Garth Brooks buys Lightning 100's 100.1 FM

By Midstate Daily Business Desk · Edited by Channing Webb · Nov. 11, 2026

A band plays on the stage inside Garth Brooks' Friends in Low Places Bar & Honky-Tonk on Broadway in Nashville (file photo, March 2025) — File photo: Carol VanHook via Wikimedia Commons, CC BY-SA 2.0 (source)

TLDRGarth Brooks' Sevens Network has agreed to buy the 100.1 FM frequency from Nashville's Lightning 100, pending FCC approval, and plans to launch a country and local-information station called FM-100. Lightning 100 is not going away. Once the deal closes, it keeps its indie and alternative format and moves to 106.3 FM and 102.5 HD3. Until then, nothing changes: keep listening on 100.1 FM or the Lightning 100 app.

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Nashville's longest-running independent radio station is changing spots on the dial, and a country superstar is taking its old one.

Tuned In Broadcasting, which owns Lightning 100, announced Tuesday, Nov. 10, that Brooks' Sevens Network will buy the station's 100.1 FM frequency, Billboard reported. The deal still needs approval from the Federal Communications Commission.

Inside Radio reported the price at $3 million.

What happens to Lightning 100

Lightning 100, which broadcasts as WRLT-FM, will keep its format and its original programming. After the FCC signs off and the sale closes, the station moves to Cromwell Media's 106.3 FM translator, with programming originating on 102.5 FM HD3, according to Inside Radio and Billboard.

Until then, the station stays on 100.1 FM. "We will be moving to a new spot on the dial, but our heart, our mission, and the music that brings us together remain the same," Lightning 100 said on Instagram, according to Billboard. The station said it will tell listeners when it's time to switch.

Any FM radio can pick up 106.3. Hearing the 102.5 HD3 channel requires a radio with HD Radio, which many newer cars have built in. If yours doesn't, a home HD Radio receiver is one option.

Lightning 100 has been locally owned for 36 years, Inside Radio reported. Its shows include "Nashville Sunday Night," a weekly live concert broadcast from 3rd & Lindsley, and "The 615," which highlights local artists, Rolling Stone reported. The station founded the Live on the Green concert series, which Billboard reported will return in full in 2027.

What FM-100 will be

Brooks plans to turn 100.1 FM into FM-100, a country station that mixes legends, current stars and newer artists. He said it will also feature female artists from the 1960s through today, according to a post on his website.

"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 reported by Billboard.

Brooks is also pitching FM-100 as a local service station. His website says the station has a deal with Nashville Severe Weather to break into regular programming with critical weather information, and plans an app that works with the city's tourism community to help visitors.

"Our job is NOT to compete with the local channels in Nashville, but to PROMOTE what they have going on," Brooks said, according to Billboard and Country Aircheck.

No launch date for FM-100 has been announced.

How the deal came together

Brooks said the idea started in 2025, when he saw a Lightning 100 "Save Our Station" social media post. It turned out to be a COVID-era fundraising appeal from about six years ago. "I thought the post was current," Brooks said on his website. When he talked with the station's owner, he learned the pandemic had put a serious financial strain on the station.

"A country artist buying an indie-rock station made no sense," Brooks said. Buying the frequency instead lets Lightning 100 keep going nearby on the dial, he said.

The purchase follows the end of Brooks' streaming partnership with TuneIn in September, Inside Radio reported. Brooks also owns Friends in Low Places Bar & Honky-Tonk on Lower Broadway.

More local business news: Oracle is opening its East Bank site to the public this week. See our Oracle open house guide, more Nashville business news and all Davidson County news.

Sources

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