Overall Excellence: WPLN News in 2021

WPLN News won a regional Murrow Award, Overall Excellence, for this newsroom-wide submission.

In 2021, WPLN News covered natural disasters and manmade tragedies. We brought listeners moments of levity and instances of reconnection. We dived deep into allegations of misconduct in the Nashville police department and celebrated 150 years of the Fisk Jubilee singers. We revisited the promises made in the wake of the 2020 racial justice protests, remembered a deadly string of tornadoes and covered the rebuilding of a community ravished by flash floods.

In this selection of stories, you’ll find the full range of those stories — and how they’ve impacted us personally.

• [0:00-2:23] ‘This band puts the B in HBCU’: TSU’s marching band takes national stage in Rose Parade (Dec. 22, 2021)
• [2:24-7:13] Some Waverly Residents Praise God After Surviving Destructive Flood; Others Remember Loved Ones (Aug. 26, 2021)
• [7:15-12:36] Nashville Hairstylist Wants To Elevate The Craft Of Styling Black Hair And Wash Out Eurocentric Focus (Jan. 5, 2021)
• [12:39-18:24] One Woman’s Death Illustrates How Guns Can Stay In Dangerous Hands In Tennessee (April 29, 2021)
• [18:26-22:06] Billboard: Three Castles And The Music City — 150 Years Of The Fisk Jubilee Singers (Oct. 1, 2021)
• [22:10-26:17] Billboard: Behind The Blue Wall — Officers Describe A ‘Toxic’ Culture Within Metro Police (Sept. 29, 2021)
• [26:21-30:15] Essay: The Disaster Year — A Reporter Reflects On A Year Marked By Suffering (Feb. 28, 2021)
• [30:17-34:30] We Checked In On A Dozen Demands Made By Black Lives Matter Protesters In Nashville. Here’s Where They Stand. (May 27, 2021)
• [34:32-36:52] The flood closed this Waverly grocery store. Now, residents rejoice at its reopening (Dec. 20, 2021)
• [36:55-38:30] WPLN special newscast: Report on deadly tornadoes, including first report from Mayfield, Ky. (Dec. 11, 2021, 10:58 a.m.)

Web highlights

• Black Children Were Jailed for a Crime That Doesn’t Exist. Almost Nothing Happened to the Adults in Charge. (Oct. 8, 2021, web-only investigation) https://wpln.org/post/black-children-were-jailed-for-a-crime-that-doesnt-exist-almost-nothing-happened-to-the-adults-in-charge/
• We Checked In On A Dozen Demands Made By Black Lives Matter Protesters In Nashville. Here’s Where They Stand. (May 27, 2021, web-centered story with on-air two-way) https://wpln.org/post/we-checked-in-on-a-dozen-demands-made-by-black-lives-matter-protesters-in-nashville-heres-where-they-stand/
• A Letter To Listeners (June 30, 2021, editorial note on what our news director has learned about racial justice) https://wpln.org/post/a-letter-to-listeners/
• How we cover policing & criminal justice (June 29, 2021, principle statement of news philosophy) https://wpln.org/post/how-we-cover-public-safety-policing-and-criminal-justice/
• Behind The Blue Wall: Officers Describe A ‘Toxic’ Culture Within Metro Police (Sept. 29, 2021, web buildout for hourlong radio special) https://wpln.org/post/behind-the-blue-wall-officers-describe-a-toxic-culture-within-metro-police/
• 3 Key Takeaways From WPLN News Investigates: Behind The Blue Wall (Sept. 30, 2021) https://wpln.org/post/3-key-takeaways-from-wpln-news-investigates-behind-the-blue-wall/
• 21 stories that brought us joy in 2021, from the WPLN newsroom (Dec. 29, 2021, compilation) https://wpln.org/post/21-stories-that-brought-us-joy-in-2021-from-the-wpln-newsroom/