Star Wars Public Radio

The 1981 Star Wars radio drama, produced by National Public Radio (NPR) as part of its NPR Playhouse series, was a landmark adaptation of the original Star Wars film.
It was broadcast in 13 episodes from March 2 to May 25, 1981, and was created with the full cooperation of George Lucas, who sold the rights to KUSC-FM, the public radio affiliate at the University of Southern California (USC), for a symbolic fee of one dollar.
Lucas also permitted the use of original music composed by John Williams and sound effects created by Ben Burtt for the film.

The adaptation was written by Brian Daley, who expanded the narrative using material from earlier drafts of Lucas's script, adding scenes not included in the final film version.
This resulted in a 5-hour 56-minute production that provided greater depth to character development and backstory, including details about Luke Skywalker's childhood and Princess Leia's acquisition of the Death Star plans.
The production was directed by John Madden, with Mark Hamill and Anthony Daniels reprising their roles as Luke Skywalker and C-3PO, respectively.
Harrison Ford was unavailable due to filming Raiders of the Lost Ark, so Perry King took over the role of Han Solo.

The radio drama was recorded at Westlake Recording Studios in West Hollywood, California, and featured a meticulous sound design process led by sound engineer Tom Voegeli, who blended dialogue, music, and hundreds of sound effects to create an immersive audio experience.
The series was a massive success, generating the largest response in NPR's history at the time, with 750,000 listeners per episode, a 40% increase in NPR's audience, and 50,000 letters and phone calls in a single week.
This success led to the production of radio adaptations for The Empire Strikes Back (1983) and Return of the Jedi (1996), both produced by many of the same team members.