Brooks Buys WRLT/Nashville For $3M
No Fences: Calling the move "an opportunity to bring the entire family of country music together in one spot … the legends, the greats and the future greats,” Garth Brooks and his Sevens Network are purchasing the frequency of Triple A WRLT (Lightning 100)/Nashville from Tuned in Broadcasting for $3 million, as reported earlier today (11/10) via Breaking News. No word on staff for the station, which has applied for the WFLP calls and is currently being referred to as FM-100. Upon FCC approval of the deal, Lightning 100 will move to Cromwell’s W292ED (currently a 106.3 FM translator of the company's Sports WPRT) and 102.5 FM HD3.
In a post on his web site, Brooks admits, “A country artist buying an indie-rock station made no sense,” but adds, "I was looking for a station for this idea I had about an information station for Nashville locals, visitors and tourists.” FM-100 has already struck a deal with Nashville Severe Weather to provide its weather coverage. On his future plans, Brooks says, "The dream is to be a 24-hour global station to bring country music to places on the planet it has yet to go.” The move follows the September dissolution of Sevens' radio partnership with TuneIn (CAT 9/22).