End of Story - NYTimes.com The world has turned more than 17,000 times since the good citizens of Oakdale, U.S.A., began their couplings and uncouplings, their feuds and friendships, mysteries and scandals, on CBS. But like "Guiding Light" in September, "As the World Turns" is ending. Procter & Gamble, parent to both, is getting out of the soap opera business. The last "A.T.W.T." will be broadcast next September, after 54 years. While the show wasn't "the biggest loser," its ratings, once huge, have declined. Reality shows are the habit-forming generation-bonders now. News programs, too, have played a part, overflowing as they are with the soap lives of celebrities and politicians (Jenny Sanford filed for divorce last week). "A.T.W.T.," incidentally, may be the soap most associated with the news. Right after Nancy Hughes (played by Helen Wagner, who at 91 is still in the role) uttered the line, "And I gave it a great deal of thought, Grandpa," on the live broadcast of Nov. 22, 1963, Walter Cronkite interrupted: "Here is a bulletin from CBS News. In Dallas, Tex., three shots were fired ... .