Some More Chicago Innovations-- Part 8: Soap Operas

SOAP OPERAS: Chicago Tribune broadcast cousin WGN-AM's sales manager wanted a program that could sell products to women homemakers in the 1930s. //// So, Irna Phillips created the first soap opera, "Painted Dreams." Dubbed the Queen of Soaps, she would go on to develop radio and TV daytime dramas that defined the genre: "Guiding Light," "The Road of Life, "Young Dr. Malone," "As the World Turns" and Love Is a Many Splendored Thing." //// --Cooter