UPDATE: "Clap Three Times" Episode 2 airs tonight (for real)!
Featuring Holly McCall from the Tennessee Lookout and Nicole Brown of "How To Sue the Klan"!
Friends,
An unexpected technical mix-up prevented Sunday night’s episode of “Clap Three Times” from airing when it was supposed to. Dry your tears: this episode will air this evening (Thursday, June 19) at 8:00 p.m. on 88.1-FM and WUTC.org.
Below is the email newsletter I’d sent on Sunday about this episode’s wonderful guests, Holly McCall and Nicole Brown. Enjoy!
Holly McCall has been a fixture in Tennessee media and politics for years. She’s currently the editor-in-chief of The Tennessee Lookout, an online publication that covers state politics and government in a way that’s both extremely accessible and genuinely useful. It’s part of a national network of similar outlets working to bring more transparency—and frankly, more accountability—to state governments, especially for people and communities that often struggle to get news about what’s going on in the halls of power.
Anyone who listens to this show or reads this newsletter knows how seriously I think about freedom of the press, freedom of speech, and the rights of reporters. One of the weird quirks about Tennessee is that some of our major metro areas—like Chattanooga—are hours away from the state capitol. So when the legislature is in session, we rely on organizations like Holly’s to help us understand what the heck is going on.
She’s built a phenomenal team of reporters who work hard to hold powerful people accountable and to keep folks like you, me, and everyone across our great state informed. She also had some super fun and surprising takes on music, so our conversation gave me some new insight into who she is, what she loves, and why she does what she does.
You can find more of her work at tennesseelookout.com.
The second interview in this evening’s episode is with my friend Nicole Brown. Nicole and I first met when she was at the University of Tennessee at Chattanooga. She helped produce a really fascinating panel event where brought together a few journalists from across Tennessee and Georgia to talk about how they covered extremism.
This was back in 2019—which I know feels like a lifetime ago—but we had a powerful conversation about intense topics: how they reported on white nationalists, how they kept themselves safe, and where they saw free speech heading in this country.
I remember being so struck by how skilled Nicole was at making these very heavy topics feel accessible, like they were things everyday people needed to be thinking about. I think that’s really her superpower. As you’ll hear in our chat, she’s very funny and exudes so much joy in everything she does — joy that makes it possible for her to return to subject matter that’s frankly kind of traumatic.
One example she talks about is a documentary she co-produced called How to Sue the Klan. This film tells the story of how a team of civil rights attorneys took on a group of Ku Klux Klan members here in Chattanooga and won.
It’s a terrific piece of filmmaking. I won’t ruin it for you, because I really do think everyone should watch it for themselves—you can find it online at PBS.
Enjoy the show this evening and all the great songs these two awesome women shared with me and with you.