On January 30, 1933 radio audiences in Detroit Michigan were first invited to listen to the adventures of a mysterious masked hero called the Lone Ranger. The show was an immediate success and soon audiences all over the country were tuned-in to listen to the dramatic fast paced western thriller. Today, the masked figure of the Lone Ranger is a legendary icon in pop culture, but he got his humble beginnings from radio scriptwriter, Francis Hamilton Striker.

Born on August 19th 1903, Fran Striker grew up in the city of Buffalo, New York. After graduating from Lafayette High School, he attended the University of Buffalo to study chemistry for three years. During his junior year, Striker dropped out of school to start a career in radio. He was soon hired by local Buffalo radio station, WEBR, as a "jack-of-all-trades". Striker worked at everything from radio announcer to studio manager. As one of WEBR's scriptwriters, he wrote for over 40 different series. He penned scripts for westerns, mysteries, science fiction adventures, and even romantic comedies.

Striker found he excelled at script writing and later quit WEBR to become a freelance radio scriptwriter. When George W. Trendle, station owner of WXYZ in Detroit Michigan, asked him to write four episodes of a western thriller starring a masked rider, Striker eagerly accepted the assignment. Later, after the incredible success of The Lone Ranger radio series, he was offered a full-time position at WXYZ. Striker churned out an incredible amount of work during the 20 years he was scriptwriter at the station. According to the Museum of Broadcast Communications, it was estimated he wrote around 60,000 words a week. The Lone Ranger series ran until September 3, 1954 with almost 3,000 individual episodes.

While at WXYZ, Striker was also responsible for several other radio programs. In 1936, he created the contemporary crime fighter series, The Green Hornet starring hero Britt Reid as the Green Hornet (who also happened to be the grand-nephew of the Lone Ranger).

Once The Lone Ranger television series became more popular than the radio series in the early 1950s, Striker decided it was time to move his family back to his native Western New York. Soon after settling in Arcade, New York, he began teaching a television writing course at the Franklin Street YWCA back in his hometown of Buffalo.

Striker also renewed his relations with the University at Buffalo. In 1955 he donated the first five years of The Lone Ranger radio scripts in a formal ceremony with UB President C.C. Furnas. In 1962 Fran Striker agreed to teach a creative writing course at the University, but was killed on September 4th in a car accident.