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Due to the female skewing counterprogramming nature of "Queen for a Day" on NBC, "Edge" leaned friendlier towards the male audience with its primary focus on crime, rather than domestic and romantic matters, featuring an onslaught of gangsters, drug dealers, blackmailers, cultists, international spies, corrupt politicians, psychopaths, and murderous debutantes, while the usual soap opera problems of romance matters also took place.
It's first counterprogram was the aforementioned "Queen for a Day", which aired at 4:30 ET, but on July 2, 1956, NBC moved the show to start at 4 ET and run until 4:45 ET, with Modern Romances aired from 4:45 ET to 5 ET. "Edge" must have rocked NBC to make an early scheduling change.
On January 1, 1956, ABC began programming the 3-5pm ET slot with "Afternoon Film Festival." "Edge" must have had an effect on the last half hour of ABC's film feature because on October 29, 1956, it shrunk the "Festival" down to 90 minutes airing from 3-4:30pm ET, and leaving the 4:30-5pm ET half hour blank for now.
On August 5, 1957, ABC premiered "American Bandstand" to run from 3:30pm ET to 5pm ET; it was a popular show among teenagers and young adults who weren't into romance on NBC and crime on CBS.
On September 30, 1957, ABC moved "Bandstand" up a half hour to run from 3pm ET to 4:30pm ET, and inserted a game show "Do You Trust Your Wife?" to run at 4:30pm ET.
On November 18, 1957, ABC split up "Bandstand" into two parts to run from 3 ET to 3:30 ET (moving "Trust Your Wife?" to 3:30 ET), and continuing "Bandstand" to run from 4 ET to 5 ET. "Edge" must have affected "Trust Your Wife?"'s ratings badly at its former 4:30 ET slot.
On September 22, 1958, NBC moved a new show, "County Fair," to the 4:30 ET to 5 ET slot, bumping out "Modern Romances" and cutting "Queen for a Day" down to 30 minutes starting at 4 ET.
On September 28, 1959, NBC replaced "County Fair" with "Split Personality."
The 1960s
As we enter the 1960s, "Edge"'s counterprogrammers were "Split Personality" on NBC, and the second half-hour of "American Bandstand" on ABC.
On February 8, 1960, NBC replaced their 4:30 ET show with "Adventure Time."
On September 26, 1960, NBC replaced their 4:30 ET show with "Here's Hollywood."
On October 2, 1961, NBC added the five minute "NBC News" at 4:55 ET, reducing "Here's" to 25 minutes. Also, on ABC, "American Bandstand" was trimmed to 50 minutes, starting at 4pm ET, and the 10 minute show "American Newsstand" aired at 4:50pm ET.
On October 1, 1962, ABC trimmed "Bandstand" to 30 minutes at 4 ET, then at 4:30 ET, it ran "Discovery," followed by "American Newsstand" at 4:55 ET. On NBC, you still had "Here's Hollywood" at 4:30 ET, followed by NBC News at 4:55 ET.
On December 31, 1962, NBC reprogrammed the 4:30pm ET half hour with reruns of "Make Room for Daddy."
On July 1, 1963, CBS was preparing to give the 4:30pm ET half hour to affiliates, so the network moved "Edge of Night" to 3:30pm ET. It's newest counterprogrammers were "Who Do You Trust?" on ABC, and "You Don't Say!" on NBC. In a coincidence, in 1975, ABC, when it ran "You Don't Say" for five months, replaced it with "Edge" imported from CBS in December of that year.
On December 30, 1963, ABC replaced "Trust" with "Queen for a Day," a former NBC show, so once again, "Edge" was facing that show again in a time slot.
On October 5, 1964, ABC replaced their 3:30pm ET show with "The Young Marrieds," a soap opera.
On March 28, 1966, ABC replaced their 3:30pm ET show with "The Nurses," a soap opera.
On April 3, 1967, ABC replaced their 3:30pm ET show with "Dark Shadows," a gothic soap opera.
On July 15, 1968, ABC moved "Shadows" to 4pm ET, and at 3:30pm ET, it debut a long-running serial titled "One Life to Live."
On September 29, 1969, NBC canceled "You Don't Say" and replaced it with a new soap opera titled "Bright Promise."
The 1970s
On April 3, 1972, after over two and a half years, NBC canceled "Promise" and resurrected a prime-time serial for daytime titled "Return to Peyton Place."
On September 4, 1972, in a mad shuffling of shows on CBS-TV, and at the urgency of show owner "Proctor and Gamble," "The Edge of Night" was moved from 3:30pm ET to 2:30pm ET. It's new counterprogrammers were "The Dating Game" on ABC and "The Doctors" on NBC.
On July 9, 1973, ABC drops "The Dating Game" and replaced it with "The Girl in My Life."
On December 23, 1974, ABC cancels "Girl" and replaces it with "The Big Showdown."
On July 7, 1975, "Showdown" gave way to "Rhyme and Reason," a game show. Meanwhile, at 4pm ET, ABC began airing a game show it once competed against: "You Don't Say!"
On December 1, 1975, after a complex deal was finalized, "Edge of Night" moved from CBS to ABC, and, lo and behold, it took the 4pm ET slot that was occupied by the canceled "You Don't Say!" CBS moved "The Guiding Light" in their old 2:30 ET time slot. "Edge"'s counterprogrammers were "Somerset" on NBC and "Tattletales" on CBS.
Here's the order of the remaining counterprogrammers:
December 1, 1975: Tattletales, CBS. Somerset, NBC.
Note: On July 6, 1976, ABC's Pacific feed would move "Edge" to 3pm Pacific time to align with the 3pm airing of "Edge" in the Central time zone, with both time zones (plus the Eastern time zone where "Edge" aired at 4pm) facing the same counterprogrammers on ABC and NBC from this point on. A reminder, "Edge" airs at 4pm ET, 3pm CT and PT, and for Mountain time zone viewers, 2pm MT (but at 1pm Arizona time when states other than Arizona observe Daylight Saving Time from late April to late October.)
January 3, 1977: Tattletales, CBS. The Gong Show, NBC.
On December 5, 1977, NBC moved "The Gong Show" to an earlier time, and cleared the 4pm ET slot for local programming, while taking back the 1pm-1:30pm Eastern half hour block.
On December 12, 1977, CBS moved "Match Game" to 4pm PT, where it stayed until its final airdate on April 20, 1979.
The rest of "Edge's" counterprogrammers on CBS were "Love of Life" beginning April 23, 1979, "One Day at a Time" reruns beginning February 4, 1980, "Up to the Minute" beginning September 28, 1981, the return of "Tattletales" on January 18, 1982, and "Body Language" beginning on June 4, 1984.
"Edge" left ABC after the December 28, 1984 airing, and ABC gave the late time slot back to local staitons. CBS, in case you want to know, moved "Press Your Luck" there on January 1, 1986, where it stayed until its last airing on September 26, 1986, and CBS gave its time slot back to local affiliates.
At first on the West coast, ABC had shows that matched the time slots of its Eastern feed. Then in 1974, ABC went to an altered pattern to begin a six year project that would shift the start of the daytime block one hour earlier and would be completed in 1980. It wasn't as easy as it looks.
CBS for the most part followed its entire Pacific time zone scheduling to match the Central time zone pattern, or simply, subtract one hour from the shows airing on CBS daytime on the Eastern time zone. Through the early 1960s, its late afternoon block matched the Eastern time zone pattern.
NBC's was also complicated. In the 1950s, in order to broadcast "Queen for a Day" live on all time zones, the Pacific time zone had its late afternoon shows airing simultaneously on the East coast, while giving the stations on the East coast a long break for local programming, starting with 90 minutes and gradually shifting to 60 as it lost "Queen" to ABC, then 30, then no break. So with NBC, it's complicated on the West coast as well. NBC's daytime western feed ended at 3pm.
In Los Angeles, the CBS station was KNXT (now KCBS). It aired Edge through November 1975 when CBS let "Edge" go to ABC the following month. The ABC station in Los Angeles was KABC.
I'm guessing that Edge's counterprogramming between 1956 and 1960 was solely coming from the ABC station assuming that CBS and ABC aired its 4:30pm ET shows at 4:30pm Pacific time. According to research, ABC was offering The ABC Afternoon Film Festival when "Edge" premiered; the film aired from 3 to 5pm. On October 29, 1956, ABC left the half hour blank possibly because "Edge" was getting big ratings in its time slot. On August 5, 1957, "American Bandstand" took the 3:30-5pm time slot. Then on September 30, 1957, the game show "Do You Trust Your Wife" began airing at 4:30pm. Then on November 18, 1957, ABC moved "Trust" to 3:30pm and split up "American Bandstand" into two parts to air from 3 to 3:30pm and from 4 to 5pm.
I don't have much data to work with for daytime TV in the Pacific time zone to work with, so what I stated above were guesses what "Edge's" counterprogramming from ABC was like according to data suggested from the two Los Angeles TV stations.
In 1960, "Edge"'s only network counterprogramming was the second of three parts of "American Bandstand" hosted by Dick Clark. It aired at 4:30pm. NBC on the Pacific time zone, again, ended its daytime schedule at 3pm.
On about September 5, 1960, CBS moved its late daytime part on the Pacific Time zone feed up one hour. "Edge" was on at 3:30pm Pacific. Opposite it was ABC with "Who Do You Trust?", a game show that aired at 3:30pm ET and PT. "Edge" was unchanged on the right two time zones at 4:30pm ET, 3:30pm CT.
On July 1, 1963, CBS moved "Edge" up one hour from 3:30pm to 2:30pm Pacific and Central times (from 4:30pm to 3:30pm Eastern) as it was planning to give the late time slot to local affiliates. "Edge" on the West coast gained NBC as a competitor with one of its TV shows, which were reruns of "Make Room for Daddy." On ABC, it was "Jane Wyman Presents." In three years, "Edge" was moved two hours earlier. Unfortunately for it, most of the male audience who watched the show couldn't watch it anymore because of work and school and outdoor activities. It wouldn't be the earliest it would air on the Pacific Time zone as we will see later.
On September 9, 1963, ABC replaced the 2:30pm show with "Day in Court/ABC Early Afternoon Report" at 2:55pm.
On June 29, 1964, NBC moved "The Match Game" hosted by Gene Rayburn to the 2:30pm Pacific slot. At 2:55pm, it was NBC news. ABC's shows remained the same.
On June 28, 1965, ABC began airing "A Time For Us", a soap opera at 2:30pm, followed by ABC News at 2:55pm. NBC's shows remained the same.
On December 19, 1966, ABC began airing "Dream Girl of '67'" at 2:30pm, followed by ABC News at 2:55pm. NBC's shows remained the same.
On January 1, 1968, ABC began airing "The Baby Game" at 2:30pm, followed by "The Children's Doctor" at 2:55pm. NBC's shows remained the same.
On July 15, 1968, ABC moved "The Dating Game" to 2:30pm and eliminated the 2:55pm feature. "Dating" stayed in that time slot until its cancelation from the ABC daytime sked on July 6, 1973. NBC's shows remained the same.
On September 29, 1969, NBC canceled "The Match Game" and began airing "Letters to Laugh-In" at 2:30pm, followed by NBC News at 2:55pm. On December 29, 1969, "Letters" was replaced with "Name Droppers." NBC News remained at 2:55pm.
On March 30, 1970, NBC replaced "Name Droppers" with "Another World: Somerset," which was a spinoff of "Another World," retitled "Another World: Bay City." In a sense, "Another World" was basically two half-hour soaps with "Bright Promise" sandwiched between them! On April 5, 1971, each of the "Another World" soaps reverted to "Another World," dropping the "Bay City" city, and "Somerset," dropping the "Another World" name.
Also note that on the Eastern/Central time zones, "Dating Game" aired at 2:30pm/1:30pm on ABC and "Somerset" aired at 4pm/3pm on NBC. "Edge of Night's" 3:30pm/2:30pm counterprogramming on the Eastern/Central time zones were "Bright Promise" on NBC and "One Life to Live" on ABC.
Effective on September 4, 1972, Proctor and Gamble ordered CBS to move "Edge of Night" up one hour to 1:30pm Pacific Time, or 2:30pm Eastern and 1:30pm Central. On the West Coast, "Edge's" new counterprogramming was "Let's Make a Deal" on ABC and "Another World" on NBC.
On January 6, 1975, "Another World" expanded to one hour, the first daytime soaper to do so, but its time slot remained the same as before on all coasts, airing at 3pm ET/2pm CT/1:30pm PT.
On April 21, 1975, NBC expanded "Days of Our Lives" to one hour. On the Eastern and Central time zones, it began airing at 1:30pm/12:30pm, but on the West Coast, it remained at 12:30pm when NBC decided to move its late afternoon block back one half hour. Airing at 1:30 is "The Doctors," which as "Edge's" new counterprogramming on the Pacific Time Zone, but has been its competitor on the Eastern and Central time zones since September 1972.
In late 1975, CBS made it known that it wanted to let "Edge" go and expand "As The World Turns." airing at 12:30pm PT, to one hour, and push "Guiding Light" back a half hour from 1pm to 1:30pm PT, the time slot occupied by "Edge." Proctor and Gamble, the producers of "Edge," made a deal with ABC to place its show on the schedule effective December 1, 1975, three days after its obligation to air "You Don't Say" ended its contract run.
On December 1, 1975, "Edge" premiered on ABC at a special time on the Eastern and Central time zones, at 3pm/2pm as a one-time 90 minute special. It pre-empted "General Hospital" and "One Life to Live" just for the day. On the West Coast, you want to know how early "Edge" aired on ABC? Try 12 NOON. It premiered at 12pm and pushed "All My Children" and "Ryan's Hope" to 2:30pm and 3pm respectively just for the day. The day after, "Edge" assumed its time slot of 4pm ET/3pm CT/12pm PT. Also note that at 12pm on the Pacific time zone feed, CBS and NBC had their 30-minute network breaks for local stations to air news or other programming, so just for the West coast, "Edge" had no network counterprogramming.
When Daylight Saving Time began on April 25, 1976 for the year, "Edge" aired before the sun reached its highest point in the sky for the day on April 26 (my birthday). In a odd sense, "Edge" was airing in late morning if you forgot to move your clocks forward!
Here's the order:
July 26, 1976: Tattletales, CBS. Somerset, NBC.
January 3, 1977: Tattletales, CBS. The Gong Show, NBC.
On December 5, 1977, NBC moved "The Gong Show" to an earlier time, and cleared the 3pm Pacific Time slot for local programming, while taking back the 12pm-12:30pm Pacific half hour block.
On December 12, 1977, CBS moved "Match Game" to 3pm PT, where it stayed until its final airdate on April 20, 1979.
The rest of "Edge's" counterprogrammers on CBS were "Love of Life" beginning April 23, 1979, "One Day at a Time" reruns beginning February 4, 1980, "Up to the Minute" beginning September 28, 1981, the return of "Tattletales" on January 18, 1982, and "Body Language" beginning on June 4, 1984.
"Edge" left ABC after the December 28, 1984 airing, and ABC gave the late time slot back to local staitons. CBS, in case you want to know, moved "Press Your Luck" there on January 1, 1986, where it stayed until its last airing on September 26, 1986, and CBS gave its time slot back to local affiliates.
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