The Promise

Jun 17 2024 31 ep. 23 mins 3k
The Promise Podcast artwork

A Peabody Award-winning series from Nashville Public Radio about inequality and the people trying to rise above it, with host and reporter Meribah Knight. In Season 1 of The Promise, we told the story of Nashville's largest public housing complex, smack in the middle of a city on the rise. In Season 2, we explore how that divide reveals itself in the classroom. One neighborhood, two schools — one black and poor, the other white and well-off, and the kids stuck in the middle.

  Society & Culture
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WPLN News & NPR's Embedded present: "Supermajority"

Jun 17 2024 3 mins  
Supermajority is a new podcast from NPR’s Embedded, in partnership with WPLN News, exploring what happens when one political party has near-complete control. In this four-episode series, hosted by Meribah Knight, we follow the story of three conservative women challenging their own party.As Americans focus on national politics this election year, NPR's Embedded takes an up-close

Preview: "Making Noise" from WPLN and WNXP

Feb 05 2024 2 mins  
"Making Noise" is a four-part series by WPLN and WNXP about how the music promotion company Lovenoise has changed the music landscape of Nashville. The best way to listen is to subscribe to the WNXP Podcasts feed.

Bonus: How one police chief struggled to change the system

Nov 26 2023 6 mins  
Karl Durr arrived in Rutherford County from Eugene, Oregon, in spring of 2016. He had been hired as the new police chief of Murfreesboro, the county’s largest city. As an outsider, there was a chance he would shake some things up. But less than two weeks after he started, while he was still furnishing his office and learning people’s names, officers from his department arrest

Dedicated Public Servants | The Kids of Rutherford County

Nov 23 2023 38 mins  
The lawyers settle with the County, which agrees to pay the kids who were wrongfully arrested and illegally jailed; the hard part is getting the kids paid. Credits: “The Kids of Rutherford County” is a production of Serial, The New York Times, ProPublica and Nashville Public Radio. It was written and reported by Meribah Knight with additional reporting from Ken Armstrong at Pr

Bonus: Rutherford County is not alone. This youth detention center superintendent in Knoxville illegally locks kids alone in cells.

Nov 19 2023 9 mins  
The Richard L. Bean Juvenile Service Center has been punishing kids with seclusion more than any other facility in Tennessee. And as the laws and rules on how to treat kids changed, the facility failed to keep up.

Bonus: Behind the music of The Kids of Rutherford County

Nov 17 2023 17 mins  
“Minimalist classic country with maximalist tendencies.” That’s one way to describe the musical scoring of The Kids of Rutherford County.In this bonus conversation, Nashville Public Radio’s Meribah Knight and Celia Gregory talk about the multi-instrumental composing work of The Blasting Company.

Would You Like to Sue the Government? | The Kids of Rutherford County

Nov 16 2023 60 mins  
Wes Clark reads a telling line in a police report about how Rutherford County’s juvenile justice system really works. He and his law partner Mark Downton realize they have a massive class action on their hands. Credits: “The Kids of Rutherford County” is a production of Serial, The New York Times, ProPublica and Nashville Public Radio. It was written and reported by Meribah

What the Hell Are You People Doing? | The Kids of Rutherford County

Nov 09 2023 33 mins  
A young lawyer named Wes Clark can’t get the Rutherford County juvenile court to let his clients out of detention—even when the law says they shouldn’t have been held in the first place. He’s frustrated and demoralized, until he makes a friend. Credits: “The Kids of Rutherford County” is a production of Serial, The New York Times, ProPublica and Nashville Public Radi

Bonus: Locked up and treated ‘like I’m a dog'

Nov 07 2023 6 mins  
Quinterrius Frazier was 15 years old when he was arrested for aggravated robbery and held in the Rutherford County Juvenile Detention Center. When staff said he was being disruptive — flashing gang signs and rapping, they claimed — he was placed in solitary confinement. It’s been almost seven years now, and Quinterrius still feels the effects of being locked up in a cell for

The Egregious Video | The Kids of Rutherford County

Oct 26 2023 27 mins  
A police officer in Rutherford County, Tennessee, sees a video of little kids fighting, and decides to investigate. This leads to the arrest of 11 kids for watching the fight. The arrests do not go smoothly. Credits: “The Kids of Rutherford County” is a production of Serial, The New York Times, ProPublica and Nashville Public Radio. It was written and reported by Meribah Knigh