We are living a renaissance of radio survey work: the size of source catalogues published in the first two years of this decade exceeds that of the entire 1980s! The total number of published flux densities in mid-1992 is probably nearing ~700,000 and is estimated to grow by a factor of four by the end of the decade. The number of known optical identifications has doubled since their last compilation in 1983. Since early 1990 the author has secured over 100 astronomical object lists in electronic form, with data on some 400,000 objects, and new lists are being received continuously. As part of the activities of a newly formed IAU Working Group on `Radio Astronomical Data Bases', the data are now being incorporated into two existing on-line data bases. We discuss the scientific potential of these data and urge that a long-term solution for the maintenance of such a data base be found.