The Promise

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The Debt: What Tennessee Owes Its HBCU Dec 09, 2025

Show notes

In this one-hour special from WPLN and the Tennessee Lookout: What happens when government funding is withheld from a public university that's served generations of Black Tennesseans? And what could be possible if that debt were finally paid?

Credits:
This story was co-reported and co-produced by Camellia Burris and Emily Siner. Story editing by Meribah Knight and Miriam Kramer. Additional editing by Tony Gonzalez, Holly McCall, Joshua Moore, LaTonya Turner and Nina Cardona. Sound design by Joshua Moore. Fact-checking by Daniel Potter. Digital buildout by Mack Linebaugh and Megan Jones. Engineering by Liv Lombardi.

The Debt is a production of Nashville Public Radio and The Tennessee Lookout, with additional support from the Pulitzer Center and the Education Writers’ Association.

Listen: The Country In Our Hearts Jun 05, 2025

Show notes

Episode 1 of WPLN’s new series “The Country In Our Hearts” is out now! We travel from a market in South Nashville to the mountains of Iraqi Kurdistan to discover what happened on one terrible, pivotal day in 1988.

WPLN News & NPR's Embedded present: "Supermajority" Jun 17, 2024

Show notes

Supermajority is a new podcast from NPR’s Embedded, in partnership with WPLN News, exploring what happens when one political party has near-complete control. In this four-episode series, hosted by Meribah Knight, we follow the story of three conservative women challenging their own party.

As Americans focus on national politics this election year, NPR's Embedded takes an up-close look at one state – Tennessee – where Republicans hold a powerful majority. We ask: What does that power mean to lawmakers, who are the constituents pushing back, and what might it all reveal about the fragility of our democracy?

Preview: "Making Noise" from WPLN and WNXP Feb 05, 2024

Show notes

"Making Noise" is a four-part series by WPLN and WNXP about how the music promotion company Lovenoise has changed the music landscape of Nashville. The best way to listen is to subscribe to the WNXP Podcasts feed.

Bonus: How one police chief struggled to change the system Nov 26, 2023

Show notes

Karl Durr arrived in Rutherford County from Eugene, Oregon, in spring of 2016. He had been hired as the new police chief of Murfreesboro, the county’s largest city.

As an outsider, there was a chance he would shake some things up.

But less than two weeks after he started, while he was still furnishing his office and learning people’s names, officers from his department arrested 11 Black school children for not stepping in to stop a fight.

When Durr discovers what, and who, is behind the arrests, he takes swift action. But he also makes a political enemy in the process.

Dedicated Public Servants | The Kids of Rutherford County Nov 23, 2023

Show notes

The lawyers settle with the County, which agrees to pay the kids who were wrongfully arrested and illegally jailed; the hard part is getting the kids paid.

Credits: “The Kids of Rutherford County” is a production of Serial, The New York Times, ProPublica and Nashville Public Radio. It was written and reported by Meribah Knight with additional reporting from Ken Armstrong at ProPublica.

The show was produced by Daniel Guillemette with additional production by Michelle Navarro. It was edited by Julie Snyder and Jen Guerra. Additional editing by Anita Badejo, Sarah Blustain, Tony Gonzalez, Ken Armstrong and Alex Kotlowitz. The Supervising Producer is Ndeye Thioubou; research and fact checking by Ben Phelan, with additional fact checking by Naomi Sharp. Music supervision, sound design, and mixing by Phoebe Wang. Our Standards Editor is Susan Wessling. Legal review from Dana Green and Al-Amyn Sumar.

Original score by The Blasting Company. Additional production from Jenelle Pifer. Mack Miller is the Executive Assistant for Serial. Art by Pablo Delcan. Sam Dolnick is a Deputy Managing Editor of The New York Times.

Bonus: Rutherford County is not alone. This youth detention center superintendent in Knoxville illegally locks kids alone in cells. Nov 19, 2023

Show notes

The Richard L. Bean Juvenile Service Center has been punishing kids with seclusion more than any other facility in Tennessee. And as the laws and rules on how to treat kids changed, the facility failed to keep up.

Bonus: Behind the music of The Kids of Rutherford County Nov 17, 2023

Show notes

“Minimalist classic country with maximalist tendencies.” That’s one way to describe the musical scoring of The Kids of Rutherford County.

In this bonus conversation, Nashville Public Radio’s Meribah Knight and Celia Gregory talk about the multi-instrumental composing work of The Blasting Company.

Would You Like to Sue the Government? | The Kids of Rutherford County Nov 16, 2023

Show notes

Wes Clark reads a telling line in a police report about how Rutherford County’s juvenile justice system really works. He and his law partner Mark Downton realize they have a massive class action on their hands.

What the Hell Are You People Doing? | The Kids of Rutherford County Nov 09, 2023

Show notes

A young lawyer named Wes Clark can’t get the Rutherford County juvenile court to let his clients out of detention—even when the law says they shouldn’t have been held in the first place.

He’s frustrated and demoralized, until he makes a friend.

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