Ratings from the 70's

[saynotoursoap]

Yes, Paul Raven. It was the first full month of televised Watergate hearings, as well.

[Paul Raven]

October 72

4.00pm

NBC Somerset 7.1

ABC Love American Style 6.0

CBS Family Affair 4.3

[Paul Raven]

Dec 70

Love of Life 33 share

Guiding Light 33 share

3.00 pm

Secret Storm 25 share

Another World 32 share

General Hospital 32 share

3,30

Edge of Night 33 share

[Paul Raven]

Variety reported in Feb 70

Another World down from a 40 share not too long ago to a 32.

Bright Promise pulling a lowly 16 share against Edge of Night 39 share.

[Paul Raven]

From Daytime TV Late 77

1. AW 11.1 31

2. ATWT 10.0 30

3. AMC 9.9 31

4. GL 9.2 27

5. Y&R 9.1 30

6. OLTL 8.9 26

7. SFT 8.7 29

8. RH 8.6 28

9. GH 8.3 28

10. TD 8.2 24

Game Shows

1. Family Feud 11.3 40

2. TPIR 7.8 29

3. Match Game 7.0 18

4. Hollywood Squares 6.9 28

5. Wheel of Fortune 6.9 26

That was really AW's last ratings triumph.The Sven storyline was playing out and seem to captivate viewers, maybe because it was something different from Lemay (a more suspense type story).Then once that wrapped up there was nothing to keep the momentum going.Add to the fact that DOOL and TD were slumping so AW did not have a strong lead in and Gloria Monty's revamped GH and the I hr GL arrived all contributed to AW's drastic fall in the numbers.

Edited February 26, 2016 by Paul Raven

[DRW50]

June 1973 Daytime TV - ratings for week ending February 16, 1973. 

 

11.9 - ATWT 35%

11.0 DAYS - 33%

10.5 AW 33%

10.4 GH - 31%

10.3 SFT - 33%

10.1 Doctors - 32%

9.3 OLTL - 27%

8.6 EON - 28%

8.6 AMC - 26%

8.0 LOL 29% 

[Paul Raven]

Snapshot of daytime ratings early September 74

 

10-11.30 CBS wins each slot against NBC (ABC doesn't program this time period)

 

11.30 - 12.30 NBC wins with Hollywood Squares and Jeopardy

 

12.30 - 1.00 CBS wins with Search for Tommorow

 

1.00 - 1.30 ABC All My Children (No network competition)

 

1.30 - 2.00 CBS As The World Turns

 

2.00 - 3.30 NBC wins DOOL.,DRS,.AW

 

3.30 - 4.30 CBS wins with Match Game and Tattletales

[soapfan770]

Did Y&R ever hit #1 in the 70s? 

[Paul Raven]

Good question. I never knew GL hit #1 in the late 70s until it was shown in this thread. I wonder when Y&R first hit #1 in the weekly ratings? Was it not until the late 80's when it became #1 overall, or were there isolated weeks before that?

[Dale]

Here are some ratings for 1979 - they are the first time I can remember Y&R hitting #1.  I recall there being a lot of interest in the Lance/Lorie/Lucas/Leslie alliterative quadrangle as well as the Kay/Derek/Suzanne gas lighting story.  Tarantulas, anyone?

 

First up, the ratings from the July 1979 issue of Daytime TV.  Given that there was a three month gap between the ratings and the issue date back then, these must be from around April 1979    

 

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From the August 1979 issue of DTV.  These ratings would be from May 1979

From the October 1979 issue of DTV,  These ratings would be from July 1979: 

 

Edited November 26, 2016 by Dale

[soapfan770]

Thanks that's wonderful to see some hard data like that! I had wondered about that after seeing Y&R at #2 one week so close to #1AW in 1975 but would have not expected it to have been the infamous 1979 but I should have known since Y&R's dime novels in the late '80s featured the Suzanne Lynch story. Unfortunately other than reading the dime novels and listening to audio recordings I have yet to visually see some of those stories, although I'd LOVE to see the scene where an alive and Katherine smashed into the terrace in front of a terrified Jill during a thunderstorm. 

[Dale]

 

 I've never been a huge young and restless fan per se, but I have to admit being drawn into the Suzanne lynch storyline in 1979.  Although she went on to wreak holy terror on guiding light as a writer years later, I thought Ms. Weston  was quite watchable on Y&R.   But much like her abilities as a head writer,I never did mistake her for an actress. 😉

[Paul Raven]

Thanks so much for posting those ratings.Some very interesting stuff there.Hope you have more to post.

 

So Y&R did hit #1 at that time.Now, I wonder if that was the first time?

 

GH climbing to #2

 

EON in the top 10.

 

And SFT doing so well, while ATWT was sinking.

[soapfan770]

 

It's interesting to see that too. The Corringtons were having a success at the time too with SFT and it shows. Meanwhile ATWT and the NBC soaps were sinking pretty fast. 

 

Y&R would sputter in the ratings for a while after this with the show's expansion to an hour and time slot change plus the show being in a big transitional phase. The 1980-1981 lineup for CBS did damage to Y&R, ATWT, and SFT as they faced onslaught from ABC's domination. 

[Paul Raven]