Industry News

WFDF, Detroit Flips to Sports; Former Talk Hosts “Infuriated”

The Detroit Metro Times is reporting on the flip of Kevin Adell’s WFDF-AM, Detroit from urban talk to sports talk and the response to the move from numerous people who hosted shows at the station. Adell bought the former Radio Disney station in January of 2015 and launched “910 The Superstation” featuring Black talk hosts whoim were not paid but given the ability to get their message out. Adell promoted the station as “Detroit’s Only Urban Tall Station” via billboards throughout the metro area. The Metro Times piece says hosts learned of the change in an email delivered last Friday night that said, “Your show will no longer air on WFDF 910AM Superstation. All access passes have been revoked and you are no longer allowed on the premises. The guard has been notified not to give you entry.” The piece goes on to say, “The terse email and sudden change infuriated some of the hosts and prompted others to accuse the owner, millionaire Kevin Adell, of exploiting Black people by turning racial anxiety into entertainment and failing to pay the hosts for their shows.” But Adell tells the paper “the format was no longer profitable and only attracted about 2,100 listeners a month, an abysmally small audience for a radio station. ‘When you look at it, no one supported it. I couldn’t get the community to support it.’” Read the Metro Times story here.

Industry News

Disney Sells its Last Radio Station for $5 Million

According to a report at TheDesk.net, Disney has sold the last remaining radio station it owned and initially used to broadcast kids programming via the Radio Disney format. The company will, pending FCC approval, sell KRDC-AM, Pasadena to religious broadcaster Calvary Costa Mesa for $5 million. The signal was most recently simulcasting Good Karma Brands’ sports talk KSPN-AM, Los Angeles.  The deal will include lease agreements for several broadcast towers that KRDC uses to transmit its programming, as well as a low-power FM translator that covers parts of Pasadena. Read TheDesk.net story here.