Guiding Light, The

The Guiding Light, which debuted over NBC in January 1937, was originally about a minister and his family, and it stands as the longest-running soap opera in history, broadcasting on both radio and television from 1952 to 1956 and finally airing its last television episode…

…such as Ma Perkins and The Guiding Light kept housewives company through the afternoon. Children listened to the adventure series Little Orphan Annie and the science-fiction show Flash Gordon. Amos ’n’ Andy, a situation comedy, was the most popular show ever broadcast, lasting more than 30 years. The Shadow, a…