Garth Brooks’ Sevens Network to Buy Lightning 100 Frequency

Upon FCC approval, country station FM-100 will launch on 100.1 FM and Lightning 100 programming will move

Archival CDs on a shelf inside radio station Lightning 100's studio. — CDs in Lightning 100’s studio library, photographed in 2012

The 100.1 FM frequency of Tuned In Broadcasting Inc.’s Lightning 100 is set to be sold to Garth Brooks’ newly created Sevens Network LLC. Trade publication Inside Radio reports the deal, which is pending approval from the Federal Communications Commission, is valued at $3 million.

Upon FCC approval, Lightning 100 will move to Cromwell Media’s 106.3 FM and 102.5 FM-HD3 frequencies. The timeline for approval is not clear, and until approval is granted Lightning 100 will continue broadcasting on 100.1 FM. Cromwell Media’s 106.3 and 102.5 will keep the original Lightning 100 programming and adult album alternative music format.

Inside Radio reports Brooks and his Sevens Network LLC plan to use the frequency to start a country music station called FM-100. Among other goals, the station will offer female artists in the genre more robust exposure than that offfered by the majority of traditional commercial country radio stations.

“This is an opportunity to bring the entire family of Country Music together in one spot ... the legends, the greats, and the future greats,” says Brooks in a press release. “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.”

Lester Turner purchased Lightning 100 in 1993 and has served as president of Tuned In Broadcasting since then.

“This deal moves the 100.1 FM frequency to Sevens Network, but keeps Lightning 100 on the air at a new place on the dial,” Turner says in the release. “We are disappointed to leave our home at 100.1 FM but thrilled to have Cromwell Media Nashville as our partner in this transition. Listeners will need to tune to new frequencies, but will continue to find the familiar Lightning 100 programming that they know and love.”

Cromwell Media Nashville is locally owned and affiliated with Fort Mill, S.C.-based The Cromwell Group Inc. That company operates 30 radio stations in Tennessee, Kentucky and Illinois. In Nashville, Cromwell Media stations include 102.9 The Buzz, 102.5 The Game, The Game Sports Network, 94.9 The Fan, Sports Talk 830 AM, 102.1 The Ville and Totally Hits 93.3.

A previous version of this article was first published by our sister publication, the Nashville Post.