Tim Reid has spent decades keeping one of the most extraordinary stories of his life close to the vest, but a newly viral clip is changing that.
The WKRP in Cincinnati actor opened up about the night he nearly landed behind bars in apartheid-era South Africa after broadcasting Bob Marley's banned protest anthem "Survival" over a Johannesburg radio station.
During an episode of WTVR's Untold podcast, Reid explained how he was in the country in Spring 1981, invited alongside his WKRP co-star Howard Hesseman to appear at a festival on behalf of a radio station that was actively pushing back against apartheid.
At the festival, Reid pulled out a Bob Marley cassette and played "Survival," the title cut from Marley and the Wailers' 1979 LP, on the airwaves. The album had already been partially censored for its outwardly militant message of African solidarity by South African authorities. Reid later explained exactly why the choice was so charged.
"Now this is during apartheid, what they don't want to hear is Black people singing they are the survivors,” he said.
What happened next was powerful, according to Reid. "When that song hit, 5,000 people, Black and white, went crazy, screaming, dancing....it was just euphoric," he said.
The celebration inside the booth was considerably shorter. The station manager sprinted in and ripped Reid's tape from the machine the moment the song ended. "‘You've got to get out of here. You've got to get out of here, they're coming to get you!’" said Reid, reflecting on what the manager said to him, also claiming that broadcasting the banned track was a criminal offense and that officers were already on the way.
Reid and Hesseman bolted for their limousine and ran straight into two Afrikaner police officers waiting outside. The actors avoided arrest because, according to Reid, they were “really drunk.”
“And they were fans of WKRP, the show was one of the most popular shows in South Africa,” Reid continued. “And they were like, 'I don't want to arrest Venus and Johnny Fever!'" The officers let the pair go but warned them they would be taken in by morning if they didn’t leave.
"I didn't know until the police showed up that I had broke the law," Reid said.
According to Reid, the station’s owner gave him instructions that helped keep him out of jail. After boarding a private plane, he was flown to a private location where they remained hidden for a week before leaving the country undetected.
The trip carried an additional, painful layer. While Reid was at the festival, the Associated Press broke the news that Marley had fallen into a coma. Reid had been in contact with Marley's wife Rita before the trip and had been planning to visit Jamaica for a meeting with the reggae icon. Marley died on May 11, 1981, and the two never met.
