Earplay

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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. 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.

It is not to be confused with Earplay (new chamber music).