This Is Nashville

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 left, right and center. Joining us today are Maryam Abolfazli , Shaka Mitchell and Pat Nolan . Today we talk about a tightening 7th congressional district race, political pardons, school voucher expansion, plus a smile story or two and more....

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 pinch and praying for relief. Importers of coffee and tea and artisans making apparel and musical instruments join the show to explain how tariffs have challenged their small businesses. Professors from Vanderbilt and MTSU bring global cont...

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 out would take us way beyond Nashville and lead us to uncover the very creation of the gyro as we know it. WPLN reporter Justin Barney is taking you along as he crisscrosses the country, plunges into culinary history, hits the factory floor,...

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 record business, Curb is still looking for the next big hit. He's also looking for a way to preserve the thing that brought him to Nashville and made his career so successful — Music Row. In this career-spanning interview, Curb talks music an...

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 Wysocky, founded Colby's Army in his honor.  Our In My Place series has taken us through the steps of homelessness to housing and beyond. That’s from the first point of contact between a service provider and someone experiencing homelessness — thr...

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 exposed just how many people struggle to keep their families fed. So we’re putting hunger at the center of our Roundabout episode today. We’ll bring you the latest on SNAP and food distributions. We’re also taking your calls about your own exp...

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. An HR specialist. And an intelligence officer. It takes more than the infantry to go to war. Wisdom from our neighbors who answered the call of duty and were forever changed.  This episode was produced by Josh Deepan .  GUESTS Jerome Norman,...

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 , he’s still not slowing down. In fact, during the pandemic, he added yet another career to his résumé: cartoonist . Today, Bill tells us how it all started, why he continues to try new things, and his thoughts on the untimely death of his frie...

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 the Kurds who have called Nashville home for generations. It’s an America in turmoil — a place where immigrants are increasingly seen as enemies within, to be rooted out and sent back to where they came from. In this final installment from The...

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 teenager. And in that world, something new was forming — something that threatened to tarnish the sterling reputation their parents worked hard to build. The Country in our Hearts is the story of how Nashville became home to the largest Kurdis...

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 determined to reclaim and rebuild. The story of how Nashville became home to the largest Kurdish diaspora in America is an epic one. A tale of bloody genocide, of freedom fighters, of stunning perseverance. But the story of the Kurdish people,...

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 others — were fleeing from, we need to go back to one terrible, pivotal day in 1988. And to do that, we need to go to Kurdistan. The Country in our Hearts is the story of how Nashville became home to the largest Kurdish diaspora in America is...

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 the bar is high. Instead of answers that can be found through a quick Google search, we're taking queries that will take us somewhere unknown or unexpected. Tune in to hear News Director Tony Gonzalez share some of Curious Nashville's great...

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 these sages who can remind us of our history. At WPLN, that’s the gift Nina Cardona shares with listeners each day on the NashVillager podcast – connecting the past with the present, while helping us break out of the news cycle and think abo...

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 from homelessness to housing with people who have done it. In our last 8 episodes, we’ve talked about everything from connecting with services for the very first time to celebrating an apartment. But for many folks it doesn’t stop there — so...

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 working for someone else. So she got into the business of buying businesses. And even though she’s only a few years in, she also wrote a book about it . We talk about her journey to entrepreneurship, her hindsight on public service, and grappling...

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 policies will impact their day-to-day lives. The Nashville job sector has remained stable for the past year, but as the manufacturing industry in Tennessee remains among the most vulnerable to tariffs , the future cost of production becomes...

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 & Gospel Music this month, we’ll look at the history of a unique genre that focuses as much on the lyrics and meaning as the song itself. We’re joined by historians, executives and a Dove Award winning artist. Additionally, our guests will...

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 transit upgrades and improvements. The chief program officer, Sabrina Sussman , joins us to give an update and take questions from listeners. We end the episode with our Shared Calendar, giving you the microphone to plug local events coming...

Charles “Wigg” Walker, legendary R&B and soul artist

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 — sometimes from a different lane. This week we welcome former speaker of the Tennessee House of Representatives, Beth Harwell . Former congressional candidate Kiran Sreepada and TSU political science professor Ian Shapiro are also back. Together, we’...

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 a mate. They’re also looking for a warm place to get in out of the cold and that may mean moving in with us. Spiders may make your skin crawl, but it’s useful to know what’s actually worth being scared of. Spoiler alert, there’s not too muc...

When Vanderbilt polled Nashvillians in March about top priorities for city investment, there was near unanimity around one issue. Nearly 90% wanted investment in more affordable housing. But when the questioning hit closer to home, the support waned. According to this same poll, 56% of residents support allowing multifamily housing "everywhere in my city to revitalize neighborhoods and local econo...

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 hold a job or he’s always looking for the next thing — a joke that he makes about his own varied career. This week, he takes on yet another a new role in Gov. Bill Lee’s administration — deputy governor. But he’s been Lee’s right hand man si...

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 Rep. Jody Barrett , Owen School professor and Tennessee Lookout contributor Bruce Barry, and @WPLN's Marianna Bacallao join today to help us think through the biggest news – including the special election in the 7th congressional district. We’l...