Detroit Radio: WFDF-AM On The Market

Longtime metro Detroit broadcast executive Kevin Adell has listed all of his media properties for sale as he seeks to retire, The Detroit Free Press reports.

Adell launched WADL-TV (Channel 38) 35 years ago. He later started The Word Network, a religious television station, and WFDF-AM (910), a longtime locally focused urban talk radio station that abruptly flipped to a largely syndicated conservative talk format last year.

Kevin Adell

“Passion is somewhere else!,” the 57-year-old said in a text to the Detroit Free Press from a flight to visit his daughter at college for parent week. “Decided to sport fish. Fight with Marlon / Sail fish will be fairer fight.”

Adell also attributed his decision to industry turbulence as more people abandon traditional television and radio for streaming services.

“Our industry is … going to take a while to reset itself, like the newspaper industry,” he said, estimating that this "reset" would come in 10 years, or not at all. "This might be new normal."

Adell last year agreed to sell WADL to Texas-based Mission Broadcasting for $75 million, but the deal fell through due to what he said was an issue with the FCC. 

A federal suit against Adell, for nearly $18 million he allegedly owes in estate and gift taxes stemming from his inheritance, did not play a role in his decision to sell the stations, he told the Free Press.