He left home at the age of ten to work in Cincinnati, Ohio, and in his teens was a successful boxer and semi-professional baseball player.
By 1905, he was working in vaudeville on the Theater Owners Booking Association (TOBA) circuit as a singer and dancer, and started writing and producing sketches and stage shows, soon running his own touring troupe with his first wife.
[7] The show was initially broadcast on a weekly basis, and contained live music and comedy sketches, but Cooper gradually modified and expanded its content.
[8] 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 promoted African Americans as presenters, and was among the first to broadcast commentaries on Negro league baseball games and news targeted at the black community.