The Tennessee’s Backroads Heritage Fall Dinner will be held on Thursday, Nov. 14, 2024 at the Bell Buckle Banquet Hall starting at 5:30 p.m. with the silent auction. Dinner will be served around 6 p.m.

Cost for the event is $25 per person with reservations needing to be made no later than Nov. 6.

Dianne Murray, executive director of Tennessee’s Backroads Heritage, urges anyone interested in history in the area to make plans to attend the dinner where “Tennessee Crossroads” producers, Laura Faber and Miranda Cohen will be speaking to the group.

These two ladies have been co-producing “Tennessee Crossroads” during the last several months due to the untimely death of longtime host, Joe Elmore.

They will be speaking about:

• The Legacy of Joe Elmore
• The past, present and future of “Tennessee Crossroads”
• “Tennessee Crossroads” features and how they are selected
• How “Tennessee Crossroads” has impacted businesses and communities all across Tennessee
• Nashville Public Television programming

There will be a brief question and answer period at the end of their presentation.

Faber has been a part of the Middle Tennessee community since 1990. She is a veteran broadcast and video production professional, with more than three decades of experience in the field. Faber is also a licensed realtor in Tennessee, affiliated with Parks-Compass Real Estate.

Over the course of Faber’s TV career, she has been nominated for and won several broadcasting awards, including multiple Regional Emmy Awards, awards from the Associated Press and R.T.N.D.A., and an International Iris Award.

She is honored to now be co-hosting and producing segments for WNPT’s “Tennessee Crossroads” program, which has been on the air for nearly four decades.

Nashville area locals might remember her from her time on-air at WSMV-TV (Channel 4) in the early 90s, and then as the main anchor on WZTV-TV (FOX 17) for 11 years.

A native of Michigan, Faber has a degree from Michigan State University. She is married with two daughters.

Cohen has been a member of the “Tennessee Crossroads” team since January 2020, but a member of the WNPT family long before that.

In 1998, Cohen had just started at FOX 17 when she was asked to host a Viewer Pledge Drive for Nashville Public Television.

She eagerly agreed and has volunteered her time to host pledge drives for PBS ever since.

Through her extensive work on the iconic magazine show “Tennessee Crossroads” she has traveled the highways and byways of the Volunteer State introducing viewers to some of the hidden gems and most colorful characters of Tennessee.

She has been nominated for Excellence in Television Emmys for her work on “Tennessee Crossroads”; the PBS literary author series “A Word on Words”; and her contributions to “PBS Arts Break”.

“After spending my life in the news business, I have learned the truth is always much more interesting and much more bizarre,” she said. Cohen and her husband Brad have twin daughters.

For more information, please contact the Backroads office at 615-613-5627 or email tnbackroads@bellsouth.net.