The History of Soap Operas

Soap Operas first began on the radio in America during the 1920s and 30s. At this time radio was
very popular in the USA and regional stations were all over the place. The radio stations relied solely
on advertising for their revenue, and companies could either use adverts of sponsor a whole
programme.

Radio’s biggest audience at the time was housewives, as many married woman didn’t go out to work
and would spent the majority of their days doing housework. Therefore they were an ideal audience
for companies trying to sell household goods such as soap, detergent and cleaning products. As well
as because of the post war posterity that meant many women were returning to a domestic role.

These companies needed radio stations to produce the kind of programmes that would appeal to a
large audience, such as the type of women who were likely to buy their products. So the stations
came up with shows that were centred around the home and various different domestic situations.
This type of programme, it was felt, would be ideal for entertaining the house wives at home. These
serials were very romantic and melodramatic making them immediately successful. They eventually
became known as soap –operas as they were sponsored by soap companies (colgate, Palmolive,
protector & gamble) as well as like operas the serials were very dramatic and larger than life.

The soap and radio companies realised quickly that this type of programme was both popular and
very cheap to produce. The companies also realised that they could do better on a national level and
be broadcast to the whole country. It is thought that Soap Operas helped America to develop some
of its firsts national radio stations. The most popular soap operas were, ‘Ma Perkins’ and ‘One Mans
family’.

After the war in America, radio soaps became less popular as people began to be interested in a new
invention, the television. Sponsors quickly realised that television had better advertising
opportunities, and by the mid 1950s the radio soaps were dead. As soaps had been so popular on
the radio it was decided that they should be transferred to television. The same soap companies
were advertising and sponsoring, and the same broadcasting companies, NBC (National Broadcasting
Company) and CBS (Columbia Broadcasting System), were now producing television programmes.
Writers who had originally written radio soaps were now writing television soaps, with episodes
being put out five times a week, just like they were on the radio.

In the beginning, companies were worried about the initial cost of the television, however they soon
realised that after the initial cost of setting them up, TV soaps were actually relatively cheap to
produce. As before the programmes were aimed at woman and broadcast during the day.

It was felt that soaps did not have enough action for evening or ‘prime-time’ viewing and when an
evening soap was eventually produced the idea of soap had been combined with elements from
films and other drama serials. Instead of just being set in the home, outside locations were used and
more action was introduced to appeal to male viewers. The first televised soap was opera was
‘Peyton Place’, which ran from 1964-69 and eventually appeared on British TV.

Soaps in Britain
Despite the success of Soap Operas in America, Britain did not take to them as well. The BBC was a
public service and financed by the license fee as opposed to advertising. Also the BBC was led by a
man named John Reith who felt that television should provide programmes, of ‘culture’ and soap
operas were not considered as culture.

Britain did not get a radio soap opera until after the Second World War. The first was called ‘The
Robinsons’, ‘Mrs Dale’s Diary’ followed 1948 and then ‘The Archers’ which started in 1950 and is still
running today, it is Britain’s longest running soap opera.

The BBC produced the first British TV soap (The Grove Family), but ITV, which came into being in
1955, soon caught up. British soaps on TV have always been very different to those broadcast in
America; they are usually less ‘glossy’ and more homely than American soaps.

Early British Soap Operas

The Grove family BBC 1954-57

Emergency Ward 10 ATV 1957-60

Coronation Street Granada 1960-Present

Compact BBC 1962-65

United BBC 1965-67

The Newcomers BBC 1965-69

The BBC was not very successful with soap operas until 1985 when they produced Eastenders, that
has become a long running and successful soap.

Key Conventions of Soap Operas

- Stories that do not end. Stories and characters can continue for a long time, e.g. Ken Barlow has
been in Coronation street for over 30 years.

- Stories are carried over from one episode to another, with each episode usually ending in a cliff
hanger to make the audience continue to watch.

- Forward looking stories.

- Conflicts between characters.

- Many Weddings, Births and Deaths.

- Personal and Domestic issues

- Characters have a life between episodes- you hear about an event but not necessarily see it.

- Stories build up to a climatic and often deal with the aftermath as well.

- There are a lot of teasers and ‘red herrings’ in plots.

- Events such as shootings, robberies, falls, crashes, etc.

- Meta-narratives, there is many stories going on all at once.

- Between 3 and 5 episodes a week.

- Specials for world events such as Christmas.

Why do we watch Soap Operas?

Soap Operas are some of the most popular TV programmes because:

- They are entertaining.

- It enables the viewer the feel part of a community or group of friends.
- They encourage viewers to speculate what happens next.
- They provide information about issues such as –drugs, racism, etc.
- They involve viewers in a continuous story.
- They can provide a subject for conversations with friends of family.
- They enable viewers to enjoy scandals, romance and intrigue viewers through the
characters.
- They are addictive.
-