Kevin Adell isn’t sorry, and he doesn’t care what you think of him.
The millionaire owner of 910AM Superstation pulled the plug on Black talk radio last month and replaced it with a lineup of conservative voices known for inciting outrage.
It was a business decision, he says.
“It has nothing to do with race,” Adell tells Metro Times. “I’m not a Republican. I don’t have one red tie in my closet. I don’t say the Pledge of Allegiance. I don’t have an American flag hanging at my house. But I realized there was money to be made. It’s all about the money.”
In a wide-ranging interview, Adell explained why he ended Black talk radio, emphasized that politics and voting bore him, and shared plans to bring the conservative platform to FM radio.
The decision to pull the plug on Black talk radio was years in the making, but the timing was abrupt. At about 6:30 p.m. on Aug. 11, Adell says one of the station’s hosts — journalist Bankole Thompson — shared a text message with him that “spelled violence.” He says the person who sent the message said Adell planned to change the station’s format to conservative and that supporters of Black talk radio needed to “take back the station.”
Within a half hour, Adell decided to end eight years of Black talk radio.
At 8 p.m., the station’s hosts received a brief email from one of Adell’s employees, notifying them of “a format change” and instructing them to not return to the building.
“I wasn’t worried about me. The guy in the water tower doesn’t get intimidated,” Adell says, referring to himself and an iconic water tower that bears his family name in Novi. “Maybe it was abrupt, but that’s me. I didn’t want anyone to get hurt.”
Soon after buying the 50,000-watt radio station from Radio Disney in January 2015, Adell launched the talk show format and pitched it to a Black audience. He blanketed the region with billboards promoting 910AM, which he dubbed, “Detroit’s only urban talk station.”
The station featured a revolving door of controversial hosts, including former Detroit Councilwoman Monica Conyers, who was sentenced to 37 months in prison for bribery; Christine Beatty, former Mayor Kwame Kilpatrick’s one-time mistress; former Wayne County Circuit Judge Wade McCree, who was removed from the bench following allegations of misconduct, including having sex in his chambers; Todd Courser, a former state representative who left office after a sex scandal with a colleague; and journalist Jack Lessenberry, who was accused of sexually harassing students at Wayne State University. It also featured conservative voices, including Detroit News editorial page editor Nolan Finley.
But Adell didn’t pay most of his hosts, making it difficult to attract experienced commentators and retain consistent voices.
When he pulled the plug, the station was only getting 2,100 listeners a month.
While researching what to do next, Adell played ESPN Radio and says the number of monthly listeners jumped to 6,700.
“I tripled my numbers with no promotions or billboard or nothing,” he says.
Less than a month after playing ESPN Radio, Adell switched to an exclusively right-wing lineup that includes conservatives like Glenn Beck, Sean Hannity, Jesse Kelly, Bill O’Reilly, and Clay Travis and Buck Sexton.
With America deeply divided over politics, Adell says the switch was a no-brainer. The timing was perfect, he says, because WJR-AM 760, owned by Atlanta-based Cumulus Media, had recently dropped many of its syndicated conservative hosts.
“If WJR didn’t change their programing, I wouldn’t have been able to do this,” Adell says. “They made a bad business decision.”
Personally, Adell says he doesn’t care for politics. It bores him.
“I don’t even vote. The last time I voted was during [Bill] Clinton. I thought Clinton was cool,” he says with a chuckle. “I’m lazy. I don’t want to vote. I don’t talk about politics. I am filling in for a need that people have. I’m going to take it right to the edge. I’m used to controversy.”
To advertise the format change, Adell bought 32 billboards and is running seven spots on Fox News. Social media ads began Monday.
“I am going after a certain audience,” Adell says. “If you are conservative or Republican, I’m the only game in town. I am going to be bringing people over in truckloads.”
Next, Adell says he plans to buy an FM translator so he can take his station to the more popular dial. He says he sent notices of intent to buy translators from Beasley Media and Salem Media.
“I will have an AM and FM together at some point,” Adell says. “I would sit 910 on the FM. You want to get it as big as possible. To get younger listeners, I’ll get the FM. It will be a big powerhouse.”
If all goes as planned, Adell says he’ll sell the AM and FM stations to iHeartRadio, which owns more than 860 radio stations nationwide.
“When I take it as far as I can take it, I’m going to sell it to iHeartRadio,” he says.
Adell says he’s successful because he’s not in love with what he does.
“I’m good at it because I don’t care,” he says. “If you love your business, you are going to be in a sleeping bag. My advice is to do something you hate. That’s why I’m good at it. I’m just giving people what they want. I’m just filling a void.”
Adell knows people are angry with him for dropping Black talk radio from his station, but he insists he’s not to blame.
“I didn’t kill 910, the African Americans not supporting it, killed it,” Adell says. “I didn’t silence the African American community. They silenced it themselves.”
No matter what he does, Adell says, he will have critics.
“I could have a lemonade stand, and everyone would say ‘you’re racist or you have it on the wrong side of the street,’” Adell says. “I’m a lighting rod. I’m mercurial. I’m wired differently than everyone else.”
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