The country star is turning Lightning 100’s frequency into a local country station, a rare artist bet on FM radio.
Garth Brooks made his name on country radio. Now he wants to own a piece of it. His company, Sevens Network LLC, has agreed to buy WRLT, the Nashville station known as Lightning 100, from Tuned-In Broadcasting for $3 million, RadioInsight reported Tuesday.
The deal is not done. Brooks’ own announcement says it is awaiting FCC approval. Once it closes, the frequency flips to country as “The New FM 100,” and Lightning 100’s adult album alternative format moves to signals owned by Cromwell Media.
Brooks knows how the purchase looks. “A country artist buying an indie-rock station made no sense,” his announcement concedes, before laying out his pitch: a local service station built around Nashville news, severe weather and every generation of country music. He also put it plainly: “I owe this city.”
His stated plan is to promote the city rather than fight it. The station’s job, he said, is not to compete with Nashville’s local channels but to boost what they have going on, according to Digital Music News.
The move follows a retreat from streaming radio. Brooks launched The Big 615 with TuneIn in 2023, pitching a global country station that would play new songs from veterans next to current stars, American Songwriter reported then. That partnership ended in September, RadioInsight noted.
The price is small by music-industry standards. For an artist who already runs the Friends in Low Places honky-tonk downtown, it buys a broadcast license in the genre’s capital and a stage he controls. The FCC gets the next say.
Sources
- RadioInsight – Garth Brooks Acquires Lightning 100 Nashville – https://radioinsight.com/headlines/376558/garth-brooks-acquires-lightning-100-nashville/
- GarthBrooks.com – Garth Brooks Plans New Nashville FM ‘Service’ Station – https://www.garthbrooks.com/news/garth-brooks-plans-new-nashville-fm-service-station
- Digital Music News – Garth Brooks Is Buying a Nashville Radio Station to Create ‘The Voice of Music City’ – https://www.digitalmusicnews.com/2026/11/10/garth-brooks-buying-nashville-radio-station/
- American Songwriter – Garth Brooks Launches Global Country Music Radio Station ‘The Big 615’ – https://americansongwriter.com/garth-brooks-launches-global-country-music-radio-station-the-big-615/
Featured photo: U.S. Department of State, public domain via Wikimedia Commons.
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