Shows / This Is Nashville
This Is Nashville
This Is Nashville is a live one-hour daily show driven by community, for community. This flagship program of WPLN News will become your one-stop-shop for news in Nashville and Middle Tennessee, as we continue to show up each day.
Episodes
- This Is Nashville
From the Bell Witch to El Día de los Muertos: Tennessee’s Impressive Collection of Haunts
We do some day-tripping from Nashville today to meet our Tennessee ghosts, hear their stories and learn some history along the way. We spend some time at…
- This Is Nashville
Linus Hall on selling Yazoo, plus a gubernatorial forum recap and off Broadway on West End
Headliner: Three of the leading candidates for Tennessee governor, minus frontrunner Marsha Blackburn, appear in their final forum at MTSU, hosted by the…
- This Is Nashville
Curious Nashville: What’s the most haunted place in Nashville?
It’s a Curious Nashville investigation...with a twist. We recently had an anonymous listener ask: "What is the most haunted place in Nashville?" So, instead of…
- This Is Nashville
Coach Nolan Smith on his winning revival at TSU
Nolan Smith still has a vivid memory of heaving a basketball into the Atlantic Ocean from the deck of a cruise ship. It was the loss-induced tantrum of a…
- This Is Nashville
Re-Air: Getting around on our greenways
There was a time not so long ago that neighborhoods were fighting against greenways – the tucked-away alleys that connect our communities through the woods and…
- This Is Nashville
Signal Species: Calls from the wild
It’s always wise to pay close attention to our wild critters. The squirrels are gathering up nuts for the winter, the birds are flying south, the mosquitoes…
- This Is Nashville
Harlan County USA: Fifty years later
This month marks 50 years since the premiere of "Harlan County USA." The Academy Award-winning documentary film shined a light on an eastern Kentucky coal…
- This Is Nashville
Buddy Miller on collaboration, working on "Nashville," and his first solo album in 15 years
If you bring up the name Buddy Miller in Nashville’s music circles, you’re likely to get a story about how he’s wonderful to work with — humble, talented, and…
- This Is Nashville
Rapid-fire interviews with Nashville's part-time authors
Happy Southern Festival of Books week! To celebrate, we’ve invited nine local authors to join us to talk about their work. History, memoirs, YA, fantasy…
- This Is Nashville
Ain't no party like a public radio ballot party
Who says politics can't be fun? Today, independent candidate for governor, Lauren Pinkston, joins us for a one-on-one interview. And a couple of Nashville's…
- This Is Nashville
The fate of the family business amid a corporate boom
A lot of family businesses make it to the second generation. Very few make it to the third. So a fifth generation is something special. We’re looking at our…
- This Is Nashville
Jim Emison on his roots in Haywood County and Elbert Williams, the NAACP’s first voting rights martyr
On June 20, 1940 in Brownsville, TN, Elbert Williams was overheard vowing to register Black voters. Someone reported him to the local police. That night…
- This Is Nashville
A community conversation on the death penalty and the botched execution of Christa Pike
One week ago, Tennessee tried to carry out the execution of Christa Pike. The execution did not go as planned. Pike survived the lethal injection, making her…
- This Is Nashville
Hard times in a hot town — Leonard Slatkin, Manuel Delgado, and missing immigrant labor
Headliner: Journalist JP Olsen on his Nashville Scene cover story about missing immigrant labor. Newsmaker: Luthier Manuel Delgado on new incentives approved…
- This Is Nashville
Waymo and the acceleration of autonomous vehicles
The sightings are becoming more common — a Waymo out in the wild. And more are on the way. Waymo and Lyft announced a joint partnership with rideshare liaison…
- This Is Nashville
Anne-Marie Zanzal on coming out in middle age and helping others find their way
Part coach. Part minister. Part social strategist. Anne-Marie Zanzel is all of those things because it’s what she needed when she came out in middle age…
- This Is Nashville
What’s keeping Tennesseans from voting? Plus, Jerri Green and a Christa Pike execution update
Why don’t Tennesseans vote at the same rates as people in other states? The Center for Politics breaks turnout down by congressional district, and the map…
- This Is Nashville
Ask Mayor Freddie O'Connell and three women who knew Christa Pike on death row
Today, Mayor Freddie O’Connell joins us in the studio to take our questions—and yours. We’ll ask him about the Nashville Symphony’s financial struggles and the…
- This Is Nashville
Curious Nashville: Trivia Edition
It’s time for Curious Nashville. Typically, the Curious team assigns reporters to answer your questions. Today, though, we’re taking everything we’ve learned…
- This Is Nashville
Our last day in Nashville with Patrick Chappell
We could ask you what you love about Middle Tennessee, and you'd probably have an answer of some kind. But it might lack specificity. If you really want to…
- This Is Nashville
Louder than guns: firearm use and ownership
We’re talking about one of the most divisive issues of our time: the rules around firearm use and ownership. Following the tragedy at the Covenant School in…
- This Is Nashville
Chaz Molder’s run, MNPS grading practices, and a Dolly-themed poetry party
Headliners: WPLN education reporter Camellia Burris on MNPS grading practices and ProPublica’s Aliyya Swaby with an update on a joint investigation with WPLN…
- This Is Nashville
Music Citizens, Episode 6: The Syncmaster
Behind every Instagram ad, commercial, or TV trailer you see, there is a fierce battle over what song gets to play in the background. This song what gives the…
- This Is Nashville
Banjo Hall of Famer Ned Luberecki on living his dream, Nashville’s tribe of players and recording a jazz album
Banjo Hall of Famer Ned Luberecki joins us in the studio with a banjo on his knee. We ask Ned about the banjo’s role in modern music, his long road from…
- This Is Nashville
Indigenous People's Day, celebrating American Indian culture and rewriting painful history
Autumn aligns with several significant days for American Indian communities – Indigenous Peoples’ Day (the second Monday in October), the National Day of…
- This Is Nashville
Genealogy: Family history is American History
We’re searching for headstones and sifting through dusty documents in our attics. It’s a show about investigating our family histories. We can all become…
- This Is Nashville
Celebrity culture and the lost relics of the Belle Meade Theater
While the neon marquee of the shuttered Belle Meade Theater lives on, the lobby of the once-ornate theater now lies empty. The cinema closed in 1991, and…
- This Is Nashville
Herb Williams on sculpting with crayons and speaking out through art
Local artist Herb Williams spent years struggling to break into the world of visual art. Painting didn’t really work out. Neither did sculpting. After years of…
- This Is Nashville
'Our Town' and Christian nationalism, Rep. John Ray Clemmons and a festival season kickoff
Audio and video for this episode will be added after the live broadcast at noon. Headliner: Investigative reporter Meribah Knight and her new podcast series…
- This Is Nashville
Connecting the dots as data centers come to town
Hyperscale data centers are being scrutinized like never before. Even mid-size facilities are receiving fierce pushback, as seen with the data center planned…
- This Is Nashville
A roundabout on the Saint Thomas medication mixup, HCA layoffs and Dolly's healthcare legacy
It’s our weekly roundabout when we take your calls and give you a chance to join the discussion about the news. Today, it’s all healthcare. We're starting with…
- This Is Nashville
Dr. Cleve Francis on cardiology & country music, Sepulveda’s pitch for pedestrian safety, and deadly heat
Headliner: As extreme heat settles in, WPLN environmental reporter Caroline Eggers explains how an NPR/Boston University investigation finds Tennessee and…
- This Is Nashville
Reviving the musical dream with restorative fire
How many stories are there in this town where a star rises before everything falls apart? Where the musical dream leads down an exciting path...and then that…
- This Is Nashville
Thyme Care's Robin Shah on work-life balance, improving cancer care, and falling in love with Nashville
The business of healthcare is our biggest business. And some of the fastest-growing startups who've made Nashville their home are focused on finding…
- This Is Nashville
In search of the actual Elm Hill
Elm Hill Pike may be an industrial artery now, but it was once a main thoroughfare with a rich history. The road has connections to the very earliest white…
- This Is Nashville
Ask the Mayor and mourning the inimitable Dolly Parton
Mayor Freddie O’Connell joins us today to take your questions and comments. And he joins us on a somber day. As the show was ending yesterday, we learned that…
- This Is Nashville
Hemp’s big hold up, Tre Hargett’s college concerns, and Nashville’s fastest filmmakers
Headliner: A THC ban and a new tax on Tennessee hemp took effect this year. The result is a tax that's collecting next to nothing in revenue. We bring you what…
- This Is Nashville
Margo Price on 'Days of Unrest'
Nashville artists are typically trying not to let their personal politics get them in trouble with their fans and the power brokers of the music business. Then…
- This Is Nashville
The Beautiful Game: fun, competition, and high stakes in Nashville's soccer eco-system
Soccer was already on the ascent in the U.S. Then came the North American World Cup. It’s not just you who tuned in for more soccer than ever before. The U.S…
- This Is Nashville
Getting around on our greenways
There was a time not so long ago that neighborhoods were fighting against greenways – the tucked-away alleys that connect our communities through the woods and…
- This Is Nashville
Mr. Rogers on stage, Jayla Thomas on the GOP, and private juvenile prisons under investigation
The headliner: WPLN’s senior criminal justice reporter Paige Pfleger on her latest investigation with ProPublica about abuse in Tennessee’s privately-run…
- This Is Nashville
Jewish Jesus scholar Amy-Jill Levine and her lifelong quest to end antisemitism
When the Catholic Biblical Association reached out this year to see if Amy-Jill Levine would be interested in serving as its president, she wrote someone else…
- This Is Nashville
Re-air - NextAge: Call and Response
We’ve done enough tap dancing around touchy words in this important conversation about intimacy and romance in the second half of life. It’s your turn. What…
- This Is Nashville
It's fair season! The friedest of the fried, fairest of the fair and cutest of the cows
It's fair season and we're digging in to give you a taste of what's coming up. Fairs celebrate the local community with exhibits, show animals, fried food and…
- This Is Nashville
Charlie Hatcher, Martha Ingram, uncovering a pivotal figure of Catholicism in Tennessee, and Athena’s Court
The headlines: A remembrance of Martha Ingram with Alan Valentine and Mac Pirkle and a live interview with Charlie Hatcher, the Republican who upset…
- This Is Nashville
Zack Slingsby's bet on scripted comedy from Nashville
You could count Zack Slingsby as one of Nashville's Covid-era transplants. He moved his family – now with five kids – from New Jersey to Franklin. After years…
- This Is Nashville
The Roundabout: Back to school
It's back to school time for millions of kids in America. We want to highlight local issues on parents' minds now — and hear from you. We're talking…
- This Is Nashville
Cheekwood’s complicated past and present
The storied history and cultural significance of the Cheekwood estate is beyond dispute. But as the home, gardens and galleries continue to attract more and…
- This Is Nashville
Primary turnout, a looming execution, and an Asian twist on Nashville’s famous dish
The headlines: WPLN's Marianna Bacallao and Chloe Akers of The Best of Tennessee talk about the governor's rase, surprisingly high turnout and the overlooked…
- This Is Nashville
Hal Cato and Michael Burcham on loving each other and tending our community
In this episode, we bring together a titan of the Nashville business community and an oracle of the city’s nonprofits. And it was pretty easy because they’re…
- This Is Nashville
Re-air: Two Rutherfords and a Taylor: Ask a songwriter
We’ve learned a lot this week exploring the nuts and bolts of songwriting — from the creative process to the realities of the business. But we also have more…
- This Is Nashville
Re-air: Nuts and bolts: The business of songwriting
The business of songwriting is a full-blown economy of its own — chock full of jargon like “splits,” “P-R-Os,” “plugger” and “mailbox money.” But what does it…
- This Is Nashville
Re-air: The art of the co-write: Luke Dick and Melody Walker
Country music songwriter Harlan Howard famously described country music as “three chords and the truth.” He makes it sound simple, but thousands know it’s much…
- This Is Nashville
Re-air: Alice Randall, the griot of country music
She's a subversive storyteller, slipping in sideways with hard-to-swallow truths. Growing up in Motown, Alice Randall was drawn to the sounds coming from Music…
- This Is Nashville
Blushing, revelatory and poignant moments from our series on sex and seniors
Today we bring sexy back with highlights from NextAge season 2 — our series on intimacy and aging. From vibrator jokes with the Jugg Sisters to the…
- This Is Nashville
Ask the Mayor and the vine that ate the South
As he does each month, Mayor Freddie O’Connell is here to take your questions and to hear your comments. It’s been a busy summer. Today we jump in with the…
- This Is Nashville
Curious Nashville: the whereabouts of Union Station's original Mercury
Union Station has a lot of unique attributes. And no, we're not talking about the fact that it doesn't serve any train lines. If you look up at the top of the…
- This Is Nashville
Alberto Gonzales on retirement, loyalty and the law
Where do you go after reaching the pinnacle of your profession? What if you were forced out of that job? For former U.S. Attorney General Alberto Gonzales, his…
- This Is Nashville
The state of surveillance in our city
A review by the non-profit Nashville Police and Public Safety Alliance reveals nine of Nashville's geographic, demographic, and economic peer cities ––…
- This Is Nashville
It's voting time in Tennessee; a primary primer
Primary elections for governor, the Tennessee State House, and congressional seats are just around the corner, with early voting beginning Friday. That means…