Lights Out
Originally broadcast on NBC, 1 January 1935. Transferred from the Internet Archive's Old Time Radio Researchers collection (public domain).
← Broadway on the Air
1935–1947 · NBC
Lights Out
Written for the dark, and only for the dark
Wyllis Cooper's idea was simple and slightly mad: a drama scheduled at midnight, written on the assumption that the listener was alone and had turned the lights off. When Arch Oboler inherited it in 1936 he pushed it further than any sponsor would have permitted, into cannibalism, disintegration and a chicken heart that grows until it consumes the earth. The programme is also a technical landmark — much of what sound effects departments learned about suggesting the unspeakable, they learned making this.
71 broadcasts · 12 seasons held · Chicago, then Hollywood
19351
19362
Lights Out
Originally broadcast on NBC, 10 March 1937. Transferred from the Internet Archive's Old Time Radio Researchers collection (public domain).
Lights Out
Transferred from the Internet Archive item “LightsOutoldTimeRadio”, part of the Old Time Radio Researchers public-domain collections.
19374
Lights Out
Originally broadcast on NBC, 11 May 1938. Transferred from the Internet Archive's Old Time Radio Researchers collection (public domain).
Lights Out
Transferred from the Internet Archive item “LightsOutoldTimeRadio”, part of the Old Time Radio Researchers public-domain collections.
Lights Out
Transferred from the Internet Archive item “LightsOutoldTimeRadio”, part of the Old Time Radio Researchers public-domain collections.
Lights Out
Transferred from the Internet Archive item “LightsOutoldTimeRadio”, part of the Old Time Radio Researchers public-domain collections.
19383
Lights Out
Originally broadcast on NBC, 30 March 1943. Restored from the Old Time Radio archives.
Lights Out
Originally broadcast on NBC, 11 May 1943. Transferred from the Internet Archive's Old Time Radio Researchers collection (public domain).
Lights Out
Originally broadcast on NBC, 22 June 1943. Transferred from the Internet Archive's Old Time Radio Researchers collection (public domain).
19391
Lights Out
Originally broadcast on NBC, 17 August 1943. Transferred from the Internet Archive's Old Time Radio Researchers collection (public domain).
19411
Lights Out
Originally broadcast on NBC, 21 July 1945. Restored from the Old Time Radio archives.