The series began in 1971 as a grant proposal submitted to the Corporation for Public Broadcasting by project director Karl Schmidt, a University of Wisconsin professor and station manager of WHA. Schmidt had begun his radio career as a juvenile actor in 1941 and was involved as an actor and director in commercial, public, and armed forces radio. In the 1960s he produced a series of stereo dramas under the auspices of the National Center for Audio Experimentation. In many ways, station WHA, with a long history of producing radio drama, was an ideal place for the development of new forms of that genre. For 30 years the station's School of the Air applied the techniques and forms of drama for instructional purposes. In the early 1970s, WHA had particularly strong ties to Canadian actors and writers, BBC writers and directors, and producers from Radio Nederland.

     Under the terms of its grant, the primary purpose of Ear­ play was "to develop drama in audio forms which are intelligible, enjoyable, and useful to more, rather than fewer, people." A second purpose was "the establishment of a testing ground for playwrights and plays." (In the project's latter days, its producers would increasingly disagree as to whether intelligibility or experimentation should predominate.) The creators of Ear­play proposed an emphasis on original dramas-works by new playwrights that did not demand long attention spans and had strong plot lines, a high degree of intelligibility, enjoyable listening potential, and relevance to life in the United States in the 1970s. There was a conscious effort to "compete with substantial ambient noise levels in the listening circumstance" by emphasizing short dramas (usually less than half an hour long) and avoiding reliance upon subtle sound effects.

     Between 1975 and 1979 Earplay produced more than 150 radio dramas ranging in length from a few minutes to more than an hour. During those years the dramas were distributed to public radio stations on long-playing records. After 1981 the medium was reel-to-reel tape as part of NPR Playhouse. Later the plays were repackaged in half-hour installments under the title Earplay Weekday Theatre.

     Earplay dramas sounded very different from radio plays of the 1930s, 1940s, and 1950s. Most of them were in stereo, and the acting had a closer, more intimate quality. In some cases the language also was very different and prompted advisories to subscribing stations. In the broadcasts of both Archibald MacLeish's J.B. and Edward Albee's Listening, for example, there were a half-dozen warnings about "sensitive material." Another departure from U.S. radio tradition was the variable length of Earplay dramas, although they were often packaged in one- or two-hour blocks.

     Like traditional radio dramas, Earplay productions typically involved six or fewer actors, and they often emphasized narration. In most cases the story line was straightforward, but occasionally the plays were more in the realm of the "sound collage."

     In their preface to the 1979 Earplay program information, the producers noted that the 1979 season reflected a commitment to "give the most promising American playwrights an opportunity to speak to a national audience through the unique medium of radio." During that same year, Earplay received both the Peabody Award and the Armstrong Award. The dramas were produced in various locations, including New York, Los Angeles, and Chicago. Most of the post pro­duction work took place at WHA; the technical director was Marv Nonn.

     Among the playwrights commissioned to create Earplay dramas were some of the most distinguished of the day: John Mortimer, Donald Barthelme, Larry Shue, Vincent Canby, Alan Ayckburn, Gamble Rogers, John Gardner, Anne Leaton, Athol Fugard, Tim O'Brien, and Archibald MacLeish. Robert Anderson's play/ Never Sang for My Father was later adapted into a major motion picture. Other plays went on to success on Broadway: The Water Engine by David Mamet, Lightning by Edward Albee, and Wings by Arthur Kopit, which won the Prix Italia. In order to defray the expense of involving major playwrights, Earplay initiated the International Commission­ ing Group with drama producers in England, Ireland, West Germany, Norway, Sweden, and Denmark, who added rights fees for their countries to Earplay's U.S. fees to provide payments attractive to major playwrights.

     Although Earplay was carried by a significant number of public radio stations, many years after the series ended Karl Schmidt reflected that its demise came in part from its inclination to raise difficult issues without offering answers, so that the working person coming home after a tiring day would be inclined to pass over them in favor of more refreshing fare. During the late 1970s and early 1980s, Schmidt turned Ear­ play into a series, partly because series were more economical to produce than individual dramas, and partly because he found that many writers preferred structural guidelines to the indefinite length of the earlier format. In order to put Earplay resources to the most efficient use, Schmidt stipulated that the episodes in the series were to be approximately half narration and half dialogue. They were: A Canticle for Leibowitz ( 16 half-hours), based on the science fiction novel by Walter Miller, Jr.; Happiness, Anne Leaton's multipart radio drama based on the musings of a middle-aged Texas woman; and Something Singing, Christian Hamilton's play about abolitionist Amos Bronson Alcott-all of which were distributed through National Public Radio. Contracts allowed three years of use in any and all non-commercial stations in the U.S., with a three­ year renewal option that was not exercised.