GARTH BROOKS PLANS NEW NASHVILLE FM 'SERVICE' STATION

Garth Brooks is launching a new FM radio station serving Nashville and the surrounding metropolitan area. The deal is awaiting FCC approval.

When Garth Brooks set out to build a radio station, he wanted to give something back to Nashville.

The idea began in 2025, when Brooks saw a social media post from Nashville’s beloved independent radio station, Lightning 100. The post said, “Save Our Station.”

He didn’t know it then, but the plea for funds was from the COVID era, about six years ago.

“I thought the post was current,” Brooks said. “I was looking for a station for this idea I had about an information station for Nashville locals, visitors, and tourists.”

Public service remains at the heart of Brooks’ idea. Just as the police precinct next to his Friends in Low Places Bar & Honky-Tonk serves downtown Nashville, Brooks envisions FM-100 as another way to give back to the city by providing a valuable resource for residents and visitors.

For FM-100, that could mean keeping listeners up to date on what’s happening around Nashville, supporting events promoted by other local radio stations, welcoming and assisting tourists, or getting critical information to Middle Tennesseans during dangerous weather.

“I owe this city,” Brooks said. “I owe country music.”

But first, he needed a station.

When Brooks spoke with Lightning 100’s owner, he learned COVID had put a serious financial strain on the station. He already knew what the station meant to its listeners — and to the independent music community in Nashville and beyond.

Lightning 100 has spent decades supporting indie rock, giving musicians a rare platform early in their careers, and serving as the underground voice of the local independent music scene. Lightning 100 even created the popular Live On The Green concert series, a live music opportunity for fans to hear new bands. Brooks wanted to see that legacy live on.

“A country artist buying an indie-rock station made no sense,” Brooks said.

However, Brooks could buy Lightning 100’s spot on the FM dial for his new FM-100, while Lightning 100 could move nearby on the dial and keep doing what it’s always done — uplift indie rock.

“This way, the owner gets help in funding. The station lives on, while the new FM-100 finds a home in the middle of the FM dial,” he explained.

As was always the goal, Lightning 100 isn’t going away. Nashville is keeping the legendary station and getting something new at the same time.

Musically, Brooks envisions FM-100 as a place where the entire history of country music comes together, from the legends who built the genre to today's stars and the artists who will shape its future.

“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.

That vision includes making sure the women who helped build country music are heard alongside the women leading it today. Female artists have historically received significantly less country radio airplay than their male counterparts. By featuring female artists from the 1960s through today's stars, FM-100 has an opportunity to showcase generations of voices together.

“We NEED both sides telling the story of country music,” Brooks said.

FM-100 also won’t compete with Nashville’s existing country stations — or any of the city’s radio stations. Brooks wants to use his station to support them.

“We PROMOTE anything the other stations have posted that’s going on,” he said. “If it’s going on in Nashville, we want the people of Middle Tennessee to be aware of it.”

And that public-service mission becomes even more important when safety is involved.

Brooks has long wondered why, during dangerous weather, radio stations don’t do what local television does — stop regular broadcasts and immediately deliver potentially lifesaving information.

FM-100 has struck a deal with Nashville Severe Weather to do just that: interrupt regular broadcasts to get critical weather information to people — including thousands of Middle Tennesseans who may be sitting in rush-hour traffic.

The station will also serve Nashville’s visitors. Through its app, the plan is FM-100 will work closely with Nashville’s convention and tourism community to welcome people to Music City and give them information they need before and during their trips.

Brooks sees tourism as vital to Nashville, generating revenue that helps support the community. He also wants visitors to understand that Music City may be their vacation destination, but it’s also our home.

Eventually, Brooks wants FM-100 to reach far beyond Middle Tennessee.

“The dream is to be a 24-hour GLOBAL station,” he said, “to bring Country Music to places on the planet it has yet to go.”

For Brooks, though, it starts at home.

“This will be a joy and an honor to play a small role in being of service to Music City.”