Cast of The Guiding Light from 1937 (left – right) Arthur Peterson, Mercedes
McCambridge, Helen Behmiller, and Henrietta Ledro.

Guiding Light (known as The Guiding Light before 1975) is a television soap opera
the Guinness Book of World Records credits as the longest running drama in TV
and radio history. The program began as a NBC Radio serial on Monday, January
25, 1937 and moved to CBS radio on June 2, 1947. It started on CBS -TV, June 30,
1952 where it ran until 2009 when it was cancelled. Guiding Light was created by
schoolteacher Irna Phillips, who based it on her personal experiences.

Irna Phillips, mother of the Soap Opera