Radio
- Primary Sources
- Secondary Sources, Context and Background
- Reference Sources: Directories, Yearbooks, Statistics
- Reference Sources: Encyclopedias, Dictionaries, Chronologies, etc.
- Biographical Sources
Primary Sources for Radio
OTR.Network Library offers "Old Time Radio" programs.
Internet Archive includes films, radio audio clips, news clips, educational films, advertisements, industry films, etc.
For news programs see Broadcasting/Newsreels in News Sources
American Archive of Public Broadcasting offers American public radio and television content dating back to the 1950s.
Old Radio Programs: An Archive of Historical Old Radio Broadcasts
More sources for radio programs are listed at: American Radio History: Resources on the Web (Univ. Penn.)
Public Broadcasting PolicyBase (1945-2012): Key documents about the history, purpose, policy and structure of public broadcasting in the US.
Advertisements
Radio Advertising in the 1920s and 1930s
Selling Stuff During the Golden Age of Radio
AmericanRadioHistory.com: The Online Radio & TV Library offers an enormous collection of radio/TV magazines.
AmericanRadioHistory.com: The Online Radio & TV Library offers ratings (Arbitron and other statistics).
Archival Collections (Not at Harvard)
A resource guide to the golden age of radio: special collections, bibliography and the Internet, by Susan and David S. Siegel. Yorktown Heights, NY : Book Hunter Press, 2006, 215 p
HOLLIS Record
--Lists archives and special collections on radio with thorough subject index. Repositories with records of radio stations, sometimes transcripts and recordings, are indexed under Station history. Emphasis on 1920s-1960s..
Library of Congress. Recorded Sound Research Center.
Conducting Research in the Library's Recorded Sound Collections
For specific titles, search the whole Library of Congress website
Radio series scripts, 1930-2001: a catalog of the American Radio Archives collection, by Jeanette M. Berard and Klaudia Englund. Jefferson, N.C. : McFarland, 2006, 421 p.
HOLLIS Record
George H. Clark Radioana Collection, c. 1880-1950. National Museum of American History, Smithsonian Institution
Online guide
Register of the George H. Clark Radioana Collection, c. 1880-1950, by Robert S. Harding. Washington, DC: Archives Center, National Museum of American History, Smithsonian Institution, 1985, 90 p.
Baker Business | Historical Collections -- Reference | TK6550 .N23 1985
HOLLIS Record
Special Collections in Mass Media & Culture (University of Maryland)
In WorldCat, search "radio programs".plus any subject terms. The date attached to the republication of a radio program will be the date of republication, not of the original broadcast.
Radio program transcripts may occur in archival collections. See the Archives and Manuscripts page.
Secondary Sources, Context and Background
- Reference Sources: Directories, Yearbooks, Statistics
- Reference Sources: Encyclopedias, Dictionaries, Chronologies, etc.
- Biographical Sources
Reference Sources: Directories, Yearbooks, Statistics
WorldRadioHistory offers station logs and schedules and other material.
Includes the Broadcasting Yearbook (1935-2010) which includes listings of all stations, suppliers, FCC rules, group ownership, stations sales and other industry statistics.
Reference Sources: Dictionaries, Encyclopedias, Chronologies,
American radio networks: a history, by Jim Cox. Jefferson, N.C.: McFarland & Co., 2009, 228 p.
Widener | Harvard Depository | PN1991.3.U6 C63 2009
Encyclopedia of American radio, 1920-1960, by Luther F. Sies. 2nd ed. Jefferson, N.C.: McFarland & Co., 2008. 2 v.
Widener | WID-LC | PN1991.2 .S57 2008
The encyclopedia of American radio: an A-Z guide to radio from Jack Benny to Howard Stern, by Ron Lackmann. Updated ed. New York: Facts On File, 2000, 370 p.
Widener | WID-LC | PN1991.3.U6 L29 2000
Encyclopedia of black radio in the United States, 1921-1955, by Ryan Ellett. Jefferson, N.C.: McFarland, 2012, 208 p.
Widener | WID-LC | PN1991.8.A35 E45 2012
Historical dictionary of American radio, ed. by Donald G. Godfrey and Frederic A. Leigh. Westport, Conn.: Greenwood Press, 1998, 485 p.
Baker Business | Stacks -- LC Books | PN1991.2 .H57 1998
Widener | WID-LC | PN1991.2 .H57 1998
Historical dictionary of old-time radio, by Robert C. Reinehr, Jon D. Swartz. Lanham, Md.: Scarecrow Press, 2008, 305 p.
Widener | WID-LC | PN1991.3.U6 R45 2008
A history of broadcasting in the United States, by Douglas Gomery. Malden, MA: Blackwell Pub., 2008, 357 p.
Widener | WID-LC | PN1990.6.U5 G66 2008
Key concepts in radio studies, by Hugh Chignell. Los Angeles ; London: SAGE, 2009, 191 p.
Widener | WID-LC | PN1991.5 .C46 2009x
On the air: the encyclopedia of old-time radio, by John Dunning. New York: Oxford University Press, 1998, 822 p.
Widener | WID-LC | PN1991.3.U6 D8 1998x
Radio broadcasting from 1920 to 1990: an annotated bibliography, by Diane Foxhill Carothers. New York: Garland Pub., 1991, 564 p.
Widener | Harvard Depository | PN1991.5.Z99 C37 1991x
Radio program openings and closings, 1931-1972, by Vincent Terrace. Jefferson, N.C.: McFarland & Co., 2003, 278 p.
Widener | WID-LC | PN1991.3.U6 T44 2003
Same time-- same station: an A-Z guide to radio from Jack Benny to Howard Stern, by Ron Lackmann. New York: Facts on File, 1996, 370 p.
Widener | Harvard Depository | PN1991.3.U6 L32 1996x
Tune in yesterday: the ultimate encyclopedia of old-time radio, 1925-1976, by John Dunning. Englewood Cliffs, N.J.: Prentice-Hall, 1976, 703 p.
Widener | WID-LC | PN1991.3.U6 D8
The biographical encyclopedia of American radio, ed. by Christopher H. Sterling. Concise and rev. ed. NY: Routledge, 2011, 453 p.
Widener | WID-LC | PN1991.4 B56 2011