WPLN’s senior health care reporter Blake Farmer is leaving Nashville Public Radio. Blake has been at WPLN for 18 years in a variety of roles — news director, morning host, you name it — beginning just after college when he freelanced his way into a full-time reporter role.
With more than 3,000 stories, Blake has become one of our city’s most recognizable voices — and truly, one of the country’s best public radio journalists. His powerful coverage has not only won awards but changed the lives of Middle Tennesseans who now approach their health care differently thanks to the knowledge Blake equipped the community with daily.
Blake Farmer, holding his son, Turner, interviews Gov. Bill Lee during the COVID pandemic.
In recent years, WPLN has asked new staffers to tell us a bit about themselves in a Q&A. Since the tradition started well after Blake got his start here, it was only right he got a chance now on his way out:
- When you were a kid, what did you want to be when you grew up?
Blake Farmer, as a cub reporter, stands in front of a sign of the call letters for his first public radio station.
Not a journalist. I don’t think I knew what that was, though we always listened to public radio. I have, at times, confessed my affection for Garrison Keillor on our air. For a long time, I wanted to be a pilot. My grandfather was a pilot, but I also just loved everything about planes. I even flew a little Cessna as part of my aviation merit badge in Boy Scouts. But ultimately, my interests moved on. By the time I was heading to college, my only thought about what I wanted to be was the next David Letterman. Fail! But I guess that’s closer to my current career.
- Since you are a rare Nashville native, we have to ask: Where else have you lived besides Middle Tennessee?
Really, the only other place I’ve lived outside Nashville is Abilene, Texas. That’s where I went to college for four years. The landscape is so different from here. People from West Texas were like, “You must miss the trees and the hills and the green.” But I really loved it. You see a beautiful sunset nearly every day. And the stars really are “big and bright,” as the song says. Plus, the people are as nice as can be. And, it must be said, I met my wife.
Moriah Farmer Blake Farmer on his first day at WPLN News
- What made you want to work for WPLN News?
At Abilene Christian University, I was able to work for the public radio station, KACU. Even got paid for it! At the time, I figured TV news would be my path. But by working there, I realized radio journalism was a thing too. So, I took my few weak clips from being on air and shared them with WPLN’s news director at the time, Anita Bugg. And she graciously allowed me to start trying to produce stories for her. At first, I was landscaping and doing radio on the side. I would literally stop the truck between houses and take a call to go over edits on a script. Eventually, I cut back on the landscaping. And then I found a way to do radio full-time (though I still really love mulching and laying stripes in a front lawn).
- What stories are you most proud of telling in your time here?
The stories that stand out are pieces that absolutely had to be heard, not read. For many years, Fort Campbell was one of my big coverage areas. And this piece about how to return to battle with a brain injury was so revelatory, and the audio was quite intense. I also focused on education for a long time, and this story about a place where nearly everyone graduates from high school, but few go any further, really stands out. A series on hospice, titled “The Cost of Dying,” became personal for me, as I also featured my own mother, who was dying of ALS. But it wasn’t the only story where I had to fight back tears during an interview or while writing.
Blake Farmer interviews a source at Fort Campbell.
- What do you like to do for fun outside the office? (In other words, where can we find you now?)
Outside the office? Work is life! Truly, I love being a journalist, so much that I usually take my equipment with me on vacation. And it has come in handy. If you’ve ever heard a national newscast spot from me on a storm bearing down on South Carolina or the Florida panhandle, I was probably just there with my family! In Nashville, you can find me out running the hills near Radnor Lake most mornings. Otter Creek Church is not a bad place to look if you’re searching for my family’s whereabouts. And during the week, I’ll be spending my time at the office of a relatively new company, called Wellvana, as the head of content. I’ll still be telling stories about doctors and patients and moving primary care to focus more on quality than quantity.
Blake Farmer (left) pitches during a fundraising drive with colleagues Tony Gonzalez (center) and Chas Sisk (right).
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