Wednesday's WDBJ Tragedy Echoes Soap Storyline From the Past

The Edge of Night's Nicole Cavanaugh died live on camera on June 10, 1983.

My name is William Joseph Reynolds, and like Mr. Newcomb (We Love Soaps editorial director), I am a contributor to "Survival of Soap Opera: Transformations for a New Media Era," published by the University of Mississippi Press. My chapter involves 'Memories of The Edge of Night.' From the time I was 7 1/2 years old, in January of 1964, until the show's final airing, on December 28, 1984, Edge was part of my life. in fact, I was one of only two fans invited to the show's final taping.

Today's tragic events involving WDBJ-TV in Roanoke, Virginia share a number of similarities with a storyline from Edge, in June of 1983.

Nicole Cavanaugh (played by Lisa Sloan) had just been cleared of murder charges, and was returning to her job as anchor, at WMON-TV. A very happy occasion, indeed. Earlier, on Wednesday, the WBDJ staff celebrated the producer's last day on the job, as she is moving on to a new job in North Carolina, and will be starting a new life with her fiancee, Adam Ward.

During a live WMON broadcast, Nicole collapses and dies, while at her anchor desk. It is, later discovered, that her TV make-up had been poisoned.