After moving to Chicago around 1920, he began writing theater reviews for the Chicago Defender, while attempting to break into the new radio industry as a performer."Chicago's Radio Voice, Jack Cooper", at African American Registry. Retrieved 20 May 2014 While working for the Defender in Washington, D.C. he first appeared on radio, writing and performing comic sketches on station WCAP. He returned to Chicago in 1926 and developed a proposal for a new show, The All-Negro Hour, which premiered on WSBC on November 3, 1929. Billie Henderson, "Jack Cooper and Gang Blazing the Trail in Radio Broadcasting Field," Pittsburgh Courier, January 10, 1931, p. 18. The show was initially broadcast on a weekly basis, and contained live music and comedy sketches, but Cooper gradually modified and expanded its content. It became successful with both listeners and commercial sponsors and continued until 1936. By the mid-1930s, Cooper presented 9 hours each week on WSBC. He was one of the first, if not the first, to broadcast gramophone records, including gospel music and jazz, using his own phonograph. Corey Deitz, "A Profile of Radio Personality Jack L. Cooper", About.com . Retrieved 20 May 2014 In 1938, he created a new show, Search for Missing Persons, designed to reunite listeners with family members who they had lost contact with. He also pioneered a mobile news team to cover items of interest to Chicago's black community.
