Sesame Street first aired on November 10, 1969. The show premiered on public television stations in the United States and was designed to educate and entertain young children using a combination of human characters, Muppets, cartoons, and live shorts.
The initial broadcast introduced characters like Gordon, Sally, Big Bird, Oscar the Grouch, Ernie, and Bert, and featured educational segments such as a lecture on the letter W by Kermit the Frog and the number song series. It was the first preschool educational television program to base its content on research and formative evaluation.
Since its debut, Sesame Street has become a cultural cornerstone, airing continuously for decades and influencing educational programming worldwide. It originally aired on the National Educational Television network, which became PBS in 1970, and has since moved through different platforms including HBO and streaming services.
