Guiding Light

Also known as GL

American radio and television soap opera

TV series · TMDB

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Guiding Light is an American television soap opera that is credited by the Guinness Book of World Records as the longest-running television drama in history, broadcast from 1952 until 2009, preceded by a 15-year broadcast on radio. Guiding Light stands as the third longest-running program in all of broadcast history; only the Norwegian children's radio program Lørdagsbarnetimen and the American country music radio program Grand Ole Opry have been on the air longer. On April 1, 2009, it was announced that CBS canceled Guiding Light after a 72-year run 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.

Aired: 1952–2009
Seasons: 1 · 213 episodes
Status: Ended
Created by: Irna Phillips
Network: CBS
Genres: Soap, Drama

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Key facts

Also known as: The Guiding Light (orginal name) GL
Genre: Soap opera
Created by: Irna Phillips Emmons Carlson
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
Starring: Series cast
Country of origin: United States
Original language: English
Number span no of seasons: NBC and CBS: 19 (radio) CBS: 57 (television; includes four years on both TV and radio) Total: 72
Number span no of episodes: NBC and CBS-Radio: 2,500 (radio) CBS: 15,762 (radio [1952–1956] & TV [1952–2009]) Total: 18,262
Executive producers: Lucy Ferri Rittenberg (1952–1975) Allen M. Potter (1976–1982) Gail Kobe (1982–1986) Joe Willmore (1986–1989) Robert Calhoun (1989–1991) Jill Farren Phelps (1991–1995) Michael Laibson (1995–1996) Paul Rauch (1996–2002) John Conboy (2002–2004) Ellen Wheeler (2004–2009)
Producers: Alexandra Johnson-Gamsey Maria Macina Jan Conklin Christopher Cullen Janet Morrison
Production locations: Chicago , Illinois (1937–1947) Los Angeles , California (1947–1949) New York City , New York (1949–2009)
Running time: 15 minutes (1937–1968) 30 minutes (1968–1977) 60 minutes (1977–2009)
Production companies: Procter & Gamble Productions (1952–2008) TeleNext Media, Inc. (2008–2009)
Network: NBC / CBS Radio
Release: January 25, 1937 ( 1937-01-25 ) –, June 29, 1956 ( 1956-06-29 )

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Wikidata facts

Instance of: radio program
Genre: soap opera
Country of origin: United States
Original language: English language
Creator: Irna Phillips
Cast member: Marj Dusay
Duration: 60
Image: Guiding Light final logo.jpg

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start time: 1937-01-25
end time: 2009-09-18
original broadcaster: CBS
distributed by: CBS
number of episodes: 2500
number of seasons: 57
color: black-and-white
on focus list of Wikimedia project: Wikipedia:Vital articles/Level/4
location of creation: New York City

Sources (5)

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Encyclopedic overview

Guiding Light (also known as The Guiding Light before 1975) is an American daytime soap opera. It aired for 57 years on television between June 30, 1952, and September 18, 2009, but it began even earlier as a radio serial on January 19, 1937. With 72 years of radio and television runs, it is the longest-running American soap opera, ahead of General Hospital.

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. 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. 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.

Excerpted from Wikipedia’s “Guiding Light” article, available under the CC BY-SA 4.0 licence.

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