Journalist and writer Norman Corwin remembered

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"There is no term in radio that is equivalent to couch potato or boob tube, because the radio listener had to collaborate with what he was hearing, as one collaborates with the author of a book when you're reading the book," Norman Corwin said in a documentary called The Poet Laureate of Radio.

Corwin earned the honorific during a career that spanned nearly eight decades as a broadcasting pioneer. His radio dramas captured America's history and character in singularly eloquent writing.

"He was the greatest writer in radio," said Joe Saltzman, one of his colleagues at USC. "I once asked him how he developed this unique style of writing, and he said he learned how to write by reading the Bible, where he believed all literature began, and the plays of William Shakespeare. And the thing about Corwin is, you could recognize his writing with just a single sentence."

Saltzman remembered Corwin as both a brilliant writer and a loyal friend.

"He died at 101," Saltzman said. "Everyone says, 'Wow, what a great, full life,' but for me, he died too young. A couple of us were talking about Norman and we laughed because he really didn't die the way he wanted to. He often told us how he wanted his obituary to read, and it would go something like this: 'Norman Corwin was shot and killed today by a jealous husband. He was 126.' And that's how he wanted to be remembered. We'll all miss him. He used language in a way that was so eloquent, so funny, so precise, it was just a pleasure to listen to him talk about anything and everything. And he wrote this wonderful radio play, On a Note of Triumph, when World War II ended. It was certainly the most listened-to drama in radio history. If you were an American, you were listening to that broadcast in 1945. There were so many memorable sentences in that poem. I just remember one that said, 'That man, unto his fellow man, shall be a friend forever.' Oh, my, he was a great friend. When he was your friend, he was your friend forever."