to the store and was forced to stay outside, exposed to the falling turkeys and the melee that ensued. He recounted that “children were looking for their mothers,” and “not since the Hindenberg tragedy has there been anything like this.”
WKRP radio DJ Dr. Johnny Fever lost the signal with Nessman, who was never heard from again. (Until he was.)
WKRP station manager Arthur Carlson was quoted as saying to the radio staff: “As God as my witness, I thought turkeys could fly.”
Only when they cost $90, Mr. Carlson. Those turkeys can fly. That’s why they cost so much.
Watch the video above via YouTube.
