Curious Nashville

Nashville Public Radio

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SOCIETY & CULTURE
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In Curious Nashville from Nashville Public radio, we answer your questions about the city and region. Listeners decide which question we should investigate and answer next.

JAN 28

Best of 10 years of Curious Nashville

It’s the 10-year anniversary of Curious Nashville and we’re revisiting some of the weirdest and most surprising questions you’ve asked. This means we're going underground to a fallout shelter, to the top of a skyscraper, and in between we’ll visit beehives, talk about dump trucks, and revisit some infamous pranksters. And you get to go behind the scenes of the reporting with WPLN Metro Reporter Cynthia Abrams and host Tony Gonzalez. This episode highlights these seven stories: How One Man Created A Peace Sign Visible From The Sky What’s Inside The Governor’s Old Fallout Shelter In The Woods? Whatever Happened To Nashville’s Revolving Restaurant? Arabic is the third-most spoken language in Tennessee. So why isn’t it offered on the state’s driver exam? Graves, lawn pranks, and other answers about the Tennessee State Capitol Stay back 100 feet? Here’s the truth about dump truck liability on Tennessee roads. Who cares for Centennial Park’s bee colony? Come along for a hive check with the volunteers

50 min
2025-12-16

Why did a Nashville bank release a Christmas album?

Today we shine a light on an obscure album recorded in Nashville more than 50 years ago that features a Christmas choir performing inside the lobby of a downtown bank. Local listener Matthew Bond came across the vinyl record two decades ago and wondered: Why did a bank form a choir? And what were their performances like? To figure this out, we dive into the city's banking history, glean clues from the recording itself, and learn just how popular this all-volunteer choir became. Credits: Curious Nashville is a production of Nashville Public Radio and uses music from Blue Dot Sessions. Special thanks to Nashville Public Radio's Tasha A.F. Lemley, Blakle Farmer, Mack Linebaugh, and Cynthia Abrams.Host: Tony Gonzalez Reporter & producer: Justin Barney

23 min
2025-11-29 · BONUS

Grand Ole Opry: What does it take to be an Opry member?

The Grand Ole Opry has elevated Nashville and its country music to a global stage and turns 100 years old this week. That much you've probably heard (WPLN has lots of Opry 100 coverage online.) But a Curious Nashville listener has a question that hits at the foundation of the Opry: What does it mean for an artist to be a “member” of the Opry? WPLN’s daily talk show, This Is Nashville, dove deep into the Opry and tapped multiple music experts to share the answer.

12 min
2025-11-25 · BONUS

Bonus: Still hungry for gyro facts

Some listeners could not get enough of Curious Nashville's reporting about gyros. When we broadcast the story on WPLN’s This Is Nashville program — and opened up the phone lines — some called in with first-hand intel about Chicago-Style Gyros and founder Joey Kahn.

6 min
2025-11-18

Why are 'Chicago-style' gyros everywhere in Nashville?

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. And reporter Justin Barney is taking you along as he crisscrosses the country, plunges into culinary history, hits the factory floor, and gets face-to-face with the man who elevated a niche menu item into a cultural staple. You can make Curious Nashville even better by asking us a great question at WPLN.org/Curious. Credits: Curious Nashville is a production of Nashville Public Radio and uses music from Blue Dot Sessions. Another version of today’s story was also produced for the food podcast “Proof,” from America’s Test Kitchen, and you can check that out if you want to go deeper into culinary history. Host: Tony Gonzalez Reporter & producer: Justin Barney Editing: Blake Farmer Special thanks to Nashville Public Radio's Tasha A.F. Lemley, Mack Linebaugh, and Cynthia Abrams.

32 min
2025-11-01

Curious Nashville returns!

WPLN is reviving Curious Nashville. The recipe is simple: Listeners ask questions and we find the answers. Learn more about the comeback in this interview between WPLN's Tony Gonzalez and Blake Farmer.

38 min
2024-02-01

Coming Soon: "Making Noise" — How a Sunday night party changed Nashville

"Making Noise" is a four-part series by Nashville Public Radio about how the music promotion company Lovenoise has changed the music landscape of Nashville. The best way to listen is in the WNXP Podcasts feed. Subscribe now!

2 min
2023-10-20

You might also like: The Kids of Rutherford County

A juvenile court in Rutherford County was illegally jailing and detaining kids for 16 years before a former juvenile delinquent-turned-lawyer came up with a plan to take it on. This four-part narrative podcast builds on a joint investigation by WPLN Nashville Public Radio and ProPublica and is produced by The New York Times and Serial Productions. “The Kids of Rutherford County” reveals how this system came to be, with particular attention to the adults responsible for it and the two juvenile delinquents-turned-lawyers who try to do something about it. The podcast's host is Meribah Knight, a Peabody Award-winning reporter for Nashville Public Radio who co-reported the original investigation. Listeners can subscribe on Apple Podcasts, Spotify and wherever podcasts are available. The first two episodes will premiere on Thursday, Oct. 26; parts three and four will air the following two Thursdays.

2 min

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In Curious Nashville from Nashville Public radio, we answer your questions about the city and region. Listeners decide which question we should investigate and answer next.