We study the boundary layer characteristics of heat and mass transfer flow past a vertical wedge in the presence of thermal radiation. The surface temperature and the species concentration are assumed to be oscillating in the magnitude but not in the direction of oncoming flow velocity. The governing equations have been solved by two distinct methods, namely, the straightforward finite difference method for the entire frequency range, and the series solution for the low frequency range and the asymptotic series expansion method for the high frequency range. Numerical solutions have been presented in terms of the amplitudes and phase angles of the skin friction, the rate of heat transfer and the mass transfer with the variations of Richardson’s number, the Prandtl number, the conduction–radiation parameter, the surface temperature parameter and the Schmidt number. Furthermore, the effects of these parameters are examined in terms of the transient skin friction, heat transfer and mass transfer.