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Guiding Light

For the song, see Guiding Light (song).

Guiding Light
Also known as
  • The Guiding Light
  • GL
GenreSoap opera
Created by
Written by
  • Christopher Dunn
  • Lloyd Gold
  • Jill Lorie Hurst
  • David Kreizman
  • Tita Bell
  • Kimberly Hamilton
  • Rebecca Hanover
  • David Rupel
  • Donna Swajeski
  • Ellen Weston
  • Brett Staneart
  • Casandra Morgan
  • Penelope Koechl
  • David Smilow
  • Gillian Spencer
Directed by
  • Bruce S. Barry
  • Joe Cotugno
  • Rob Decina
  • Matthew Lagle
  • Brian Mertes
  • Adam Reist
  • Robert Scinto
  • Jo Anne Sedwick
  • Susan Strickler
  • Ellen Wheeler
  • Karen Wilkens
StarringSeries cast
Country of originUnited States
Original languageEnglish
No. of seasons
  • NBC and CBS: 19 (radio)
  • CBS: 57 (television; includes four years on both TV and radio)
  • Total: 72
No. of episodes
  • NBC and CBS-Radio: 2,500 (radio)
  • CBS: 15,762 (radio [1952–1956] & TV [1952–2009])
  • Total: 18,262
Production
Executive producers
Producers
  • Alexandra Johnson-Gamsey
  • Maria Macina
  • Jan Conklin
  • Christopher Cullen
  • Janet Morrison
Production locations
Running time
  • 15 minutes (1937–1968)
  • 30 minutes (1968–1977)
  • 60 minutes (1977–2009)
Production companies
Original release
NetworkNBC/CBS Radio
ReleaseJanuary 25, 1937 (1937-01-25) –
June 29, 1956 (1956-06-29)
NetworkCBS
ReleaseJune 30, 1952 (1952-06-30) –
September 18, 2009 (2009-09-18)
Related
Another World
Infobox instructions (only shown in preview)

Guiding Light (known as The Guiding Light before 1975) is an American radio and television soap opera. Guiding Light aired on CBS for 57 years between June 30, 1952, and September 18, 2009, overlapping a 19-year broadcast on radio between January 25, 1937, and June 29, 1956.[1] With 72 years of radio and television runs, Guiding Light is the longest-running soap opera, ahead of General Hospital, and is the fifth-longest-running program in all of broadcast history; only the American country music radio program Grand Ole Opry (first broadcast in 1925), the BBC religious program The Daily Service (1928), the CBS religious program Music and the Spoken Word (1929), and the Norwegian children's radio program Lørdagsbarnetimen (1924–2010) have been on the air longer.[2][a]

When the show debuted on radio in 1937, it centered on Reverend John Ruthledge and people whose lives revolved around him. The "Guiding Light" in the show's title originally referred to the lamp in Ruthledge's study that people used as a sign for them to find his help when needed.[4] When the show transitioned to television in the 1950s, the Bauers, a German immigrant family first introduced in 1948, became the focus of the program.[5] Other core families were introduced over the show's run, including the Norrises in the 1960s; the Marlers and the Spauldings in the 1970s; and the Coopers, the Lewises, and the Reardons in the 1980s.

Guiding Light was created by Irna Phillips and Emmons Carlson and began as an NBC Radio serial on January 25, 1937. On June 2, 1947, the series was transferred to CBS Radio,[6] before starting on June 30, 1952, on CBS Television.[7] It continued to be broadcast on radio until June 29, 1956.[8] The series was expanded from 15 minutes to a half-hour during 1968 (and also switched from broadcasting live to pre-taping around this same time), and then to a full hour on November 7, 1977. The series broadcast its 15,000th CBS television episode on September 6, 2006.[9]

On April 1, 2009, CBS announced that it was canceling Guiding Light after 72 years on the air (15 on radio and 57 on television) due to low ratings. The show taped its final scenes for CBS on August 11, 2009, and its final episode on the network aired on September 18, 2009.[10][11] Reruns of The Price Is Right took over the Guiding Light time slot between September 21 and October 2, 2009, for two weeks. On October 5, 2009, CBS replaced Guiding Light with an hour-long revival of Let's Make a Deal, hosted by Wayne Brady.

  1. ^ "Longest Running TV Drama". Arts & Media. Guinness World Records. 2009. Archived from the original on April 19, 2011. Retrieved October 7, 2012.
  2. ^ "World's longest running soap ends". BBC. September 19, 2009. Retrieved May 20, 2015.
  3. ^ "Бесконечная история. Сериал "Санта-Барбара"" (in Russian). RIA Novosti. July 30, 2014. Retrieved May 20, 2015.
  4. ^ ""Guiding Light" Signs Off: The Early Years". CBS News. September 3, 2006. Retrieved January 26, 2021.
  5. ^ ""Guiding Light" Signs Off: The Bauer Family". CBS News. September 3, 2006. Retrieved January 26, 2021.
  6. ^ "CBS Cancels THE GUIDING LIGHT After 57 Years". Glued to the Tube. April 3, 2009.
  7. ^ "Longest Running TV Drama". Arts & Media. Guinness World Records. 2009. Archived from the original on April 19, 2011.
  8. ^ Dunning, John (1998). On the Air: The Encyclopedia of Old-Time Radio (Revised ed.). New York, NY: Oxford University Press. pp. 299–302. ISBN 978-0-19-507678-3. Retrieved November 14, 2024.
  9. ^ "'Guiding Light' Airs 15,000th Episode". CBS News. September 7, 2006.
  10. ^ Stanglin, Doug (August 12, 2009). "'Guiding Light' shoots last episode after 76 years". USA Today. Archived from the original on August 17, 2009. Retrieved May 4, 2010.
  11. ^ Carter, Bill. "CBS Turns Out 'Guiding Light'." The New York Times. April 2, 2009.


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