Garth has his own radio station…again.
For six years, Garth Brooks had his own channel on Sirius XM, but last year he announced that The Garth Channel would be shutting down in September with the end of his 390-date arena tour.
But now Garth is returning to radio – this time on a different platform.
Today, he announced the launch of his newest radio station, The BIG 615, which will be found exclusively on global streaming service TuneIn Radio.
According to Garth, he wants the new station to play traditional country music:
“The BIG 615 station is purely for the love of country music. We lean a bit more traditional at the BIG 615. We are proud of how the station sounds and want the entire world to hear what we think is the greatest format of all…Country Music…
I believe that country music listeners want to hear the latest from George Strait followed by the latest from Luke Combs. The latest from Ashley McBryde followed by the latest from The Chicks.”
And during a Q&A last week as part of Billboard’s Country Live in Conversation, Garth said he wanted a radio station that was free from the agenda of major record labels:
“I think radio is a reflection of the label’s agenda…
The labels simply own radio. They just do. They can say they don’t or radio can say they don’t, but the truth is nobody’s going to be playing on there that doesn’t have a major label deal. You might get 1 out of every 100 artists or whatever.
So what this does is, just because the label might think George Strait’s career is past the label part, I want to hear the new stuff from George Strait.”
Now I’m not exactly sure who thinks George Strait’s career is past the label part, but I get what he’s saying here. Guys like Tracy Lawrence who are still cranking out killer new music but not getting played on radio…sounds like they may have found a home with Garth’s new station.
Garth is also bringing in Storme Warren, former host of Sirius XM’s The Highway, to serve as the voice of The BIG 615, which will be streamed worldwide in over 120 countries and broadcast live from Music Row in Nashville.
The new station is just one of several that Garth hopes to announce in the coming months, all under his SEVENS Radio Network, that will be broadcasting on TuneIn Radio.
I guess the real question is, will they be playing any Chris Gaines?
