Soap opera soap opera "Guiding Light" (originally titled "The Guiding Light" until 1975) started as a radio drama in January 1937 and subsequently transferred to television in June 1952. With the exception of several years in the late 1940s, during which creator Irna Phillips was involved in a dispute with Procter & Gamble, "Guiding Light" was heard or seen nearly every weekday from 1937 until 2009, making it the longest story ever told in a broadcast medium. Originally serials were broadcast as fifteen-minute installments each weekday in daytime slots. In 1956, "As the World Turns" and "The Edge of Night", both produced
Screening of soap operas in Australia In 1996, Foxtel's Arena began screening "Coronation Street" in one-hour instalments on Saturdays and Sundays at 6:30. It was later moved to Foxtel's BBC UKTV where it currently airs at 7:20 pm EST each weeknight. At present episodes are approximately one week behind the UK airings. From 2009 until September 2014, free-to-air digital secondary channel 7Two had broadcast old episodes of "Coronation Street" on weekdays at 10:00 am. "EastEnders" is a British soap opera that first aired in Australia by ABC TV from 1987 until 1991. The show now airs on BBC UKTV from Mondays to Thursdays at 7:50 pm