Many early radio stars, writers, and producers later migrated to television, but the crossover left the ""American Radio Archives"" with a treasure trove of television documents. The collected scripts span more than 40 years of American television history, from live broadcasts of the 1940s to the late 1980s. They also cover the entire spectrum of television entertainment programming, including comedies, soap operas, dramas, crime and westerns. The archives of this title cover nearly 1,200 programs represented by over 6,000 individual scripts. It includes an index of actors, crew, titles and production companies, as well as a glossary of industry terms and 38 photographs.

Who were the 35 actors that performed with stars Bud Abbott and Lou Costello in radio's ""The Abbott and Costello Show""? Do scripts survive for the old Burns and Allen shows or the children's crime fighter series ""The Green Hornet""? Serious researchers and curious browsers interested in Golden Age radio will find a wealth of information in this reference guide to surviving scripts. Most are from the 1930s, 1940s and 1950s, though subsequent decades are included for long-running shows. Crime series, whodunits, romances, situation comedies, variety shows, soap operas, quiz show series and others are included. Casual browsers will find tidbits on the radio careers of notables from other media (Humphrey Bogart, Ginger Rogers), mention of adaptations by famous authors (Jack London, Ray Bradbury), curious episode titles (""The Gorilla That Always Said Yeh-ah"") and series titles (""Whispering Streets""), and interesting sponsors (Insect-O-Blitz). The first section is an alphabetical list of significant radio script collections, with notes on their content and format and information on the collector. The second section is the guide to series scripts. Entries include title and basic information, including collection(s) in which they are found; producers, directors, writers, musicians and regular cast; sponsors; and holdings by date, episode number and title. Increasing the book's usefulness for researchers are indexes by name, program and sponsor.