CULTURE: Soap Sells in Jamaica

By IPS Correspondents Reprint | | Print |

Howard Campbell

KINGSTON, Jul 23 1996 (IPS) - Ten years after its bubble burst in the United States, soap operas are all the rage in Jamaica.

From popular daytime shows in North America and far away Australia to local productions, these melodramas with their predictable plots have taken over the lion’s share of the market. Shows like ‘Days of Our Lives’, ‘The Bold and the Beautiful’ and ‘Santa Barbara’, command more attention than more serious programmes like the news and current affairs talk shows.

So popular are soap operas here, that both local television stations – the state-owned Jamaica Broadcasting Corporation (JBC) and the privately run CVM (Community Television, Videomax and Mediamix) – air two North American soaps five days a week and twice a day to accommodate voracious viewers.

Some 291,000 people tune in to ‘The Young and the Restless’, another 290,000 to ‘The Bold and the Beautiful’ while ‘Days of our Life’, which is aired in daytime, has a viewership of 77,000.

The locally-produced ‘Royal Palm Estate’ which is patterned off the North American programmes is also a favourite among Jamaican viewers with the long-running Australian soap, ‘Neighbours’, also enjoying a fair following.

According to programme directors at both TV stations, viewers just can’t seem to get enough.

“Based on surveys, it’s what the viewers want,” says Lenny Gordon of CVM. “Soap operas have become one of our prime time favourites.”

Keith Campbell, Gordon’s counterpart at the JBC, says his department comes under fire whenever one of the two soap operas they broadcast is not aired. “We get a lot of calls when they are not shown,” he says.

Jamaicans have always been fascinated by the twisting tales of soap operas, from the days of ‘Peyton Place’, another North American daytime giant that began in the 1960s.

With the advent of the nighttime blockbusters like ‘Dallas’, ‘Dynasty’ and ‘Falcon Crest’, the craving for such programmes grew even more.

“It’s part of an American culture that has been sensitively provided by cable television,” explains Gordon, who adds that CVM is aware that some of the topics on these shows go against the conservative beliefs of some Jamaicans. “Some of them (topics) are a bit risque,” he says.

Campbell however, thinks Jamaicans have become so accustomed to the liberal lifestyle of Americans that the strong sexual overtones are not likely to raise many eyebrows. “Because of the conflict in relationships, they attract a lot of attention,” he says.

Soap operas do not only attract viewers, but advertisers as well. When the soaps are on, whether early morning or prime time, both Gordon and Campbell say their stations do their best business.

“In the mornings we get a fair share of ads which is not normal,” Gordon points out. At JBC, Campbell says it’s the same. “From a marketing point of view, there are not enough soaps.”

Despite all the noise about soaps, there are critics who have knocked their dominance on local television, saying the extravagant and loose lifestyles flaunted on the screen contrast to the more sober Jamaican way of life. They also point to the high content of overseas programmes being promoted by both JBC and CVM.

“Right now, we are trying to show programmes that promote our culture,” says Campbell, who also says JBC will be adding another soap opera to its roster, this time from South Africa.

At the moment, two is enough for rival CVM. Says Gordon: “We have taken a corporate decision not to saturate Jamaica with soap operas.”