NEW YORK Howard Hesseman, who played the radio disc jockey Dr. Johnny Fever on the sitcom WKRP in Cincinnati and the actor-turned-history teacher Charli.
Hesseman, who had himself been a radio DJ in the 1960s, earned two Emmy nominations for playing Johnny Fever on CBS’S WKRP in Cincinnati, which ran for four seasons from 1978-1982. The role made Hesseman a counterculture icon at a time when few hippie characters made it onto network television. He was 81.