Jeff Dugan, a radio disc jockey and program director of station QSKY in Los Angeles, California, gathers his employees for a staff meeting. Dugan informs them that Albert Driscoll, vice president of Billings Corporation, is sending them a new sales manager, Regis Lamar, from the station’s home office in Chicago, Illinois. Dugan explains that the station owner wants to increase advertising sales. The other disc jockeys, Prince, Mother, and Eric Swan, worry that Regis will interfere with their business, and Dugan suspects Regis will “over commercialize” the station, ignoring the music and driving away listeners. Moving to the next order of business, Prince reminds Dugan that his rival, Michael J. Carlyle, program director of KLAX radio, has secured the rights to sponsor the upcoming Linda Ronstadt concert. However, Dugan plans to steal KLAX’s live transmission to broadcast the show on QSKY. The next day, Regis arrives at the station earlier than expected, wanders around the office, and nearly catches Eric having sex with his assistant, Cathy. Returning to the office, Dugan introduces himself to Regis and invites him to a Jimmy Buffett concert sponsored by the radio station, but Regis has never heard of Jimmy Buffett. Meanwhile, Eric telephones his agent, Jack Rapp, demanding work as a television show host. At the Buffett concert, Dugan tries to get Regis excited about the music, but Regis is focused on increasing commercial sales. The next day, Regis meets with Lt. Bill Reach with the hope of selling Army recruitment radio advertisements. Meanwhile, Eric learns about an audition to host a game show. Later, Dugan and Regis receive the latest station ratings and discover QSKY is now number one in the Los Angeles market. All of the station’s disc jockeys are popular, except Doc Holiday. Regis plans to use the ratings to sell advertisements, as Dugan fires Doc and replaces him with Laura Coe. However, Dugan promises to find Doc another job. The next day, Lt. Reach plays the Army’s advertising jingles and Dugan winces then asks for time to think it over. The next evening, the QSKY disc jockeys sign autographs at Tower Records. Regis pressures Dugan to make a decision regarding the Army campaign, which is worth $125,000 in advertising revenue, and explains that once Dugan agrees, he can expand the campaign to all ten of the Billings Corporation’s radio stations. Dugan’s rival, Carlyle, arrives at Tower Records with Maggie, a record company promoter, and gloats about his studio’s sponsorship of the Linda Ronstadt concert. Dugan and Maggie are acquaintances, and Dugan takes her aside to speak to her privately. The next day, Dugan tells Regis the Army campaign does not suit the radio station’s style, and suggests that the QSKY disc jockeys create their own promotional recordings. Regis likes the idea, as long as they can still run the advertisements twice an hour, but Dugan refuses these terms and tells Regis to stop the Army campaign. Regis declares that he will override Dugan and get approval from Driscoll. The next evening, at the Linda Ronstadt concert, Dugan and his staff bribe concert security guards to allow their engineer, Bobby Douglas, into the control booth. Dugan also bribes Carlyle’s limousine driver to arrive late. Before the concert begins, Bobby transfers the signal from KLAX to QSKY, and broadcasts the concert. By the time Carlyle arrives, Linda Ronstadt publicly thanks QSKY for sponsoring the concert. Meanwhile, back at the station office, Regis discusses the Army promotion with Driscoll and he agrees to accept the deal, despite Dugan’s opposition. The next day, Eric learns that his audition for the television job was so terrible that his agent, Rapp, dropped him as a client. Moments later, he learns that his lover, Cathy, accepted a job with Rapp. Barricading himself inside the booth, Eric has an emotional breakdown on air, begging for someone to love him. Eric’s fans flock to the station, and the disc jockey is cheered. The next day, disc jockey Mother quits QSKY, claiming she has grown tired of the station’s new commercialism. Meanwhile, Driscoll arrives from Chicago to discuss the Army promotion. As Dugan and Regis argue, Driscoll demands that Dugan follow orders, and Dugan quits. The other QSKY disc jockeys plan a protest. In the middle of the night, they stock up on supplies and barricade themselves inside the station. At six o’clock in the morning, they begin broadcasting their demands, announcing that they will take over the station until Billings Corporation rehires Dugan and allows him free reign. As days go by, a crowd of supporters grows increasingly larger outside of the station. Dugan joins his colleagues in their protest. When Driscoll obtains a court injunction and orders the protesters to evacuate the station, a riot ensues and the police intervene. Shocked that the situation has become out of control, Dugan grabs a microphone and begs the crowd to stop the unrest. He then announces his surrender, hoping to keep everyone safe. Suddenly, Carl Billings, the owner of Billings Corporation, appears and tells Dugan that he admires the disc jockey’s convictions. After firing Driscoll and Regis, Billings announces Dugan can keep his job and run the station.