Garth Brooks is buying the radio frequency of Nashville’s longest-running independent radio station and plans to turn it into a country music channel. Lightning 100, which adheres to a AAA format and plays artists ranging from Tame Impala, Bleachers, and Fontaines D.C. to Noah Kahan, Kacey Musgraves, and the War on Drugs, entered into an agreement with Brooks’ own Sevens Network, LLC, who will purchase the 101.1 frequency pending FCC approval.
Lightning 100, which broadcasts as WRLT-FM, is set to move to 106.3 and 102.5HD3, once the deal is approved. For now, it will remain on the 100.1 frequency.
This marks Brooks’ latest foray into the country radio market. In 2023, he launched his Big615 channel with free Internet radio provider TuneIn. That partnership ended in September. The country singer, who has famously resisted streaming his catalog online, previously tried to circumvent the streamers by founding his own digital music service, GhostTunes, in 2014. That shuttered in 2017, and Brooks entered into an exclusive streaming deal with Amazon.
“This is an opportunity to bring the entire family of Country Music together in one spot…the legends, the greats, and the future greats,” Brooks said in a statement about the proposed purchase. “Nashville is being called ‘The Newest City in America,’ and we want to bring a new kind of communication, combining terrestrial and digital radio, built to grow with this city.”
In a social media post, Lightning 100 celebrated the transition. “Big news, Nashville!” read a statement. “Lightning 100 is turning the page, but the music we love isn’t going where!”
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The station pledged to take its original programming to its new spot on the radio dial. That could include Lightning 100’s “Nashville Sunday Night,” a weekly live concert broadcast from Nashville venue 3rd & Lindsley, “Music Business Radio,” an hourlong deep dive into the music industry, and “The 615,” a twice-weekly show highlighting local artists. In August, Lightning 100 announced it was reviving its long-dormant music festival Live on the Green in 2027.
It’s unclear if the station will still be referred to as “Lightning 100.”
