2022 was a big year for WPLN News. The newsroom underwent substantial growth, in part with the launch of its first-ever daily show, This Is Nashville, and produced intensive coverage of abortion restrictions, policing and the flood recovery in Waverly.
Three of the newsroom’s reporting efforts are now being recognized as the best in the region by RTDNA’s 2023 Edward R. Murrow Awards. See the full list of Region 8 winners here, and find details on WPLN’s honors below.
“Displaced” is a three-part series about housing displacement in Nashville.
Former WPLN metro reporter Ambriehl Crutchfield’s three-part series ‘Displaced’ won for Excellence in Diversity, Equity and Inclusion. Interim news director Chas Sisk was her editor, digital editor Rachel Iacovone produced visuals and special projects editor Tony Gonzalez worked on data analysis and project management.
The series rolled out in May and June of 2022 and anchored the newsroom’s coverage of our region’s explosive housing market. It began with a tip from a community group, which prompted Ambriehl to investigate the deterioration of the affordable Riverchase Apartments. Our analysis of inspection reports revealed that units failed nearly half the time. That data, along with interviews with tenants, officials, community organizers and property management company Freeman Webb, formed the basis of the series. It showed how Riverchase deteriorated before being sold as part of a major redevelopment.
WPLN’s first-ever daily show, This Is Nashville, launched March 2022.
For our daily show, This Is Nashville, multimedia producer Rose Gilbert earned two awards, one for Feature Reporting for her story about Lipstick Lounge, which aired in an episode she produced about Nashville’s LGBTQ community.
Gilbert also won an award for Sports Reporting for her feature about the case of the missing saber-toothed fang that inspired the Nashville Predators mascot, which aired in an episode she produced about hockey in Nashville. These stories were edited by This Is Nashville’s executive producer Andrea Tudhope, who also worked on the sound design.
Both stories aired in the first month on air for our daily show, which launched in March 2022. These audio features are a reflection of the goals set by the team behind the show: to prioritize lived experience, to spend time out in the community and to make space for sound-rich audio stories like these.
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