Garth Brooks TuneIn Split Ends Three-Year Radio Run

Garth Brooks and TuneIn announced Monday that they are ending the three-year Garth Brooks TuneIn partnership behind the Sevens Radio Network. Two of the three stations the network launched are already gone. The Garth Channel and Tailgate Radio signed off Tuesday, September 22, and The BIG 615, the flagship country station that started the whole venture, will keep broadcasting through the end of 2026 without Brooks or the Sevens name attached.

According to the announcement, the wind-down follows TuneIn's acquisition by the Stingray Group, a deal that closed in December 2025 and was valued at $175 million. Brooks addressed the split in a statement, saying, "The Stingray family has been fantastic in the transition along with TuneIn's people. We couldn't be happier with the three years we have spent with them and wish them well on their future endeavors and hope we cross paths in the future."

The network launched in May 2023, when Brooks made TuneIn the exclusive home of his radio ambitions after ending a six-year run of The Garth Channel on SiriusXM. The BIG 615 debuted on June 15, 2023, the date playing off Nashville's 615 area code, with veteran host Storme Warren as the station's lead voice. Tailgate Radio arrived that August as the network's gameday party station, and The Garth Channel relaunched on TuneIn that fall. Inside Radio reported the network was built around a promise of deeper playlists and gender-balanced programming with global reach.

Why it ended now

The timing points to the ownership change. Stingray Group, a Montreal-based media company, agreed last year to acquire TuneIn for $175 million, and the Sevens deal was one of the first major partnerships to wind down once the transition settled. Neither side framed it as a dispute. The joint language emphasized gratitude, and Brooks praised Stingray's team directly in his statement.

This kind of reset is common when platforms change hands. New owners rework programming deals, and ventures built around one star's name tend to get renegotiated first. As Radio Ink reported, two of the network's stations are already gone, though Brooks says a new broadcast venture is coming. For Brooks, the split lands during a busy stretch. He recently returned to traditional indoor arenas with his Blame It All on My Roots Tour and shared an open letter with fans about performing for large crowds this year, writing that in all his years he had never "felt" what he has been feeling in the live arena. Radio sat alongside touring and recording in Brooks' operation rather than at its center.

The venture never quite matched its original blueprint. Brooks announced Sevens as a suite of seven channels conceived and curated by him, but only three reached the air, according to RadioInsight. The BIG 615, Tailgate Radio, and The Garth Channel each found audiences, but the network's bigger ambitions stayed on the drawing board.

What listeners keep, and what is gone

For fans who built listening habits around the network, the immediate loss is the dedicated Brooks channel and the Tailgate Radio party mix. Both went dark after Tuesday. The BIG 615 survives, and the same stream keeps playing through the end of the year, but the branding changes. Without Brooks or the Sevens Network attached, the station is a TuneIn product now, and its long-term direction sits with Stingray's programming team.

The open question is the staff. The Music Universe reported there has been no word on the future of the on-air team, which includes Storme Warren, program director Bob Richards, and music director Monta Vaden.

Brooks says new broadcast and multimedia initiatives will be announced in the coming months, so he appears to be staying in the game. He would not be the only one betting on creator-led audio. Spotify recently expanded its podcast partner program to 35 markets, and Acast's 2026 listener data shows most fans now move between audio and video, which leaves star-led networks fighting for attention on two fronts. That fits his pattern. He spent six years on SiriusXM, then three building a streaming network, and the Brooks brand on radio is not going away quietly. The Garth Brooks TuneIn run lasted three years and reached a worldwide audience. The next move, whenever it lands, will say plenty about where Brooks thinks radio is heading next.