Garth Brooks has spent an entire career doing things bigger than anybody thought they needed to be, so naturally when he decided to build a radio network three years ago, one station wasn’t going to be enough. The SEVENS Radio Network arrived with an ambitious idea for seven Garth Brooks curated audio channels distributed globally through TuneIn, but only three ultimately made it to listeners. Now that chapter is ending altogether as Brooks and TuneIn separate, The Garth Channel and Tailgate Radio prepare to disappear, and The BIG 615 gets the strangest fate of all by remaining alive on TuneIn through the end of 2026 without Garth Brooks or SEVENS attached to it.
If you’re keeping score at home, that means the network called SEVENS ultimately launched three stations.
Radio people everywhere just looked at the original format wheel and whispered:
DAMN THAT’S FOUR SHORT
😂
But don’t make the mistake of treating this as nothing more than another streaming service changing channels.
There’s a bigger story here.
Because Garth Brooks didn’t merely lend his name to a playlist.
He tried to build radio.
And I Mean Radio
That’s the part I always found fascinating about this experiment.
When artists create digital channels, they can easily become glorified playlists.
Twenty songs.
Shuffle.
Celebrity picture.
Logo.
Done.
That wasn’t what Brooks was attempting.
The BIG 615 launched in June 2023 with veteran Country broadcaster Storme Warren as its primary voice and a mission to build a broader version of contemporary Country radio.
The concept was interesting from the beginning.
Current stars.
Established legends.
New artists.
Country records that Brooks believed conventional radio might be overlooking.
Not anti radio.
Not screw Country radio.
More like:
WHAT IF WE COULD BUILD ANOTHER VERSION OF IT
Brooks described the original musical philosophy using combinations that deliberately crossed generations of current Country performers and established stars. His own website positioned the station as a global Country outlet coming from Nashville rather than simply another personalized Garth Brooks stream.
That’s programming.
There’s a difference.
Then Came Tailgate Radio
A couple of months later, the second SEVENS station arrived.
And this one wasn’t even strictly Country.
Tailgate Radio was built around game day.
Country.
Rock.
Pop.
Party records.
Whatever belonged in the parking lot before kickoff.
TuneIn positioned it as its game day party station.
Again, that’s not merely a genre.
That’s a use case.
And radio programmers should understand exactly what I mean by that.
Some of the best stations aren’t built around what the music is.
They’re built around what the listener is doing while hearing it.
Working.
Driving.
Partying.
Relaxing.
Working out.
Tailgating.
That’s smart programming psychology.
Then Garth Brought His Own Channel Back
The third station may have been the most predictable, but it came with an established history.
The Garth Channel originally lived on SiriusXM from 2016 until 2022.
In late 2023, Brooks resurrected the concept through TuneIn and made it globally available without requiring a satellite subscription.
And he didn’t simply turn it into GARTH GARTH GARTH GARTH GARTH.
😂
The channel was constructed around Brooks’ musical universe.
His records.
His influences.
His heroes.
Artists he liked.
Stories.
Personal features.
Other genres.
Trisha Yearwood.
And Blake Carter returned in an expanded role as host and programmer.
The operation even originated from Brooks’ Friends In Low Places Bar and Honky Tonk in Nashville, giving the station an actual physical connection to the Garth ecosystem.
Again:
RADIO.
Hosts.
Features.
Stories.
Programming.
Context.
A sense that somebody on the other end actually made choices.
And Then Something Interesting Happened
Nothing.
At least publicly as far as the other four stations were concerned.
SEVENS was announced around the idea of seven channels.
Three launched.
The BIG 615.
Tailgate Radio.
The Garth Channel.
And that’s where the public rollout stopped.
There are probably a hundred fascinating conversations behind that fact.
Maybe priorities changed.
Maybe the economics changed.
Maybe three stations provided enough information to reconsider seven.
Maybe ideas existed that never reached the finish line.
Maybe the acquisition changed everything.
Maybe something else happened entirely.
WE DON’T KNOW.
And this is where responsible trade reporting matters.
Don’t invent an explanation simply because the number three is smaller than seven.
There is no need.
The known facts are interesting enough.
The original vision was seven.
The public got three.
Now the partnership is ending.
Then TuneIn Got A New Owner
And this is where the corporate timeline becomes impossible to ignore.
Stingray announced in November 2025 that it would acquire TuneIn in a transaction initially valued at up to $175 million.
The deal closed December 19.
This wasn’t some tiny tuck-in acquisition.
Stingray was buying a global audio platform that it said reached more than 75 million active monthly listeners, distributed more than 100,000 radio stations and other audio offerings, and maintained distribution across more than 200 platforms and connected devices.
That’s enormous audio real estate.
And Stingray had a plan for it.
Advertising.
Distribution.
Connected cars.
Streaming.
Scale.
Synergies.
All those wonderful corporate words that usually mean somebody has an Excel spreadsheet open somewhere.
😂
And Stingray Has Been Moving Fast
This is why I wouldn’t write some simplistic story suggesting TuneIn is collapsing or abandoning audio.
Quite the opposite.
By June, Stingray was telling investors that its TuneIn integration was moving ahead of schedule, with more than $42 million in revenue synergies and $12 million in cost optimization.
That’s a company actively integrating an acquisition.
So when the Brooks partnership ends after a major ownership transition, I pay attention.
That doesn’t prove Stingray killed SEVENS.
It doesn’t prove Brooks wanted out because of Stingray.
It doesn’t prove anything beyond what has actually been announced.
And Brooks has been complimentary toward both the new Stingray ownership and the TuneIn team during the transition.
So let’s not manufacture a corporate fistfight because it makes a sexier headline.
THE ACTUAL STORY IS ALREADY INTERESTING.
A major global audio platform changes ownership.
A high-profile artist partnership subsequently concludes.
Two channels disappear.
A third survives temporarily without the artist whose vision originally created it.
And Brooks says more is coming.
That’s plenty.
The BIG 615 Is The Part I Cannot Stop Looking At
Because this is fascinating.
The Garth Channel goes away.
Makes sense.
Garth leaves.
The Garth Channel probably isn’t sticking around without Garth.
😂
Tailgate Radio goes away.
Okay.
But The BIG 615 stays.
Through the end of the year.
Except Brooks and SEVENS are no longer affiliated with it.
Now that gets my programmer brain going.
Because The BIG 615 was the most conventional radio station of the three.
It had Storme Warren.
Country artists.
Interviews.
Music discovery.
Nashville identity.
A programming philosophy.
TuneIn’s own station page has accumulated roughly 90,000 favorites during its run.
So apparently there is enough there for TuneIn to keep the lights on after Garth leaves the building.
That tells us something.
Exactly what happens after December?
We don’t know.
What happens with Storme Warren?
Not yet clear.
What happens with Blake Carter and the people involved in the other channels?
Also unclear from the announcement.
Those are the next questions.
But The BIG 615 Experiment Still Matters
Because Brooks was poking at one of Country radio’s longest-running arguments.
How wide should the tent be?
How old is too old?
How new is too new?
Should established superstars disappear simply because the current single isn’t testing like the last one?
How aggressively should Country radio expose developing artists?
How much heritage belongs beside currents?
Those arguments existed before The BIG 615.
They’ll exist after it.
But Brooks had the ability to say:
FINE LET’S BUILD THE DAMN THING AND SEE WHAT IT SOUNDS LIKE
I respect that.
Radio needs more people willing to experiment.
That’s The Bigger Lesson Of SEVENS
I don’t care that all seven stations didn’t launch nearly as much as I care that somebody tried something.
Seriously.
Look at this industry.
How many conversations have we sat through where everybody says we need innovation?
Then somebody actually attempts something different and we immediately stand around waiting to determine whether it was a success or a failure.
Maybe that’s the wrong question.
Garth Brooks took his celebrity, his understanding of Country music, experienced radio talent and a global streaming platform and attempted to create a collection of programmed audio brands.
Some lasted three years.
Some never launched.
Now the distribution partnership is ending.
THAT’S EXPERIMENTATION.
Not every idea has to live forever to teach us something.
And There Is A Lesson Here For Terrestrial Radio
People still like radio when radio gives them something worth listening to.
That’s what I keep coming back to.
Look at what Brooks put around these stations.
Storme Warren.
Blake Carter.
Artist conversations.
Stories.
Features.
Music discovery.
Personality.
Context.
A Nashville studio.
A studio inside Friends In Low Places.
The Garth Channel even incorporated Brooks’ Inside Studio G conversations.
Notice what’s missing from my description?
JUST A PLAYLIST.
Because Brooks understood something terrestrial radio occasionally forgets while trying desperately to compete with Spotify.
You cannot beat an infinite jukebox by becoming a shittier jukebox.
😂
You win by doing what a jukebox cannot.
CREATE A WORLD AROUND THE MUSIC.
The Garth Channel Understood That
If you’re listening to a Garth Brooks channel, obviously you want Garth Brooks.
But maybe what you really want is access to his musical brain.
What does he listen to?
Who influenced him?
What does Trisha like?
What stories happened on tour?
Which artist surprised him?
Why does this particular record matter?
That’s curation with personality.
Streaming algorithms can tell me:
PEOPLE WHO LISTENED TO GARTH ALSO LISTENED TO THIS
Cool.
Garth can tell me:
HERE’S WHY I LOVE THIS SONG
Those aren’t the same experience.
That’s why personality still matters.
And Now We Get To The Real Question
What does Garth do next?
Because the announcement does not read like a retirement from audio.
Quite the opposite.
More information concerning Brooks’ future radio and multimedia initiatives is expected in the coming months.
Hello.
👀
That’s the sentence I’m circling.
Not because I’m going to pretend I know what’s coming.
I don’t.
Another platform?
Independent distribution?
A completely rebuilt network?
Something tied more deeply to Friends In Low Places?
Video?
Podcasting?
Traditional radio?
Some combination of all of it?
No idea.
But Garth Brooks doesn’t exactly have a reputation for thinking small.
And He Has Done This Before
Remember how we got here.
The Garth Channel existed on SiriusXM.
That relationship ended.
A lot of people probably assumed that was the end of The Garth Channel.
Nope.
Brooks rebuilt it on TuneIn.
Global.
Free.
Different infrastructure.
Different business relationship.
Different version of the concept.
So I’m not writing an obituary for Garth Brooks radio.
Not even close.
I’m writing the end of this version.
That’s different.
On The Dial Perspective
There is something wonderfully radio about the entire SEVENS story.
The grand plan was seven.
Three got on the air.
They developed personalities.
They created identities.
They produced interviews.
They generated programming.
They existed globally through a streaming platform.
Then the platform changed ownership.
The business changed.
And now the partnership changes with it.
Welcome to broadcasting.
😂
If you’ve worked in this business longer than fifteen minutes, you’ve seen some version of this movie.
The only difference is most of us weren’t doing it with Garth Brooks.
So Was SEVENS A Failure
I’m not going there.
We don’t have enough information to make that judgment.
Seven were envisioned.
Three launched.
Those three operated for roughly three years.
The platform went through a major corporate acquisition.
Now the partnership is concluding.
Those are facts.
Anything beyond that requires information neither side has publicly supplied.
And sometimes radio trade journalism needs to be comfortable saying:
WE DON’T KNOW YET.
But I Know What I Liked About It
Garth Brooks treated radio like it mattered.
That’s worth saying.
He didn’t just slap his picture on a playlist.
He hired radio people.
He built brands.
He created programming concepts.
He talked about songs.
He created places for artists to tell stories.
He put personality around music.
He built studios.
He brought his SiriusXM concept back instead of abandoning it.
And he attempted to create an actual network.
Maybe it never reached seven.
So what?
Three stations existed that didn’t exist before somebody decided to try.
Today Two Of Them Go Dark
The Garth Channel and Tailgate Radio are scheduled to sign off September 22.
The BIG 615 keeps going through December, but the Brooks and SEVENS connection ends.
That’s a weird ending.
A little messy.
A little unfinished.
A little intriguing.
In other words:
PERFECTLY RADIO.
And somewhere behind the scenes, apparently, Garth Brooks is already thinking about what comes next.
That’s the part I’ll be watching.
Because Garth has already moved his radio idea once.
From satellite.
To streaming.
From subscription.
To free.
From one channel.
To three.
The next move could be anywhere.
Don’t Call It The End Of Garth Radio
Call it the end of the TuneIn chapter.
That’s all we actually know.
The SEVENS sign comes down.
The Garth Channel goes silent.
Tailgate packs up the coolers.
The BIG 615 stays at the party a few months longer even though the guy who helped throw the party has already headed for the door.
And somewhere in Nashville, I have a feeling another radio idea is being scribbled onto something.
Maybe a legal pad.
Maybe a whiteboard.
Maybe a cocktail napkin inside Friends In Low Places.
Whatever it is, I’m paying attention.
Because Garth Brooks has spent more than three decades proving one thing:
WHEN EVERYBODY THINKS THEY KNOW WHAT HIS NEXT MOVE IS
THAT’S USUALLY WHEN HE MAKES ANOTHER ONE.
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