Introduction -- A theory of masterful stories -- Golden age radio plays : examining 120 case studies -- Radio's earliest plays : inventing the medium's storytelling form in the 1920s and 1930s -- Radio hits its dramatic stride : the early 1940s -- Classics continued post-World War II : from the mid to late 1940s -- Post-World War II radio drama : early to mid 1950s -- End of an era : exemplary plays from the 1950s and beyond -- Concluding reflections on stories from golden age radio