Is Major League Baseball on the horizon? Women's basketball? Nascar?

Today we check in on the professional sports eco-system in Nashville: baseball, football, soccer, how far hockey has come — and the $2 billion dome going up for a team that’s coming off one of its worst seasons to date.

This episode was produced by Mary Mancini.

Guests:

It might be hard to believe after a visit to Lower Broadway, but fewer people are drinking these days – at least that’s what folks are telling pollsters.

According to Gallup, people say they are abstaining from alcohol more now than in the past 85 years. Besides being generally better for your health, going booze-free has become fashionable. On today's show, we’re exploring what it looks like to dry out in a drinking town – from non-alcoholic alternatives to navigating a wet world while sober.

This episode was produced by Josh Deepan. 

Guests:

Further reading: 

What kind of person can light up the stage at the Lipstick Lounge and a 7th-grade classroom?

A genuine original named Benjamin Slinkard, that’s who. Ben, also known as Kennedy Ann Scott, is the 2022 Metro Schools Teacher of the Year. Kennedy Ann is a local favorite drag queen and community staple. Today, we chat with Benjamin about growing up in a small Missouri town, the birth and longevity of Kennedy Ann, and the life experiences that connect the two.

This episode was produced by Mary Mancini.

Today our Roundabout panel of guests focuses exclusively on Venezuela, breaking down the consequences of the president’s capture and the potential impact felt here Middle Tennessee.

And we take your calls. Are you celebrating the fall of a dictator? Concerned about what comes next? Confused about how this impacts our Venezuelan neighbors? Call 615-760-2000 to join the conversation.

This episode was produced by Mary Mancini.

Freddie O’Connell is back for the first “Ask the Mayor” of 2026!

Today, along with your questions, we'll ask him about East Bank development, the main Public Library branch, racing at The Fairgrounds and more.

Plus, the phone lines will stay open for you to shout out your upcoming community event. Joining us to talk about WPLN's weekly event amplification, What Where Whens-day, is curator and WNXP music director Marquis Munson.

Call 615-760-2000 — or pop your question or event into chat — we’re streaming live today at youtube.com/@wpln.

Guests

Shape-note singing is one of the oldest musical traditions in this country. It’s a practice that began in colonial America, and after centuries of ups and downs in popularity, today it’s finding an expanded and surprisingly diverse new following. And some of its singers believe the music can teach democracy a thing or two.

Join hosts Laura Atkinson and Justin Hicks as they trace the shape-note tradition from its origins 200 years ago to the largest Sacred Harp singing in living memory. “Shapes of America” is a special from Louisville Public Media and the Appalachia + Mid-South Newsroom.

Our guest this hour is the frontman of the punk rock trio The RIP Taylors. Their latest album – Negativity Bias – has songs with titles like “I still don’t believe in you,” “I gotta bad attitude,” and “I’m not like…ya know…whatever.” It’s the passion project of Mikey Noechel, who thinks a lot about our state of mind. He’s a Buddhist teacher who guides the Wild Heart Meditation Center on the east side. From ritzy retreat halls to Riverbend Maximum Security Prison, he’s teaching mindfulness wherever he finds himself. And he’s helping us face the new year together. 

Although This Is Nashville broadcasts from our studios in Metrocenter, sometimes we let the producers out in the wild to collect tape.

If editors find it compelling enough, producers develop a feature out of what they collected. On today’s best-of edition of This Is Nashville, we take a behind-the-scenes look at what went into producing some of 2025’s feature stories that aired both during the show and on the news side.

This episode was produced by Josh Deepan. 

Guests

Featuring

Every week This is Nashville presents The Roundabout where we bring together a panel of guests spanning the political spectrum to unpack the week’s biggest news and hear directly from listeners across Middle Tennessee. For this special “Best of…” episode we revisit some of the most timely conversations, surprising moments of agreement, and thoughtful opinions.

Featuring

A songwriter who climbed out of the shadow of her first song, a nonprofit leader who refuses to see his own disability, a restaurateur with a hot take on tourism, a humorist who leaned into her heritage, a forward-thinking physician who rediscovered her mom’s remedies, and the sentimental saint of the Opry. It's the best of our weekly profile interviews, all in one episode. 

Further listening: