Guiding Light

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. Guiding Light was created by Irna Phillips, and began as an NBC Radio serial on January 25, 1937. During June 2, 1947, the series was transferred to CBS Radio, before starting on June 30, 1952, on CBS Television. It would continue to be broadcast concomitantly on radio until June 29, 1956. The series was expanded from 15 minutes to a half-hour during 1968, and then to a full hour on November 7, 1977. The series broadcast its 15,000th televised episode on September 6, 2006. 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. On October 5, 2009, CBS replaced Guiding Light with an hour-long revival of Let's Make a Deal, hosted by Wayne Brady.