PODCAST · news
This Is Nashville
by WPLN News - Nashville Public Radio
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
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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 along our waterways. Now, developers treat greenways like beachfront property. Nashville now has more than 100 miles of them.…
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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 are mostly gone. But sometimes it’s more than those seasonal changes like what we’re seeing right now. Armadillo appear where they’ve never...
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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 mining community and its fight for a union contract. Today, we hear from director Barbara Kopple, others on the crew, and the miners…
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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 a great collaborator. Sometimes he’s in the band. Other times, he helps write the songs. But he’s just as well known for his production...
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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, cooking and more, local authors have been busy, busy, busy putting ideas to the page. Today we hear about their work, their process, and what...
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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 political reporters give us the latest on the governor’s race, highlights from our redrawn congressional districts, and a look at what kind…
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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 multi-generational businesses in Middle Tennessee, starting with a couple that have reached the end of the line this year. But we’re also...
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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, police seized him from his home, jailed him, and interrogated him. Three days later, WIlliams' battered body was pulled from the Hatchie River....
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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 case an unprecedented moment in the history of capital punishment. Today, we’re bringing together a death row chaplain, a policy expert…
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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 by the Metro Council for "legacy" small businesses. Tastemakers: Maestro Leonard Slatkin and classical music commentator Colleen Wheelahan…
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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 Flexdrive at an unveiling on Thursday, October 1. The partnership includes an 80,000-square-foot facility near the Nashville International...
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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. Before the life changing thought, “I think I’m gay", she worked as a hospice chaplain and helped lead churches. But what she really needed was...
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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 tells a striking story: Tennessee, along with Alabama and Mississippi, trails much of the country. We’ll hear from some of you, plus…
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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 state law that would cut the Metro Council in half. Plus, we’ll ask what’s in part four of the city’s just-released capital spending…
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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 in the past decade and turning it into the Curious Nashville Quiz Show! And who better to stump than WPLN's very own Blake Farmer and Nina...
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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 know what someone values about this place we call home, ask what they would do on their last day in town. It says a lot about us, and it’s a...
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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 Green Hills three years ago, Old Crow Medicine Show's Ketch Secor became more involved in the conversation around gun safety. While touring...
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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 into the safety of Tennessee’s privately-run juvenile prisons. Newsmaker: Columbia Mayor Chaz Molder on his run to represent the newly...
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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 ad a feeling. Music sync, as it’s known, is a place where many independent artists in Nashville can still make their living. But like...
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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 growing up in Maryland to Music City, and the role sobriety has played in his success. We also explore the collaborative spirit that keeps him…
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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 Mourning (the fourth Thursday in November), and November is National Native American Heritage Month. At least 17 states and Washington, D.C.,...
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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 amateur genealogists as we ship off our spit to see where our DNA fits, but there’s more to it than a simple spit take if you really want to…
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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 became a bookshop, then a grocery store, and now, sits mostly empty along Harding Pike. This prompted Curious Nashville listener Richard Daniel...
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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 doldrums, he did what any starving artist would: He burned all his work. Then one night, he had a dream. He was at the San Francisco…
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'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 with Bloomberg, "Our Town," about far-right Christians backed by venture capital attempting to take over Gainesboro, Tenn., "where acreage,...
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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 near the Nashville Zoo. But according to analysis by the Pew Research Center, the future of data centers lies in more rural areas, which is...
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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 the story that has startled so many – a medication mixup at Saint Thomas Midtown that injured four patients, with some still facing...
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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 other states have severely undercounted heat-related deaths. Newsmaker: Metro Council Member Sandra Sepulveda makes her case for banning right...
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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 original path disappears. Houston Kendrick says it takes “restorative fire” to get your art into the world when the big money in the music...
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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 efficiencies in the healthcare system. Robin Shah is the co-founder of Thyme Care,which specializes in supporting patients while they undergo cancer...
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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 settlers and one of the most prominent Black businessmen following the Civil War. In this episode, we explore the related stories of Preston...
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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 Dolly Parton passed away. So today, Nashville Public Radio's senior music writer Jewly Hight spends the last part of our show with us...
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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 there's to know from WPLN's Marianna Bacallao. Newsmaker: Tennessee Secretary of State Tre Hargett sees big potential in accelerated...
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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 there are a few who are actively trying to stir something up. Today, it’s an hour with one of the more outspoken artists making music in...
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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. match against Belgium was the most-watched soccer game in U.S. history. And then of course you’ve got the return of the Apple TV series…
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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 along our waterways. Now, developers treat greenways like beachfront property. Nashville now has more than 100 miles of them.…
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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 juvenile prisons. The newsmaker: Jayla Thomas, GOP candidate for state House District 55, one of the few contested seats in Nashville on the...
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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 on the nominating committee to ask: is this a joke? Because Levine is not Catholic. She’s Jewish. While not a Christian, the Vanderbilt...
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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 have you learned about your body or being with another that could help the rest of us? We’ll have a sex therapist, a reformed pastor and an...
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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, of course, thrilling rides and tricky games. Today we look at the tradition through the eyes of its people and performers. We meet folks...
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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 Congressman Andy Ogles. The newsmaker: General Sessions Court Judge Ana Escobar discusses Athena’s Court, a decade-old program designed to identify...
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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 of building a company that makes videos for big brands, he’s branched out to producing comedy and running a production space called…
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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 education-related issues including vouchers, safety, bus driver shortages and AI. Something specific on your mind? Give us a call and we will…
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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 more visitors, it has created a feud with neighbors that the nonprofit says is threatening its future. It’s been said that to fully…
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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 importance of voting in Tennessee primaries. The newsmaker: Assistant federal defender Kit Thomas discusses the scheduled execution of...
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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 married. Hal Cato and Michael Burcham are one of Nashville’s power couples. Hal is the big-hearted optimist. Michael is the...
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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 questions. Today, three Nashville songwriters in various stages of their careers join us to tell us their stories and answer any lingering...
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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 all mean? Today we follow the money: how writers get paid, what happens when a song gets cut, what the different kinds of publishing deals...
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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 more complicated – and it’s different for everyone. It may start with an idea and then come together from there. Or a note or a phrase…
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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 City. The dream was to invade the “citadel” of country music, elevate progressive ideas and highlight the Black roots of a very white...
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ABOUT THIS SHOW
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.
HOSTED BY
WPLN News - Nashville Public Radio
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Frequently Asked Questions
How many episodes does This Is Nashville have?
This Is Nashville currently has 978 episodes available on PodParley. New episodes are automatically indexed when they're published to the podcast feed.
What is This Is Nashville about?
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.
How often does This Is Nashville release new episodes?
This Is Nashville releases new episodes frequently with a large back catalog of 978 episodes. Check the episode list for recent publication dates.
Where can I listen to This Is Nashville?
You can listen to This Is Nashville on PodParley by clicking any episode. We provide an embedded audio player for direct listening, and you can also subscribe via your preferred podcast app using the RSS feed.
Who hosts This Is Nashville?
This Is Nashville is created and hosted by WPLN News - Nashville Public Radio.
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