PODCAST · arts

The Devil and Mr. O - Single Episodes

by Old Time Radio

THE DEVIL AND MR. O A transcribed syndication of original broadcasts from Lights Out . With its premiere on the nationwide NBC hookup in 1935, Lights Out was billed "the ultimate in horror." Never had such sounds been heard on the air. Heads rolled, bones were crushed, people fell from great heights and splattered wetly on pavement. There were garrotings, choking, heads split by cleavers, and, to a critic at Radio Guide, "the most monstrous of all sounds, human flesh being eaten." Few shows had ever combined the talents of actors and imaginative writers so well with the graphic art of the sound technician. Wyllis Cooper, who created, wrote, and produced it, was then a 36-year-old staffer in Chicago's NBC Studios. Cooper created his horror "by raiding the larder." For the purposed of Lights Out sound effects, people were what they ate. The sound of a butcher knife rending a piece of uncooked pork was, when accompanied by shrieks and screams, the essence of murder to a listener alone at