Serial (radio and television) usually ran from Monday through Friday at exactly the same time every day. A show called The Smith Family which ran only one night a week on WENR in Chicago during the early 1930s was credited as the "great-granddaddy of the soap operas" by radio historian Francis Chase, Jr. One of the other shows that helped pioneer the daytime soap opera/serial was "The Guiding Light", which debuted on NBC radio in 1937, and then switched to CBS Television in 1952. "The Guiding Light" final episode aired on September 18, 2009, having a total of 15,762 episodes air on CBS. Some
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