 February 1977 issue of Soap Opera Digest, featuring Paul Gleason of All My Children |
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| Editor in chief | Lynn Leahey |
|---|---|
| Staff writers | Carolyn Hinsey Jennifer Lenhart |
| Categories | Entertainment |
| Frequency | Weekly |
| First issue | November 1975 |
| Company | Source Interlink Media |
| Country |  United States |
| Language | English |
| Website | www.SoapOperaDigest.com |
Soap Opera Digest is a weekly magazine covering American daytime soap operas. It features onscreen and offscreen news about the series, interviews with and articles about performers, storyline summaries and analysis, and related promotional information. Founded in 1975, the magazine has historically included certain prime time soap operas in its coverage as well.
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History
Soap Opera Digest debuted in November 1975, co-founded by Angela Shapiro[1] and featuring actors John Aniston, Ron Tomme, Audrey Peters, Birgitta Tolksdorf, Jerry Lacy, and Tudi Wiggins of Love of Life on its first cover. Currently,[when?] the magazine has a subscription base of 500,000, as well as more than one million more issues purchased at newsstands and supermarkets each week.[citation needed] In the early 1990s, the magazine had up to 1.4 million subscribers.[citation needed]
In 1980, Network Publishing Corporation purchased the magazine from Shapiro, who went on to found Soap Opera Update. Rupert Murdoch's News Corporation bought the magazine in 1989, and sold it to K-III Communications in 1991. K-III was renamed Primedia in 1997, and sold its magazines to Source Interlink in 2007.
Soap Opera Digest, originally published monthly, moved to biweekly issues in 1979, and started publishing weekly in 1997. As of 2009, the magazine is led by Editorial Director Lynn Leahey. Columnist Carolyn Hinsey reviews current series and soap-related events in her regular feature, "It's Only My Opinion."
The magazine holds an awards show annually to promote excellence in the genre, as decided by the fans who read the magazine. The Soap Opera Digest Awards (formerly the Soapies) have been held every year since 1977, and were last televised in 2000. The Soapy Award was originally designed by Janis Rogak, the magazine's then-Art Director.
"Soap speak" acronyms
Soap Opera Digest coined the term and popularized the use of "soap speak," in which show names are abbreviated as acronyms to save space. These abbreviations have come into more extensive use outside of the magazine with the advent of internet chat rooms and message boards.
For example, some current soap operas and their acronyms include All My Children (AMC), As the World Turns (ATWT), General Hospital (GH), and One Life to Live (OLTL). The Bold and the Beautiful and The Young and the Restless are represented as B&B and Y&R, respectively. Days of our Lives is referred to as DAYS in the magazine, though the acronym DOOL is sometimes used elsewhere; General Hospital: Night Shift is similarly designated SHIFT rather than an acronym. The now-defunct series Sunset Beach (1997-1999) was known as BEACH to differentiate it from the previously-cancelled series Santa Barbara (1984-1993), which itself had been referred to as SB. Other past series with single-word titles (like Loving and Passions) are fully capitalized by not typically abbreviated. Prime time soap operas have also been attributed with acronyms and abbreviations in the magazine, including Melrose Place (MP) and Dynasty (DYN).
References
See also
External links
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