Local ties to creating and saving Sesame Street

More from this show

PBS’s “Sesame Street” might not exist today if it were not for two Arizonans. It was created in part by Joan Ganz Cooney, who grew up in Phoenix. In 1972 a bill funding the continuation of Sesame Street was vetoed by then President Richard Nixon. Ganz Cooney turned to an old family friend from Phoenix for help, the late Senator Barry Goldwater, who helped restore that funding. We’ll get details from Sherman Dorn, an historian of education at Arizona State University’s Mary Lou Fulton Teachers College.

Sherman Dorn,historian of education at Arizona State University's Mary Lou Fulton Teachers College

Illustration of columns of a capitol building with text reading: Arizona PBS AZ Votes 2024
airs April 18

Arizona PBS presents candidate debates as part of ‘AZ Votes 2024’

Earth Day Challenge graphic with the Arizona PBS logo and an illustration of the earth

Help us meet the Earth Day Challenge!

Graphic for the AZPBS kids LEARN! Writing Contest with a child sitting in a chair writing on a table and text reading: The Ultimate Field Trip
May 12

Submit your entry for the 2024 Writing Contest

The Capital building with text reading: Circle on Circle: Robert Lowell's D.C.
May 2

An evening with ‘Poetry in America’

Subscribe to Arizona PBS Newsletters

STAY in touch
with azpbs.org!

Subscribe to Arizona PBS Newsletters: