Station Leadership Team
Steve attended the University of California, Santa Barbara and began his radio career in the newsroom of KFWB in Los Angeles, where he was a Desk Assistant, rising to writer, producer and Assistant News Director. He served as News Director and Executive Editor of 1010 WINS in New York City before moving into station management at WTOP in Washington, DC. Shortly thereafter, CBS asked him to return to New York where he was VP and General Manager of two all news radio stations, 1010 WINS and WCBS Newsradio 880. In 2011 he moved back to DC to be Senior VP and Market Manager for the six CBS Radio stations. Steve was named President and CEO of Nashville Public Radio in April, 2019. He and his husband Stewart, an accomplished Young Adult author, singer songwriter and college professor, have four wonderful children and a French Bulldog who light up their lives. Anita J. Bugg graduated with a B.A. in journalism from Murray State University in Murray, Kentucky. In that college town, she worked for commercial stations and discovered her first public radio "home" with WKMS. The station hired her as a reporter, eventually promoting her to news director. She's been with Nashville Public Radio since 1995, serving as Morning Edition host, assignment editor and then news director for fifteen years. In that time, WPLN went from a "rip and read" newsroom to one focused on original reporting. In a news world rampant with staff reductions, Bugg is particularly pleased WPLN has doubled the number of full-time reporters. She became the station's VP of Content in 2016. An avid sports fan, Bugg is also a slow but steady runner and a relatively new motorcycling enthusiast.
Steve Swenson
President and CEO
sswenson@wpln.org
Anita Bugg
VP of Programming
anita@wpln.org
Administrative Staff
WPLN News Staff
Emily Siner is the news director at Nashville Public Radio and host of the Movers & Thinkers podcast. She also reports on a wide range of topics, including higher education, science and veterans. She's traveled around Tennessee to tell national news stories for NPR and Marketplace. Emily began at the station in 2014 as an enterprise reporter. She soon launched the station's first podcast and has since helped the station develop a whole fleet of shows with live events. She became the newsroom's assistant news director in 2016 and news director in 2017. She has been named the Associated Press Radio Journalist of the Year and has received three regional Edward R. Murrow Awards for her reporting. Emily is passionate about storytelling on all platforms and spoke at TEDxNashville in 2015 about the station's efforts to share audio online. Before joining the news staff at WPLN, Emily worked in print and online journalism at the Los Angeles Times and NPR. She was born and raised in the Chicago area, so she's not intimidated by Nashville winters. Emily is a proud graduate of the University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign. Andrea Tudhope is the executive producer launching Nashville Public Radio’s first daily news show, This Is Nashville. To the role, Andrea brings an ongoing commitment to practicing community-centered journalism and elevating lived experience as expertise. Andrea has been in public media for 6 years, most recently serving as senior coordinating producer for America Amplified, a CPB-funded community engagement initiative. As a member of the leadership team, she trained and coordinated the efforts of reporters and producers across 50+ stations, wrote and edited a community engagement playbook and launched a national talk show around the election. Prior to that she worked for Kansas City’s NPR station, KCUR, producing a daily show and reporting daily news and long-term investigative stories, including an award-winning series on gun violence, with a grant from the Dart Center for Journalism and Trauma. Her work has also appeared in the New Yorker Radio Hour, NPR, Here & Now, The Colorado Independent, The Colorado Springs Gazette and HuffPost. Though she’s from Kansas City, Missouri, Andrea has called many places home, including Colorado Springs, New York City and Dublin. You will probably see her wild blonde curly hair bouncing around on Nashville’s running trails. Chas joined WPLN in 2015 and became an editor in 2018. Previously, he covered state politics for Nashville Public Radio and The Tennessean, and he’s also reported on communities, politics and business for a variety of publications in Massachusetts, New York and Washington, D.C. Chas grew up in South Carolina and attended Columbia University, where he studied economics and journalism. Rachel Iacovone (YAH-kuh-VOAN-ee) is the morning host for Nashville Public Radio. Rachel began her public radio career covering politics in Florida during the 2016 presidential race. Rachel was outside as the eye of Hurricane Irma passed over Southwest Florida and on air for WGCU, the same station she listened to as a kid as Hurricane Wilma tore the roof off her childhood home. Rachel is a Florida Gulf Coast University alumna (wings up!) and an avid AP Style enforcer. When she’s not hosting or reporting, Rachel can be found cooking and posting her creations to social media, all while watching true crime shows. Tony Gonzalez, a reporter in Nashville since July 2011, covers city news, features inspiring people, and seeks out offbeat stories. He is the executive producer of the Curious Nashville podcast. He’s also an award-winning juggler who lives in East Nashville with his wife and daughter. During his time at The Tennessean newspaper, his investigative reporting and feature stories were honored in the state and nationally. Gonzalez grew up near Chicago and came to Nashville after three years reporting and editing at Virginia's smallest daily newspaper, The News Virginian. Alexis Marshall is a producer for WPLN News, meaning she does a little bit of everything. Alexis is a Middle Tennessee native and started listening to WPLN as a high schooler in Murfreesboro. She got her start in public radio freelance producing for NPR and reporting at WMOT, the on-campus station at MTSU. She was the reporting intern at WPLN News in the fall of 2018. Since then she has interned at NPR’s Education Desk in Washington, D.C. She returned to her hometown to pursue her passion for local news. When she’s not at the station, she’s likely making a mess in her kitchen, brushing up on her foreign language skills or watching a Netflix documentary. Ambriehl Crutchfield is WPLN's metro reporter. Ambriehl believes in centering community voices and concerns in news coverage in order to create standout original content that listeners depend on from public radio. Ambriehl has worked at NPR member stations WKYU in Bowling Green, Ky., WBEZ in Chicago and WVXU in Cincinnati. Most recently, as a General Assignment Reporter at Cincinnati Public Radio, she has worked to amplify underrepresent voices and perspectives. She also won an Ohio Associated Press award for Best Enterprising Reporting for her reporting on displacement. Ambriehl holds a Bachelor of Arts Degree in Broadcast News from Western Kentucky University. See Ambriehl's story archive at wpln.org. Blake Farmer is Nashville Public Radio's senior health care reporter. In a partnership with Kaiser Health News and NPR, Blake covers health in Tennessee and the health care industry in the Nashville area for local and national audiences. Blake has worked at WPLN throughout his career, most recently serving as news director and primary editor for the newsroom. Previously, his reporting focused on education and the military. He's also enjoyed producing stories about midnight frog gigging and churches holding gun raffles. Growing up in East Nashville, Blake attended Lipscomb Academy. He went to college in Texas at Abilene Christian University where he cut his teeth in radio at KACU-FM. Before joining WPLN full time in 2007, Blake also wrote for the Nashville City Paper and filed international stories for World Christian Broadcasting. Blaise Gainey is the youngest of three siblings, husband and father of two. He previously held the State Government Reporter position for WFSU News in Tallahassee. He is from Apopka, Fla., and graduated from The School of Journalism at the Florida A&M University. He previously worked for The Florida Channel and WTXL-TV. He is excited to move to another capital and report on state government. In his spare time, he enjoys watching sports, outdoor activities and enjoying family time. Anna Gallegos-Cannon is a native Texan who bounced around the United States before landing in Nashville in 2018. Prior to joining WPLN, Anna was a digital producer for The Tennessean. She previously worked as a copy editor for the Atlanta Journal Constitution, a reporter for The Oakland Tribune, and hockey writer for Sports Illustrated, among other media jobs. When she isn’t working in the news, Anna is attempting to read all of the Pulitzer Prize winning novels, playing fetch with her dog Radar, or watching hockey. Damon Mitchell is a journalist from Detroit, currently WPLN's Emerging Voices Fellow. Previously, he was a fellow at Detour Detroit, where he wrote about urban farming, education and inequity in Detroit's Brightmoor and Lafayette Park neighborhoods. He's also written for Next City, JSTOR Daily, Business Insider and Narratively. Damon graduated with a bachelor's degree in Public Relations from Wayne State University. Caroline Eggers covers environmental issues with a focus on equity for WPLN News through Report for America, a national service program that supports journalists in local newsrooms across the country. Before joining the station, she spent several years covering water quality issues, biodiversity, climate change and Mammoth Cave National Park for newsrooms in the South. Her reporting on homelessness and a runoff-related “fish kill” for the Bowling Green Daily News earned her 2020 Kentucky Press Association awards in the general news and extended coverage categories, respectively. Beyond deadlines, she is frequently dancing, playing piano and photographing wildlife and her poodle, Princess. She graduated from Emory University with majors in journalism and creative writing. Khalil Ekulona has been involved with media for almost his entire life. Recently he served as the host and producer of No More Normal, the pandemic-focused radio show on KUNM in Albuquerque. He’s also served as the co-host of Good Day New Mexico on KOB4, and as a correspondent with New Mexico PBS. Born in New Jersey, raised in Maryland, Khalil received his degree in political science from Elon University (then Elon College). During his time in Los Angeles, Khalil worked as an educator for at-risk high school students and an associate producer for film, and he founded the hip-hop group Fresh Air. Khalil loves to find humor and wisdom in life’s turns and corners, and enjoys discovering the events that define our lives by talking to his fellow human beings and strives to learn from their experiences. He is also an avid fan of elevator music. Meribah Knight is the reporter and host of the Peabody award-winning podcast, The Promise, an immersive series from Nashville Public Radio about inequality and the people trying to rise above it. Her writing has appeared The New York Times, The New Yorker, O, The Oprah Magazine and The Chicago Reader. Her radio and multimedia work has been featured on NPR, Marketplace, Here and Now, WBEZ, The PBS News Hour and Chicago Public Television. A native of Cambridge, Mass., Meribah has a Masters of Journalism from Northwestern University and a BA from New York University. She lives in Nashville with her husband, a photojournalist with the Tennessean, their toddler son and the family’s five cats. Nina Cardona holds a degree in music history from Converse College. Just two days after graduation, she started playing classical music as a part-time host on Nashville Public Radio. She was WPLN’s All Things Considered host for eleven years, during which time her reporting focused on arts and culture stories. Nina is a classically trained singer and open water swimmer who dabbles in photography and a variety of needle crafts. Paige Pfleger covers the music industry, arts and culture for WPLN News. Previously she has worked in Central Ohio at WOSU News, covering criminal justice and the addiction crisis, and was named Ohio's reporter of the year by the Associated Press in 2019. Her work has appeared nationally on NPR, The Washington Post, Marketplace, and PRI's The World, and she has worked in the newsrooms of The Tennessean, Michigan Radio, WHYY, Vox and NPR headquarters in DC. Samantha Max is a criminal justice reporter at WPLN News — Nashville Public Radio, where she investigates systemic issues within policing, prisons, jails and the courts. She is also the host of WPLN’s podcast, Deadly Force, which delves into the Metro Nashville Police Department’s use of force policies and training, as well as the relationship between the city’s predominantly white police department and its Black residents. Samantha served as a corps member with Report for America, a national service program that supports journalists in local newsrooms across the country. She spent her first year with the program as a health and inequity reporter at The Telegraph in Macon, GA. In college, Samantha interned at her hometown public radio station, WYPR. She also spent a summer investigating a potentially wrongful murder conviction as an intern at the Medill Justice Project and reported on Chicago's undocumented immigrants while interning at Hoy, the Chicago Tribune's former Spanish-language newspaper. Samantha is a proud alum of the Medill School of Journalism at Northwestern University, where she graduated magna cum laude with majors in journalism and Spanish.
Emily Siner
News Director
esiner@wpln.org
Andrea Tudhope
Executive Producer, This Is Nashville
andrea@wpln.org
Chas Sisk
Senior Editor
csisk@wpln.org
Rachel Iacovone
Digital Editor
rachel@wpln.org
Tony Gonzalez
Editor
tgonzalez@wpln.org
Alexis Marshall
Producer
amarshall@wpln.org
Ambriehl Crutchfield
Metro Reporter
acrutchfield@wpln.org
Blake Farmer
Senior Health Care Reporter
bfarmer@wpln.org
Blaise Gainey
Political Reporter
bgainey@wpln.org
Anna Gallegos-Cannon
Digital Lead, This Is Nashville
anna@wpln.org
Damon Mitchell
Enterprise Reporter
damon@wpln.org
Caroline Eggers
Environmental Reporter
ceggers@wpln.org
Khalil Ekulona
Host, This Is Nashville
khalil@wpln.org
Meribah Knight
Senior Reporter/Producer of Special Projects
mknight@wpln.org
She is currently a fellow in ProPublica’s Local Reporting Network.
Nina Cardona
Morning Host
nina@wpln.org
Paige Pfleger
Arts and Culture Reporter
paigep@wpln.org
Samantha Max
Criminal Justice Reporter
smax@wpln.org
Nashville Classical Radio Staff
Colleen Phelps is the host of Live in Studio C on 91Classical and the and Classically Speaking podcast. The percussionist and singer was a founding member of award-winning chamber music ensemble Sound Riot and has recorded an album of new music for marimba, dedicated to recently born zoo animals. She is also a faculty member at Nashville State Community College.
Colleen Phelps
Classically Speaking Host
colleen@91classical.org
WNXP Staff
Jason Moon Wilkins is an award-winning broadcast journalist with a diverse background and deep roots in the music industry. Since coming to WPLN in 2016, he has earned multiple honors from the AP Awards and PRNDI, including the team’s national Breaking News award in 2018. Born in Arkansas and raised in North Louisiana, Jason moved to Nashville in 1993 to attend Belmont University where he majored in English and minored in Music Business. Before completing his degree, he earned a job at a local radio station and its nationally syndicated sister publication and went on to become Music Director. He left that position in 1997 to become a full-time touring and session musician and later transitioned into the business side of music working in management and events. The 2000’s also included a stint at the Tennessean’s weekly entertainment magazine and the development of the Next Big Nashville music festival and conference. Since 2010 he helped launch a publishing division for music company Thirty Tigers, co-founded entertainment listings engine Do615 and was a founding consultant for the annual tech investment conference 36/86. He was a member of the prestigious Nashville Mayor’s Music Council, served on the NARAS/Grammy Board and worked with the Nashville Film Festival and Tin Pan South. He is also a Leadership Music alumnus and was nominated for the Nashville Emerging Leader Award by the Nashville Area Chamber of Commerce. The first time that I was given a microphone—a cheap, little plastic deal attached to a toy keyboard—I thought it was funny to mash my lips into it and make farting noises. As far as I was concerned, that joke stayed fresh for a whole year, but I was just a kid. I know better than to try that at WNXP, even if it is my inaugural radio gig. I’ve been immersed in thinking, talking and writing about music as a Nashville-based critic and journalist for the better part of two decades, long enough to witness radical revolutions, slow-moving evolutions and recurring cycles throughout the music-making world. For the last several years, I’ve been contributing a lot to National Public Radio, NPR Music and other big outlets, like The New York Times and Vulture, often interpreting Nashville happenings for national audiences. As a kid, I traipsed around outside a lot. Still do. But indoors, I found a lot of ways to get into music. My immersive study of rhythm began when I took up clogging, a percussive folk dance influenced by Black, indigenous and Irish styles and lots else besides, and I eventually shifted that energy over to drumming. I played in church, and everywhere else. When I marched on the high school drum line, one of the cadences in our repertoire was a riff on the 69 Boyz’ banger “Tootsee Roll.” In the first of many all-female bands I was in, we crammed into my bedroom to scream Courtney Love lyrics a capella and I pounded the shit out of my pawn shop drum kit. By college, I was trying to emulate John “Jabo” Starks’ wily, funky-footed groove on James Brown’s “Sex Machine.” I also want to understand the contexts in which music is shaped, shared, categorized, marketed and experienced. Filling in those gaps in knowledge is an unending project, one that I’ve worked at not only by reading everything from articles to liner notes and conducting my own interviews, but also by citing and collaborating with scholars who are doing the work of bringing hidden musical histories to light. On the air, you will most definitely hear me letting my curiosity lead. (And not my fart sounds.) Ayisha Jaffer has held many roles in the music industry over the past twenty years. Under her latest company, Greater Than Propaganda, she focused on artist and tour management, venue promotion and production. She’s also worked for a variety of management firms such as Saiko Management and Punkdafunk working with names like Lorde, Cut Copy, and Architecture in Helsinki. Jaffer has a journeyed history in media as a live and radio DJ with slots on two non-commercial alternative stations in New Zealand, 95BFM and Aotea FM. She was also a co-host on US Virgin Mobile Live FM. Most recently, Jaffer was the first female radio host on WYMS Radio Milwaukee’s Afternoon Drive and is a continued contributor to KEXP Seattle and Wisconsin Public Radio. Outside of her time on the air waves you might find her playing music with her band Skux, working on wildlife conservation efforts, kayaking the nearest river or hiking the tallest mountain. I host the evening show from 6-10 p.m. and I also serve as the production coordinator for WNXP. I started radio back in 2014 working for my college radio station at The University of Alabama. I hosted various sports shows and a classic hip-hop show titled “Can I Kick Out.” Since graduating from Alabama, I have been a program director and producer for Tide 100.9 and a producer for ESPN 102.5 The Game in Nashville. My career has been sports to this point, but what a lot of people do not know is music radio was my first passion. Growing up in Southern California I would listen to Power 106 and pretend to be an on-air personality, while other kids wanted to be doctors and lawyers. I grew up around a melting pot of music. My grandma was listening to Charlie Pride and other old country music tunes while my grandpa would be in the other room playing his Blues records like the hallways were Beale Street. My mother was listening to R&B and soul dating back to the 60s going from Motown to the sweet sounds of Mary J Blige. I was listening to hip hop music with my older brother and uncles. and my best friend growing up would have me head banging to some Pantera. I moved to Alabama in 2004, so even though Kanye West “College Dropout” was in my CD player, I could get down to some country. I say all that to say I am sponge for great music, regardless of what genre its from. So, kick back, jam out to some tunes, have a few drinks and explore the wide range of music we have to offer. Like countless other sweet suburbanites, I watched Cameron Crowe’s “Almost Famous” in high school and wiped clean my concepts of the future: when I grow up, I’ll be a rock writer, a musician or a Band-Aid, I decided. What else is there? While my college days offered plenty of concert-going and a few overwrought album reviews, too, it was curating playlists and hosting local artists on the student radio station WUSC-FM that really made meaning for me. I enjoyed solo and co-hosted free-format programs every semester throughout my four undergrad and first two alumni years in Columbia, S.C., before relocating to Nashville in 2009. A nonprofit professional full-time, I’ve remained blissfully music biz adjacent in Music City, U.S.A., partnering with artists, venues and festivals via nonpartisan voter engagement organization HeadCount at live music and community events. Also via HeadCount, I co-produced monthly streaming content for the short-lived ScionAV channel “Headliners” in 2012 and 2013, introducing concert recordings and interviewing music makers such as The Grateful Dead’s Bob Weir. Beginning in 2017, I returned to the FM airwaves with the all-volunteer, low-power station WXNA and hosted Wednesday morning show “What Moves You,” manning live broadcasts, amplifying the work and stories of guest artists and packaging recorded content in the age of COVID. I am thrilled to begin sharing time on WNXP as morning host, promoting music discovery and celebrating our dynamic local scene. “It’s all happening!” Favorite artists: Stephen Malkmus, My Morning Jacket, Fiona Apple, Grateful Dead, Talking Heads, Phish, Billy Strings, St. Vincent + basically any funk, soul and rock ‘n roll with HORNS (i.e. Daptone Records) Born and raised in Nashville, I had no choice but to develop an affinity for music. From growing up on the country classics and classic rock to developing my own personal taste and discovering the various types of artists Nashville had to offer, I became completely consumed with discovering new music. Since then, my whole life has been dedicated to the local music scene and sharing my knowledge with the Nashville community. There is nothing I love more than supporting the artists I love, so I was thrilled when I began my radio journey in 2015 at Lightning 100 where I was able to book up-and-coming artists for in-studio performances and club shows and support programming efforts specifically within the indie and local music realms. Eventually, I became a part of their on air staff and was able to develop my skills as a DJ. I had always prided myself on my ability to set the mood and make a killer a playlist (just ask my yoga students), but I loved learning the ins and outs of radio specifically. In 2020, I launched my own show called Acid Reflux on Acme Radio, spinning garage, psych rock and any other weird things I love. I am thrilled to now have the opportunity to serve as a DJ for WNXP, sharing my fondness for the local music scene and beyond and helping Nashville discover their new favorite bands.
Jason Moon Wilkins
Program Director
jwilkins@wpln.org
Jewly Hight
Editorial Director, WNXP
jewly@wnxp.org
Ayisha Jaffer
Assistant Program Director, WNXP
ayisha@wpln.org
Marquis Munson
Production Coordinator
munson@wnxp.org
Celia Gregory
Morning Host, WNXP
celia@wnxp.org
Emily Young
Host, WNXP
emily@wnxp.org
Development & Marketing
Beth has been part of the Development Team since July 2016. Beginning as the Capital Campaign Manager, she completed the $4.5 million campaign by the end of 2018 and transitioned to be our first-ever Major Gifts Officer. Paige A. Jack is a dynamic visual storyteller from Washington, D.C. who has familial roots in the Nashville community. Her desire to uplift local arts initiatives is fueled by her passion to advocate for artists, to help amplify their stories to audiences here at home, and abroad. Her passion for telling engaging stories is conveyed through her work with music-based projects such as artist showcases, live music tours, creative direction, and digital design. She is thrilled to join the team at WNXP to help usher in fresh, new music genres to our station’s audiences, to highlight Nashville’s diverse and evolving musicality. Kat Drinkwater is thrilled to be a part of the Nashville Public Radio team. As a long time listener of public radio, she's looking forward to helping such a great organization continue its amazing growth while giving back to the Nashville community. Kat began her career in non-profit development in 2007 with the grass-roots organization, Sweet Home New Orleans & Renew Our Music Fund as the Communications & Development Director. While completing her Master's degree in Arts Administration from the University of New Orleans, Kat began her new role as Assistant Director of United Way of Oxford & Lafayette County in Oxford, MS. After falling in love with the Nashville area, she and her husband relocated to Nashville, TN and joined Gilda's Club Nashville as Development Manager. Zea grew up listening to NPR from the backseat of her parents' station wagon, and jumped at the opportunity (quite literally, she leapt into the air when the call came through) to work for Nashville Public Radio. She joined the Membership Department in 2012, and has been instrumental in growing the Sustaining Member Program. When she's away from the station, she can be found brewing award-winning homebrew beer, or telling her Scottish Terrier that he's the cutest little fur demon yes he is.
Beth Fernandes
Major Gifts Officer
beth@wpln.org
Paige Jack
Engagement Coordinator
paigejack@wnxp.org
Kat Drinkwater
Development Manager
kat@wpln.org
Zea Miller
Membership Manager
zea@wpln.org
Corporate Sponsorship
Kyle joined the corporate support team in 2009. Previously, he worked at several ad agencies in Chicago and as a television Research Director in Nashville. A native of Goodlettsville, TN, Kyle graduated from MTSU with a degree in communications. Kyle serves on the board of The Brooks Fund. In his off time you'll find him cheering on the Blue Raiders, playing softball and hanging out with "Army" (Armistead Maupin), the world's best Dachshund.
Kyle Bradley
Corporate Support Representative
kbradley@wpln.org
Operations
Cameron Adkins is WPLN's Chief Engineer, otherwise known as the guy who keeps us on the air. (He also seems to be the only one who knows where we keep the Megahertz.) Cameron grew up in Middle Tennessee and showed a "knack" for all things technical while still in high school. After working with stations in Nashville, Denver, Cincinnati and Tampa, Cameron joined WPLN in 2015. He, his wife Teresa, and son CJ live with a spoiled cat in Hendersonville.
Cameron Adkins
Chief Engineer
cameron@wpln.org
Digital Services
Mack is WPLN's Director of Digital Services. He oversees digital content strategy and creation for wpln.org. He works closely with reporters and the news director on editing, writing headlines, reimagining radio stories for the web, producing web-exclusive news content, and using social media to engage the community. He started working for WPLN in 2003, holding positions in membership and marketing, before leaving to start a freelance web development firm in 2008. He returned in 2010 as new media director. Mack studied Anthropology at Fort Lewis College in Durango, Colorado. He has also been a touring musician, released albums, and had his songs published in film and television.
Mack Linebaugh
Director of Digital Services
mack@wpln.org