Guiding Light
"The Guiding Light" was broadcast first by CBS Television on June 30, 1952, replacing the canceled soap opera "The First Hundred Years". These episodes were also 15 minutes long. During the period from 1952 to 1956, "The Guiding Light" existed as both a radio and television serial, with actors recording their performances twice for each day that the shows were broadcast. The radio broadcast of "The Guiding Light" ceased production during 1956, ending this overlap.
Guiding Light
Overall, the first half of the 1980s saw a revival in "Guiding Light's" popularity, with a top-five placing achieved in most years and even a brief dethroning of then-powerhouse "General Hospital" from the #1 ratings spot for three consecutive weeks. However, as the decade progressed, the ratings slipped a bit, although it was still performing solidly. In 1995, beginning with CBS flagship station WCBS-TV in New York, "Guiding Light" began airing at 10 a.m. Eastern time in several markets. Its once-solid performance began to crumble by the mid-1990s, when its ratings sunk as low as ninth place out of ten. However, during the controversial clone storyline in 1998, the ratings experienced a brief resurgence, moving up to fifth for many weeks that summer. Nielsen reported "Guiding Light" had 5 million viewers in 1999.