Re-Imagined Radio

Brief Listing of Radio Writing Efforts

Wyllis Oswald Cooper (1899-1955) was a prolific writer. For newspapers, radio programs, and movies. This chronology provides a brief and incomplete listing of his radio writing, leading up to and following, Lights Out, Quiet, Please, and Whitehall 1212. Otherwise, it is incomplete.

1929-June 22, 1931
Wyllis Cooper began his radio career writing with NBC's The Empire Builders, a pioneering NBC dramatic anthology series sponsored by the Great Northern Railroad. Originally broadcast from New York and later from Chicago. Edward Hale Bierstadt writes some of the earliest episodes which focus on historical dramas of the American northwest. More contemporary comedies and melodramas are also featured. Actor Harvey Hays (who would later spell his name "Hayes") plays the folksy but mysterious host, known variously as "The Old Timer" and "The Old Pioneer."

Cooper, credited as "W. O. Cooper, a Chicago writer," wrote and directed some episodes in the series. The February 10, 1930 concerns copper mining in Butte, Montana. Cooper "made a special trip to the Butte mines to secure material for this drama" which included a climax that "is believed to be the most difficult bit of radio melodrama thus far attempted," according to publicity.

Cooper wrote the November 10, 1930 episode, "The First Armistice Day," one of the oldest surviving recordings of a network radio drama. A copy is available at the Radio Echoes website.

The April 16, 1931 episode, described as "A railroad melodrama appropriate to St. Patrick's day" about "the fighting spirit of the Irish" is credited to "W. O. Cooper."

1932-1933
Cooper wrote and acted for The Lost Legion/Tales of the Foreign Legion series, about a French Foreign Legion outpost.

1934-1936
Cooper created, wrote, and directed Lights Out, a horror anthology series. When he left the series, Arch Obler took over.

1935-1936
Cooper wrote Flying Time, a 15-minute, 5-day-a-week aviation serial, set at an airport.

1940-1941
Cooper wrote episodes for The Campbell Playhouse (the former Mercury Theatre on the Air) during its final season.

June 8, 1947-June 25, 1949
Cooper wrote episodes for Quiet, Please, often noted as radio's most creative radio drama series for its surrealistic yet immersive quality, its depth of characterization, and its challenge to the traditional formula of entertainment.

1951-1952
Cooper wrote and directed the crime series Whitehall 1212.

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