Nashville's local news and NPR station

Curious Nashville

Listener-powered investigations
We investigate oddities, share local history, tell stories of interesting people, and explain how local institutions operate. You ask the questions, and we answer them.

Curious Nashville: How an ornamental tree led neighbors to their street’s hidden history

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Liz Cannon reached out to WPLN’s Curious Nashville project about the “bonsai-looking cypress tree” in her backyard. She wanted to know its history and took it upon herself to do some investigating beforehand.

Podcast: Why are freight trains blocking Tennessee streets so often?

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In the past two years, nearly 2,000 people have logged federal complaints about stopped trains blocking road crossings in Tennessee. Sometimes, an entire day passes before the trains get rolling again. As federal officials ramp up their tracking of this chronic problem, WPLN’s Cindy Abrams documents the concern and explains the factors that lead to […]

Curious Nashville: Freight trains keep blocking city streets and frustrating commuters. Can anything be done?

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It can be a daily frustration in some Nashville neighborhoods: a freight train grinds to a halt and blocks the road. The frustration prompted a question to our Curious Nashville project.

Podcast: Tennessee’s strange pronunciations — explained!

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The way we pronounce the names of some places in Tennessee can raise eyebrows for newcomers. But even long-time residents can’t always explain why those names are the way they are. This prompted a question to our Curious Nashville project, and sent WPLN’s Marianna Bacallao [mary-AW-nuh bahk-uh-YOW] in search of the stories behind a few.

Curious Nashville: How to say ‘Demonbreun’ and 4 other unusual Tennessee pronunciations

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If you’re new to Nashville, and no one’s told you yet, let me be the first. That name is not pronounced the way you think.

Podcast: Why isn’t Arabic available for Tennessee’s driving exam?

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Just after English and Spanish, Arabic ranks as the third-most spoken language in Tennessee, with nearly 27,000 people in the state who speak it. But there are less common languages offered on the written driving exam in Tennessee. In this extended version of earlier reporting on WPLN News, Alexis Marshall explores why.

Curious Nashville: Arabic is the third-most spoken language in Tennessee. So why isn’t it offered on the state’s driver exam?

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Driving is an essential part of life for most Tennesseans. But, for some, getting a license is a real challenge. That’s because tens of thousands of residents don’t understand the languages the exam is offered in.

Curious Nashville: Who decides which ‘I Voted’ stickers are at my polling place?

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Tennesseans head back to the polls starting Wednesday for early voting in local primary elections. That means those “I Voted” stickers will start making the rounds.

Curious Nashville: Will traffic ever improve at Bell Road, one of Nashville’s most baffling interstate exits?

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Traffic is not really a new story in Nashville, but Rusti Keen says Exit 59 on Interstate 24 is “particularly insane.” So, she came to Curious Nashville with a question.

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