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Lights Out
“Lights Out Everybody”
If it was midnight Wednesday, the radio was tuned to NBC for Lights Out, a show that featured tales of the supernatural and the supernormal. It was the first of the horror/suspense radio shows, predating Inner Sanctum and Suspense.
At first, the show was first written by Wyllis Cooper, he emphasized great sound effects and gripping stories. In 1936 Arch Oboler took over the writing and he brought the show through its huge successes. Hit stories like Cat Wife and Chicken Heart (and if you get a chance, listen to Bill Cosby’s comedy routine on the Chicken Heart, that may be what really got me into old time radio programs) still evoke memories today. The stories called for all sorts of horror: breaking bones, blood dripping, heads being severed, and who can forget human flesh being eaten. The glory of the show was that they had a sound effects team up to the challenge. But rather than actually kill people for the show, they experimented and found out that a soaked rag thrown against a wall sounded like a body slamming against pavement, maple syrup sounded like blood, and so on and so on. The stories are also notable for the chances that Oboler took, he played with first person narratives, stream of consciousness. In short, he pushed the envelope of what radio could deliver.
The show had such a following that when NBC tried to cancel the show in 1937 fans protested in the hundreds and kept the show going. Similar to Star Trek in the 1960s.
Lights Out ran from 1934 through 1939. Then it went through several reboots, each less successful then the previous one. The last radio show aired in 1947. Then Lights Out was on television from 1949-1952.
It..is..later..than..you..think
All of our Old Time Radio Programs are in MP3 format. You can play them on your computer, you can transfer them to MP3 players (like the IPod), but, by and large, you cannot play them on stereos, walkmen, or car radios.
The sound quality of Old Time Radio Programs can vary greatly. Some episodes are excellent, others you have to turn up the volume a little and ignore the static. All of the episodes can be listened to and enjoyed. You can listen to our free samples to get a feel for how they sound.
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68 Episodes
Episode List:
360617 Cat Wife
360916 The Sea
361216 Nobody Died
370303 Sakhalin
370317 State Executioner
371222 A Christmas Story
371229 The Dark
380126 Oxychloride X
380216 Murder Castle
380310 Chicken Heart
380323 The Dream
380330 Valse Trieste With Boris Karloff
380511 It Happened
390426 The Devil's Due
390429 The Cliff
390520 Crazy Town
391216 Nobody Died
410217 Special To Hollywood
410806 Best Laid Plans
421013 Revolt Of The Worms
421020 Gravestone
421020 Poltergeist
421027 Mungahra
421103 Neanderthal
421117 Come To The Bank
421201 The Story Of Mr Maggs
421215 A Knock At The Door
421222 The Meteor Man
421229 Valse Trieste
430105 Speed
430105 The Fast One (speed)
430119 Alley Cat
430126 The Protective Mr Drogan
430202 Until Dead
430216 Oxychloride X
430302 The Sea
430323 Flame
430330 Money Money Money
430406 Superfeature
430420 Kill
430427 Execution
430511 Murder In The Script Dep't
430518 Spider
430525 Little Old Lady
430601 The Freak
430629 Bathysphere
430713 Visitor From Hades
430720 Profits Unlimited
430727 The Little People
430803 Murder Castle
430817 State Executioner
430824 Sub Basement
430831 Immortal Gentleman
430907 Lord Marley's Guest
430914 The World
430921 The Mirage
430928 Author And The Thing
450628 The Truth
450728 The Rocket Ship
450825 Man In The Middle
450920 Rocket From Manhattan
460713 The Coffin In Studio B
460720 Haunted Cell
460727 Battle Of The Magicians
460803 The Revenge Of India
460810 Ghost In The Newsreel Negative
460824 The Signalman
African Story
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