Detroit's 910 AM radio station announces new conservative talk format
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Nearly three weeks after abruptly showing the door to its on-air hosts, 910 AM in Detroit is switching to a conservative talk format.
Starting Tuesday, the radio station will be airing syndicated shows by current Fox News host Sean Hannity and former personalities at the cable news network Glenn Beck and Bill O'Reilly, among others, the station announced Friday.
Another new name in the lineup, Justin Barclay, hosts West Michigan Live on WOOD-AM in Grand Rapids.
The station will have breaking news from ABC Radio and weather and traffic updates from Total Traffic & Weather Network.
It's another dizzying change for WFDF-AM, which went to all-sports syndicated programming on Aug. 14. Prior to that, the station had targeted Black listeners across metro Detroit with what was described as an urban talk format. It earned low ratings and was not included in a July 2023 ranking of Detroit's top 30 radio sources by Nielsen.
After being purchased by Kevin Adell in 2015, 910 AM Superstation, as it calls itself, drew attention for bringing in local hosts who'd been tied to various scandals and were not paid by the station.
“If I just took a normal person and put them on the air, it would be boring. We’re the go-to station for controversy. And there’s no shortage of scandals,” Adell said in 2016.
More: Detroit's 910 AM Superstation abruptly changes formats, lets hosts go via email
In Friday's announcement from the station, Adell pitched the new format as "an alternative to WJR, with a genuinely conservative point of view."
WJR-AM (760) airs syndicated conservative talk shows, including those by Mark Levin and Matt Walsh, but also has locally themed programming led by longtime WJR morning personality Paul W. Smith, former WXYZ-TV and WDIV-TV anchor Guy Gordon and Detroit Free Press columnist Mitch Albom.
Detroit also has WDTK-AM (1400), a conservative talk station called "The Patriot."
Last month, Free Press contributing columnist Darren A. Nichols wrote that the end of the Detroit-themed programming on 910 AM left a void in the city because it was "the only radio station where people in the largest Black populated city in America could get some community news."
In his public statement, Adell said: "As the 2024 presidential election race heats up, 910 AM will be well positioned to provide all the important news and updates our community needs to stay informed on the latest hot topics and issues.”
In May, the Free Press reported that Adell had sold his local TV station, WADL-TV, to Mission Broadcasting Inc., a Texas-based media group, for $75 million.
Adell also owns the Word Network, a cable TV station with a religious theme. He told the Free Press through a spokesperson in May that the Word Network and 910 AM Superstation were “absolutely not for sale.”
The federal government alleges that Adell owes property taxes to Oakland County and $17.8 million in estate and gift taxes from his inheritance of his late father’s estate. In a civil action filed in April, the federal government also sought a court order to sell Adell’s $3.7 million Bloomfield Hills house. Adell has disputed the charges.
The new 910 AM schedule will be:
5-6 a.m., Fox News Rundown
6-9 a.m., Justin Barclay
9 a.m.-noon, The Glenn Beck Program
Noon-3 p.m., The Clay Travis & Buck Sexton Show
3-6 p.m., The Sean Hannity Show
6-9 p.m., The Jesse Kelly Show
9-10 p.m., Bill O’Reilly
10 p.m.-1 a.m., Our American Stories
1-5 a.m., The Other Side of Midnight with Frank Morano
Contact Detroit Free Press pop culture critic Julie Hinds at jhinds@freepress.com.
This article originally appeared on Detroit Free Press: Detroit's 910 AM switching from local hosts to conservative talk
