Earplay

"See Earplay (new chamber music) for the musical ensemble"

"Earplay" was the longest-running of the formal series of radio drama anthologies on National Public Radio, heard from 1972 into the 1990s.

Airing in stereo, "Earplay" provided a showcase for original and adapted work. Eventually, the less-sustained successor series "NPR Playhouse" drew episodes from the "Earplay" run. Often presented by NPR member stations on a weekly basis, "Earplay" episodes were produced with much attention to recording technique and sound-effects.

In 1975, it scored a triumph with "Listening", an original play written by Edward Albee for stereo radio, employing one speaker for one character and another speaker for another character. Since both characters are seated in a room, the illusion is created that they are in the same room as the listener. After its premiere on radio, "Listening" was later performed on stage.

Along with the "CBS Radio Mystery Theater", "The Sears Radio Theater", "The General Mills Radio Adventure Theater," Christian radio's "Unshackled", and public radio's "The National Radio Theater of Chicago", "Earplay" was among the most ambitious nationwide projects in the medium in the U.S. in the 1970s and 1980s.