Television writer and producer William Allen "Bill" Dial died of a heart attack on 2 June 2008. He will be remembered for "Turkeys Away", the Thanksgiving Turkey Drop episode of WKRP in Cincinnati. The episode is available here on Hulu.com, and features the now classic punchline "As God is my witness, I thought turkeys could fly." He also appeared as Bucky Dornster in two episodes of the series.
His genre writing credits include episodes of: Sliders (1999), Team Knight Rider (1998), Legend (1995), Star Trek: Voyager (1995), Star Trek: Deep Space Nine (1994), Time Trax (1993), and E.A.R.T.H. Force (1990). In addition, he served as executive producer for episodes of Legend, Sliders, and E.A.R.T.H. Force.
Allen Steele writes of Dial: "As someone whose wife works in radio, I can attest that this particular episode is known, remembered, and appreciated by every DJ who has ever done a promotional event that has backfired with disastrous consequences. Whenever this sort of thing happens in real life, almost inevitably someone will say, 'Hey, remember that time on WKRP when they threw the turkeys from the helicopter?' Radio jocks everywhere owe Bill Dial a debt of gratitude, even if they don't know who he was."
Different sources list his age as 64, 65, or 66.
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