John Dunning's Reference Works
Who Created It: Old Time Radio Historian John Dunning, is one of the most critical figures in audio preservation. His indexes are invaluable becaue they where built from the physical inspection of thousands of 16 inch electrical transcripton (ET) discs.
What It Is: Both books are are definitive works and written by John Dunning, a journalist and novelist; his works are considered the undesputed narrative bibles for the old-time radio hobbyist and academic community.
When It Covers: Operational documentation spanning 1943 through 1997, with a massive volume of foundational material covering World War II and the immediate post-war era.
Where It Is Hosted: His first book is availabel on the internet archive for check out, and his second book can be serched for inter-library loan, by searching "World Cat" (see links below), and may also be purchased.
Why It Provides Provenance: Dunning spent decades synthesizing raw network logs, corporate histories, and industry documentation into a cohesive master encyclopedia. It provides the definitive historical and narrative context for virtually every national program, detailed network trajectories, corporate sponsorship shifts, and structural behind-the-scenes data.
Expectation Guide: These are published books, meaning you cannot click through a live web database; you will need to reference a physical copy or a digital e-book version (such as Kindle). Also, because the most recent book was published in 1998, it lacks twenty-five years (plus) of modern digital discoveries. It still remains the absolute best starting point to understand the overall "story" of a show, but obscure air dates or episode counts should be double-checked against newer database discoveries.
Links:
Check out Tune in Yesterday from Internet Archive
Locate On the Air: The Encyclopedia of Old-Time Radio (1998) via WorldCat inter library search