Earplay

Earplay was the longest-running of the formal series of radio drama anthologies on National Public Radio, produced by WHA in Madison, Wisconsin and heard from 1972 into the 1990s. It approached radio drama as an art form with scripts written by such leading playwrights as Edward Albee, Arthur Kopit, Archibald MacLeish and David Mamet.

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, 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. during the 1970s and 1980s.

With a grant from the National Endowment of the Arts, Earplay began in 1972 directed by Karl Schmidt, legendary producer and radio executive at WHA Madison, Wisconsin. Karl was determined to bring a new and invigorating approach to radio drama. He faced major obstacles from other public radio broadcasters and had to prove the new approach would gain listeners. He enlisted the help of Tom Voegli, a newcomer to the field of audio, but as the son of Don Voegli (composer of the NPR theme music), he had the innate knowledge and enthusiasm that Karl wanted. (Tom has had a distinguished career in public broadcasting spanning 40 years since). Another contributor was Marti Van Cleef fresh from her PhD at the UW and eager to enlist writers into this forgotten medium.

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