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John Feeney's friendship with student Sandy Budka in 1980 at Brandywine College in Delaware led to an unintended consequence.

Feeney, Budka and one of her roommates tuned into the "Guiding Light" TV soap opera during the afternoons. Feeney watched the show for a year. It hooked him. He has followed the program and the antics of the residents of Springfield for the past 29 years.

"I love it. I wonder what's going to happen tomorrow," said Feeney, now 47.

After today, Feeney will no longer need to wonder what's happening on "Guiding Light." The Emmy award-winning TV show will air its last episode. With 72 years on radio and television, it is the longest- running scripted drama in broadcast history. The first episode aired on Jan. 25, 1937 on radio.

"It's sad," said Feeney about the end of "Guid-ing Light." "Something I have known for more than half of my life will end."

Feeney, of Woodbine, picked a good time to start watching "Guiding Light." In 1980, it won the Emmy for outstanding daytime-drama series.

During all his years watching "Guiding Light," Feeney's favorite character was Annie Dutton Banks, who was played by Cynthia Watros from 1994 to 1998. Watros later went on to star in the TV shows "Titus," "The Drew Carey Show" and "Lost."

"She was a big villainess," Feeney said. "She would wreak havoc whichever way possible."

Feeney's co-workers at Dino's Seaville Diner all know he watches "Guiding Light," but they check out different soap operas. He works as a food server and usually wakes up at 10 a.m. to watch "Guiding Light" on KYW-TV 3. He does plan to watch the final show, but not record it.

"I'm going to be depressed," said Feeney about how he will feel after the final show airs.

"Guiding Light" used to be a popular soap opera. During the 1960s when the show was 15 minutes long, it usually ranked second in the Nielsen ratings behind the still-airing "As The World Turns."

Anna Carlley, 82, started watching "Guiding Light" when she moved from Philadelphia to southern New Jersey in 1961.

Carlley, who lives at the Seashore Gardens Living Center in Galloway Township, was a stay-at-home mother with two children, and she didn't drive. She was the target audience for "Guiding Light" at that time. She stopped watching the show in 1977 when it expanded from 30 to 60 minutes, but more than 30 years later, she still remembers the Bauers, the middle-class German immigrant family the show was based around.

"It kept my mind occupied. ... The younger one (Ed Bauer) was a doctor. One older brother (Mike Bauer) was a lawyer. It showed how families were close even though you have your squabbles," said Carlley, who could relate to the show coming from a close-knit Italian family.

Carlley is one of many people who used to watch the show and no longer do.

"Guiding Light" had a seasonal average rating of 5.1 in 1993-94, but its rating dropped to a 1.5 last year and this year. In 1999, "Guiding Light" was ranked seventh among the 11 soap operas airing at the time. Three of four soap operas with lower ratings than "Guiding Light" 10 years ago - "Another World," "Port Charles" and "Sunset Beach" - have since been cancelled.

Roy Steinberg, artistic director for Cape May Stage, was a producer and director for the "Guiding Light" from 1989 to 1999. He said that in less than 10 years there will be no network daytime soap operas airing in this country.

The cancellation of "Guiding Light" reflects an industrywide problem, Steinberg said.

"Young people don't watch TV. Daytime is not sexy and hip. It's an old-fashioned form. ... All of the cast sizes are between 30 to 40 people, and they are under contract," Steinberg said. "It's much cheaper to do talk, reality or quiz shows."

During his time at "Guiding Light," Steinberg said he cast Melina Kanakaredes of "CSI:NY" and Sherry Stringfield, of "ER" fame, for their first TV exposure.

The end of "Guiding Light" is not a good sign for the soap opera genre, according to Robert Thompson, a television and pop-culture professor at Syracuse University. Soaps are hurt by having no rerun potential and being so much more work intensive because they are completely scripted, Thompson said. He also mentioned the incredible expense of their enormous casts

"A lot of the thrill of watching a soap opera has been greatly diminished," said Thompson, who added serialized television, which soap operas started, has been taken over by reality TV, such as "American Idol," and nighttime dramas, for instance "Lost."

E-mail Vincent Jackson:

VJackson@pressofac.com

During the last 16 years, "Guiding Light" has seen a steady decline in seasonal averages:

1993-94: 5.1 rating

1998-99: 3.8 rating

2003-04: 2.4 rating

2007-08: 1.8 rating

2008-09: 1.5 rating

Source: The Nielsen Company

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