Earlier this month, 910 WFDF-AM — billed as the Superstation — made sweeping programming changes to its previous urban/talk format. The station has since featured the national ESPN Radio feed, but that was never the long-term plan. Today, owner Kevin Adell is announcing first through Barrett News Media that a conservative talk format is coming to the 50,000-watt station.
The station’s new programming lineup will consist of a majority of the Premiere Networks conservative talk radio offerings. Fox News Rundown will get the day started at 5:00 AM. Justin Barclay will host a local morning show from 6:00-9:00 AM. Barclay currently hosts West Michigan Live for WOOD Radio in Grand Rapids. More can be learned by visiting the radio station’s new website here.
Following Barclay’s show will be:
9:00 AM-12:00 PM: The Glenn Beck Program
12:00-3:00 PM: The Clay Travis & Buck Sexton Show
3:00-6:00 PM: The Sean Hannity Show
6:00-9:00 PM: The Jesse Kelly Show
9:00-10:00 PM: Bill O’Reilly
10:00 PM:-1:00 AM: Our American Stories with Lee Habeeb
1:00-5:00 AM: The Other Side of Midnight with Frank Morano
Adell Media owner Kevin Adell told Barrett News Media the timing was right to make a move to conservative talk after 760 WJR made major changes to its lineup in June.
“June 22nd, WJR switched their format to an all-local format, getting rid of all the national shows and dropping ABC News at the top and bottom of the hour. So June 23rd, I came up with the ‘Aha!’ moment where I realized, as a broadcaster, you look to see what’s available in the market,” said Adell. “You take a look to see what’s available in the market and I saw a huge star-studded lineup. And it was available and no one was taking it. And so I reached out to everybody from Peter Tripi from Premiere, and by July 4th, it was all said and done. I had a skeleton program schedule with Premiere and Red Apple Media.”
As the race for the Republican Presidential nomination heats up, Adell added it’s the perfect time to join the conservative radio fray.
“The country has never been divided as much as it is now. And you know, I’m going to be right in the mix, bringing conservative talk radio to a top 10 market like Detroit. Michigan’s a swing state. And so, it played a lot into looking at ‘Is it the right time?’ In broadcasting, it’s always about timing.”
With a lineup that now features Glenn Beck, Clay Travis and Buck Sexton, and Sean Hannity in crucial dayparts, Kevin Adell sees a bright future for the Superstation.
“I look to eventually be a top 10 station in the market. These are national people that have a greater local audience. There’s 5 million in my DMA and so I look to be eventually a top 10 (station). I’ll probably start off at top 20, top 17, and then eventually a top 10. It’s the first time that WJR has had some real competition. They bill themselves as a sort of a talk radio station, and this is the first time since WXYT years ago that they’re going to have real competition.”
In the latest publicly available Nielsen ratings, Audacy all-news WWJ finished 10th with a 3.9 share, while WJR finished 17th with a 2.1 share in the 6+ demographic.
The changes at 910 AM Detroit’s News Talk Superstation take effect on Tuesday, September 5th.
