 Unbeknownst to him, his mother has set up WKRP as a tax write-off that is intended to lose money, and she keeps him at the station not because she wants him to succeed but because she expects him to fail.Flashbacks in the episode "Bah, Humbug" reveal that Mr. Carlson joined WKRP as sales manager in the early 1950s.When his mother fired the previous station manager for being too generous to the employees, Arthur got his job.