History of Soap Operas

Soap operas originally began on the radio in America. In the 1920s and 1930s, radio was just starting and regional stations sprang up all over the USA. These radio stations relied solely on advertising for their revenue, and companies either simply used adverts or sponsored a programme. At the time, very few married women went out to work, so they would normally spend the day at home doing housework, making housewives the radios biggest audience. They were an ideal audience for companies selling household goods such as soap, detergent and cleaning products. In the US, post-war prosperity was the term used to describe how women were returning to a domestic role. Radio stations came up with the idea of drama serials that centred around the home environment and various domestic situations. They believed that this type of programme would be ideal for entertaining the housewives at home. The serials were very romantic and melodramatic, but initially very unsuccessful. Someone coined the phrase soap opera to describe them. Soap because they were sponsored by the soap companies (such as Colgate, Palmolive, etc.) and opera because they were very dramatic and larger than life. The soap and radio companies soon realised that this type of programme was both popular and very cheap to produce. They also realised that they would be more successful if they could broadcast to the whole country, and it could be said that soap operas helped America to develop its first national radio networks. The most popular network soap operas were Ma Perkins and One Mans Family. After the war, radio soaps became less popular as people began to turn to the newest invention: the television. Sponsors quickly realised that television would improve advertising purposes of radio and by the mid 1950s, the radio soap was dead. At first, companies worried about the initial cost of television, but soon realised that after the initial high cost of setting them up, TV soaps were actually very cheap to run. The target audience was still women and programmed continued to be broadcast during the day. It was generally felt that soaps didnt have enough action for evening prime-time viewing and when an evening soap was eventually produced, the idea of the soap had been combined with elements from films and other drama serials. Outside locations began to be used and more action was included to appeal to male viewers as well. The first televised soap opera was Peyton Place, which ran from 1964-1969 and eventually appeared on British TV.

Soap Operas in Britain

Even though America successfully broadcast soap operas, Britain did not. Soap operas were funded by cleaning product companies in America but Britain had the BBC, a public service financed by the licensed feed instead of advertising. The BBC was led by a man called John Reith, who felt that television should provide programmes that broaden the viewers education, and soap operas were not considered to do this. Britain did not broadcast a soap opera until the end of World War II. It was called The Robinsons. Mrs Dales Diary followed in 1948 and then The Archers, which started in 1950 and is still running today the longest running soap ever. The BBC was never really successful with its soap operas, until 1985 when they produced Eastenders and really made a long running, successful soap. They then produced Eldorado. Many regional independent British companies produce their own soap operas, such as Emmerdale, Take the High Road and Families. Soaps help these companies gain a large consistent audience, which are attracted by the idea of a locally-based soap.