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"This is the witching hour! It is an hour when dogs howl, and evil things are let loose on a sleeping world. Want to hear about it? Then turn out your lights!"

Lights Out debuted in 1934 and was radio's premier horror series. Director and writer, Wyllis Cooper's writing was characterized by grisly stories always matched with the appropriate acting and sound effects, he conceived in 1933 the idea of writing a dramatic midnight mystery serial catchy enough to the listeners' attention at a time when the competition was mostly airing music. It was however dropped in favor of an anthology emphasizing crime thrillers and the supernatural. He stayed with this program until June 1936 when another Chicago writer, Arch Oboler, took over. By the time Cooper left, the series had inspired about 600 fan clubs.

Arch Oboler was eccentric and ambitious when he took over and picked up where Cooper left off, following the latter's general example but investing the scripts with his own concerns using streams of conscious narration and sometimes social and political themes that reflected his commitment to anti-fascist liberalism. Although Lights Out would be closely associated with Oboler later on, he would always credit Wyllis Cooper as the series' creator and spoke highly of him as "the unsung pioneer of radio dramatic techniques" and the first person he knew who understood that radio drama is an art form.

"Burial Service", Oboler's first script in 1936, was initially flooded with outraged response but was followed with the more accepted and frequently repeated "Catwife" and Caligula-inspired "The Dictator". This set the pattern for Oboler's run of two horror episodes followed by a drama on more serious subjects dealing with moral, social and political issues Click here to read more about Lights Out

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Please enjoy these 91 old time radio episodes:

Air Date	Title	Synopsis
05.11.1938	it happened	On a tour in Paris, a rich young girl is fed up with the tour guide, and decides to explore the city...
06.08.1938	spider	"The Spider". Sponsored by: Ironized Yeast, Energene Shoe White. Mr. Oboler mentions that this stor...
04.26.1939	the devils due	A man who aware of the operation of the two thieves approaches them for the possibility of joining t...
11.18.1939	bathyshere	A motive-laden worker descends to record ocean depths with his unsuspecting superior.. His Excellenc...
12.16.1939	nobody died	+ Adelina, an old woman, is dying. Dr Miller is called out to attend to her. Adelina's youngest son ...
02.17.1941	special to hollywood	+ The story is a familiar one. Hollywood celebrities fly to a town for the premier of their new pic...
10.13.1942	revolt of the worms	An experiment backfires as a man and his assistant used human hormones and worms to make roses grow ...
10.20.1942	poltergeist	After playing on a snow covered graveyard and dancing on a gravestone, a girl is hit by a rock whom ...
10.27.1942	mungahra	A man spends weeks in the jungle and steals a massive diamond from a native named Mungahra whom he s...
11.03.1942	neanderthal man	Program #2. CBS net origination, syndicated rebroadcast. "Across The Gap". A group of modern touri...
11.10.1942	bon voyage	Carrying a trunk with mysterious contents to be dumped overboard, two sisters soon discover that the...
11.17.1942	come to the bank	A man explains about the full potentials of the human mind to do almost anything. He experiments on ...
12.01.1942	story of mr maggs	From an auction, a man buys an evil trunk.. + Harold Maggs buys an old unclaimed oak travelling trun...
12.08.1942	scoop	An investor buys a loosing newspaper and decides to cut on manpower by dismissing staff members abov...
12.15.1942	knock at the door	A protective mother is murdered by her sons girlfriend but her ghost keeps haunting whenever her son...
12.22.1942	the meteor man	A meteorite is found by a stargazing couple. Opening it, they find it is made of flesh and transform...
12.29.1942	valse triste	Two girls on a camping trip, and while rowing docks their boat on an island to pick some flowers whe...
01.05.1943	fast one	A man consumes a formula that speeds-up humans and starts a criminal spree.. Who among us has not ha...
01.19.1943	devil mr alleycat
01.26.1943	protective mr drogan	A report to the police claims that a man just killed someone. Scenes flashes back to a party where t...
02.02.1943	until dead	A murdered girlfriend’s voice torments her boyfriend as if asking for justice. Her boyfriend sets ...
02.09.1943	we dug it up
02.16.1943	oxychloride x	Program #12. CBS net origination, syndicated rebroadcast. "Oxychloride X". A young crackpot colleg...
02.23.1943	they met at dorset	Unsure of his location, the German rescue mission tries to free Rudolf Hess from his English captors...
03.02.1943	the sea	+ Sharing her miserable confession with Father Donahue on her deathbed the mother told of her two so...

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"Lights out" is (I think) my favorite OTR show. The first OTR I heard (after War Of The Worlds) of course was "The Dark" by Lights out. I was at my cabin, everybody we're asleep and I was listening to it with my headphones in my bed. 7 minutes that I always remember!!

Daniel

My favorite Lights Out of all! And my favorite show too!!

Daniel

REALLY scary show!! Death Robbery is one of my top ten creepiest OTR shows of all time!

Bob

Always good to hear Mr. Karloff.

Daniel

That is a great one!

Susan

This horror drama was broadcast by WENR- Chicago (1934-1935), then CBS, NBC and ABC from 1936 to 1947.

LIGHTS OUT

I've been listening to Lights Out and heard for the umpteenth time, the ad for Ironized Yeast. It seems as if this was just simply vitamins. But the ad specifically promised that it would help women PUT ON weight.

Dan

Today we celebrate the 1934 premiere of Lights Out! Devoted to tales of terror and the supernatural, Lights Out was one of the first horror programs to come to radio (even before classic programs like Suspense and Inner Sanctum made their debut). Writer Arch Oboler became famous for his work on the series.

Mike