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Sesame Street's Sonia Manzano, and the birth of educational kids TV

James Earl Jones guest stars on Sesame Street with regular cast members Big Bird, Mr. Hooper (played by actor Will Lee) and Maria (actor Sonia Manzano).
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James Earl Jones guest stars on Sesame Street with regular cast members Big Bird, Mr. Hooper (played by actor Will Lee) and Maria (actor Sonia Manzano).

For more than 50 years, PBS’s Sesame Street has brought quality educational programming to children around the globe. And while we may take it for granted now, Sesame Street upended the conventional ideas of kids television. This week, a look inside the creation of children's educational TV.

Guests:

  • Sonia Manzano: Actress, best known for work as Maria on Sesame Street. She’s also the creator of the animated kids show Alma’s Way and author of the forthcoming book, Coming Up Cuban: Rising Past Castro’s Shadow
  • Daniel R. Anderson: Professor Emeritus of Psychology at the University of Massachusetts Amherst and a former consultant for Nickelodeon and Sesame Workshop

Sonia will be in Connecticut on April 7th speaking at YWCA Hartford's In the Company of Women Luncheon event. Find out more about the event.

Disrupted is produced by James Szkobel-Wolff, Zshekinah Collier and Catie Talarski. Our interns are Michayla Savitt and Sara Gasparotto.

Our show is also available as a podcast on Apple Podcasts, Spotify, Google Podcasts, Stitcher, or wherever you get your podcasts. Subscribe and never miss an episode!

James Szkobel-Wolff is a producer for the Connecticut Public Radio’s weekly show 'Disrupted,' hosted by Dr. Khalilah Brown-Dean.
Zshekinah Collier is a producer for Connecticut Public Radio’s weekly show 'Disrupted.' Previously she was a Radio Production & Storytelling Intern and contributed to 'Audacious,' 'The Colin McEnroe Show,' 'Seasoned,' and 'Where We Live.'
Dr. Khalilah L. Brown-Dean is an award-winning scholar at Wesleyan University, author, and host of 'Disrupted' on Connecticut Public.
Catie Talarski is Senior Director of Storytelling and Radio Programming at Connecticut Public.
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