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
The Roundabout: ICE raids in churches, Christians and execution, our founding fathers and faith
It’s Thursday and time for another episode of The Roundabout. This week, our weekly Roundabout panel turns its attention to issues of religion. We're…
- This Is Nashville
Music Citizens: The Tastemaker
Today we travel along with Music Citizens to go inside the highest stakes job in the industry – A&R. Through the lens and life of A&R lifer Kim Buie, we get to…
- This Is Nashville
Our Grand Divisions
There aren’t many states like Tennessee with three distinct regions so unique each has its own star on the state flag. West, Middle, and East Tennessee are not…
- This Is Nashville
Vanderbilt neurologist Britt Stone on coming back around to ‘bush medicine’
When Dr. Britt Stone was growing up in Tupelo, Mississippi, her Bahamian mother made her choke down a spoonful of cod liver oil each morning. The daily ritual…
- This Is Nashville
Our most popular episode of 2025: The HBCU we never knew
This time of year, we like to recommend some of the best podcasts of the year. So we've sprinkled a few recommendations throughout the show today while we let…
- This Is Nashville
How the Opry and WSM made it 100 years
It became the calling card for trailblazing WSM, the radio station that reached the wider world with old-time hillbilly music. Just five short years after the…
- This Is Nashville
Whisperin' Bill Anderson, the Grand Ole Opry's longest serving legend
As the Grand Ole Opry celebrates its 100th birthday this week, we hear from its longest-serving member. Whisperin’ Bill Anderson hasn’t just weathered a…
- This Is Nashville
The Roundabout: political pardons, school voucher update, the tightening TN-7 race and more
It’s Thursday and time for another episode of The Roundabout. The Roundabout is the news of the week, analyzed by our panelists from points of view that span…
- This Is Nashville
Navigating tariff turmoil with our artisans and importers
Stream video on YouTube. Now that tariffs levied by the second Trump administration have taken effect, small businesses in Nashville are beginning to feel the…
- This Is Nashville
This Is Curious Nashville: Why do we have Chicago-style gyro restaurants?
Our question today: What is a "Chicago-style gyro," and why are there so many shops with that name in Nashville? Little did we know that trying to figure this…
- This Is Nashville
Music City's benevolent mogul, Mike Curb
It might look like anything Mike Curb touches turns to gold. But he says he’s never been great at anything – just passionate. After more than 60 years in the…
- This Is Nashville
In My Place, Episode 19: Homelessness doesn’t just affect you. It hits the rest of us.
From a young age, Colby Keegan said he hoped to "affect positive change." He was homeless when he died of an overdose at the age of 23. His mother, Lisa…
- This Is Nashville
Beyond SNAP: Hunger in Tennessee
It’s now just a matter of time before federal benefits are restored that help nearly 700,000 Tennesseans put food on the table. But the government shutdown…
- This Is Nashville
Veterans Day in Nashville: honoring locals who have served
On today's show, we honor those who’ve served their country by welcoming three combat veterans from Middle Tennessee, all from the decade after 9/11. A cook…
- This Is Nashville
The ever-evolving life of Bill DeMain: cartoonist, musician, songwriter, music journalist and guide
Bill DeMain has been creating and evolving for decades. A prolific songwriter, music journalist, walking tour guide, and one half of the pop duo Swan Dive…
- This Is Nashville
The Country In Our Hearts, Ep. 4: The Kurdish American Dream
The latest wave of Kurds is arriving from Turkey — fleeing political repression and nationalist hate groups. They're coming to a very different America than…
- This Is Nashville
The Country In Our Hearts, Ep. 3: Safety Zone
They opened businesses and raised their kids. As those kids grew up, they had to figure out how to navigate the world of a first-generation Kurdish-American…
- This Is Nashville
The Country In Our Hearts, Ep. 2: The Ones Who Face Death
In this special broadcast, featuring episode 2 from The Country In Our Hearts, we see all this family lost to war and displacement. But also, what they are…
- This Is Nashville
The Country In Our Hearts, Ep. 1: The Enemy Within
WPLN's Rose Gilbert dives headlong into one family’s migration odyssey from Iraqi Kurdistan to Nashville. To really understand what this family — and so many…
- This Is Nashville
The triumphant return of Curious Nashville
WPLN is reviving one of the the station's most popular projects: Curious Nashville. The recipe is simple. Listeners ask questions and we find the answers. But…
- This Is Nashville
Our keeper of the flame, Nina Cardona
Every community needs a “keeper of the flame” – someone who can connect the present with the past. And in Middle Tennessee, we’re fortunate to have several of…
- This Is Nashville
In My Place, Episode 18: Losing home again
Welcome back to In My Place — a series about finding, and losing, home in a growing Nashville. This season, we’re getting to walk through the specific steps…
- This Is Nashville
Tennessee's pandemic chief Dr. Lisa Piercey on her post-COVID career change
When Dr. Lisa Piercey left state government after guiding Tennessee through the pandemic, she decided to turn over an entirely new leaf. She was tired of…
- This Is Nashville
The Roundabout: Federal policies, jobs, and healthcare
As the federal government shutdown rolls into its fourth week, paychecks for federal employees have halted. At the local level, many are wondering how federal…
- This Is Nashville
The rise and resurgence of Christian music
Gospel and Christian music call this city home. But until now, there hasn’t been an obvious physical location. With the opening of the Museum of Christian &…
- This Is Nashville
Questioning our transit plans with Sabrina Sussman, plus our Shared Calendar
It’s been nearly a year since Davidson County voters passed the Choose How You Move transit referendum, approving a half-cent (0.5%) sales tax increase to fund…
- This Is Nashville
Charles “Wigg” Walker, legendary R&B and soul artist
Charles “Wigg” Walker, legendary R&B and soul artist
- This Is Nashville
The Roundabout: News of the week
It’s a Roundabout episode with guest host and familiar voice Nina Cardona. This panel spanning the political spectrum helps you think about the news —…
- This Is Nashville
Spiders: the friends in our walls
On our show today, we’re talking about native spiders. Why? Well, it’s spider season. You tend to see more this time of year because the males are looking for…
- This Is Nashville
Balancing affordable housing and density
When Vanderbilt polled Nashvillians in March about top priorities for city investment, there was near unanimity around one issue. Nearly 90% wanted investment…
- This Is Nashville
Stuart McWhorter on doing business, divisive politics, and carrying on his father’s legacy
When Stuart McWhorter gets introduced on stage, at some point he feels the need to cut off the emcee. From his resume, it starts to sound like he either can’t…
- This Is Nashville
The Roundabout: Congressional District 7 primary, banned books and...how will Vanderbilt answer Trump?
The Roundabout is your news of the week, analyzed by our panelists from points of view that span left, right and center. Congressional District 7 candidate…
- This Is Nashville
The future of Nashville Pride
Not long ago, everybody seemed to want to get in on Pride month festivities. Then the political winds shifted. Companies that were proudly flying the rainbow…
- This Is Nashville
Our HBCU We Never Knew and the arts center, artists, and scholars working to keep its memory alive
Nothing remains of Roger Williams University except a couple of historical plaques tucked away on Vanderbilt’s Peabody Campus. Founded in the wake of the Civil…
- This Is Nashville
Tamara Saviano on a fateful firing and finding Americana music
Americana often becomes a place for artists or music industry types who don’t fit neatly elsewhere. And for Tamara Saviano, it was a place for a writer and…
- This Is Nashville
The Roundabout: government shutdown, a special election, BNA traffic
The Roundabout is your news of the week, analyzed by our panelists from points of view that span left, right and center. Joining us today are Mark Rogers…
- This Is Nashville
Nuestra ciudad, nuestras historias...our city, our stories
There’s a poster in the This Is Nashville studio that says “Our City, Our Stories.” And today it could say “Nuestra ciudad, nuestra historias.” Eleven percent…
- This Is Nashville
In My Place, Episode 17: It's hard being home
In My Place is a series that educates listeners on what communities like Nashville can do to prevent and end homelessness — while caring for our neighbors who…
- This Is Nashville
No excuses from Fred Bailey, who grew up unaware he was blind
Fred Bailey didn’t just defy the odds. He didn’t see his circumstances as a deck stacked against him. In fact, he couldn’t see at all, which was one of the…
- This Is Nashville
The Roundabout: Is "Nashville Nice" enough for you to stay?
It’s Thursday and time for another episode of The Roundabout – the "Nashville Nice" edition "Nashville Nice" is a unique flavor of Southern hospitality and…
- This Is Nashville
The G-word (geriatrics) is not a bad word! NEXT AGE episode 6
Let’s discuss the dreaded G-word – geriatrics – and clear up common misconceptions about that medical specialty and why it’s important for healthy aging. For…
- This Is Nashville
Small businesses: adapting as costs soar
Running a small business is tough — especially if you’re in a city like Nashville where commercial lease rates are increasing significantly. Today, we’re…
- This Is Nashville
Joy Flores and the mission to shelter the unhoused
When people in Nashville have nowhere else to go, they find our guest this hour. We’re getting to know the story of Joy Flores, the vice president of…
- This Is Nashville
Ask the Mayor + Shared Calendar
Freddie O’Connell is back for another round of “Ask the Mayor.” Today we have questions for him about a land swap deal for Dolly, massive gridlock at the…
- This Is Nashville
Re-air: Opryland's Lasting Legacy
Maybe we didn’t know what we had until it left a theme park-size hole in Nashville’s heart. A documentary premiering at the Nashville Film Festival, called “A…
- This Is Nashville
Trapped in Debt: Payday lenders, Tennessee politics, and fallout from the 'flex loan'
Predatory lending practices are not new. Think salary buying and loan sharks of the late 19th and early 20th centuries. But the modern version was born in the…
- This Is Nashville
From Somali refugee to advocate for asylum-seekers: Abdkadir Mohamed
Abdikadir Mohamed spent fourteen years in a Kenyan refugee camp before being able to immigrate to Nashville, where he and his family made a life for…
- This Is Nashville
Special: Reclaiming the banjo
This past spring, Durham, North Carolina, hosted a sprawling roots music festival called Biscuits and Banjos. For the thousands of attendees, it had some…
- This Is Nashville
The Roundabout: Substance use, survival, recovery and loss
We’ve given you a lot to think about this week as we've examined harm reduction, medication assisted treatment and substance use disorder recovery and loss…
- This Is Nashville
The opioid that's saving lives in Nashville
While doctors are prescribing fewer and fewer opioids, there’s one that’s not going away – buprenorphine, often known by its brand name of Suboxone. Compared…
- This Is Nashville
Sanctioned harm reduction
On today's episode of "This Is Nashville," we dive into the work of sanctioned harm reduction. Needle exchanges, distributing drug overdose reversal medication…
- This Is Nashville
From street corners to campsites, the work of Miriam Field, harm reductionist
When it comes to drug addiction, trying to help someone quit can feel like a lost cause. But there are still ways to keep people as healthy as possible…
- This Is Nashville
The Roundabout: News of the Week for September 4, 2025
It’s Thursday and time for another episode of The Roundabout. The Roundabout is your news of the week, analyzed by our panelists from points of view that span…
- This Is Nashville
A look inside Nashville’s brunch culture
Chicken and Waffles, shrimp and grits, powdered sugar on top of fresh French toast—not to mention bottomless mimosas. For those not addicted to social media…
- This Is Nashville
Re: Air: We’re twinning! Identical twins in Middle Tennessee
We have an episode dedicated to a tiny fraction of the population that fascinates us all: the identical twins in our midst. Life is just different for those…
- This Is Nashville
The Roundabout: News of the Week for August 28, 2025
It’s Thursday and time for another episode of The Roundabout. The Roundabout is your news of the week, analyzed by our panelists from points of view that span…
- This Is Nashville
Hope and help for caregivers in Middle Tennessee
There’s a caregiving crisis in America, and taking care of our parents is just one part of the struggle. It’s caring for adults with a disability. It’s…
- This Is Nashville
In My Place, Episode 16: We're homeward bound!
Welcome back to our second season of In My Place. This special series educates listeners on what communities like Nashville can do to prevent and end…
- This Is Nashville
Demetrius Short on running in suits and pain as preparation
Earlier this year, Demetrius Short spoke at Fisk University's Honors Convocation and got some apologies off his chest. He disclosed to his mentors and…
- This Is Nashville
The Roundabout: News of the Week
It’s Thursday and time for another episode of The Roundabout. The Roundabout is your news of the week, analyzed by our panelists from points of view that span…