 | |
| |
|---|---|
| Broadcast area | Metro Detroit -Flint -The Thumb |
| Frequency | 910kHz (HD Radio) |
| Branding | 910 AM Superstation |
| Programming | |
| Format | Conservative Talk Radio |
| Network | ABC Radio News |
| Affiliations | Premiere Networks Red Apple Media |
| Ownership | |
| Owner |
|
| WADL | |
| History | |
First air date | July 8, 1922; 103 years ago (1922-07-08) |
Former call signs | WEAA (1922–1925) |
Call sign meaning | Frank D. Fallain (original owner) |
| Technical information[1] | |
Licensing authority | FCC |
| Facility ID | 13664 |
| Class | B |
| Power |
|
Transmitter coordinates | 42°03′57″N83°23′39″W / 42.06583°N 83.39417°W /42.06583; -83.39417 |
| Repeater | 104.3-2WOMC-HD2 (Detroit) |
| Links | |
Public license information | |
| Webcast | Listen Live |
| Website | 910amsuperstation |
WFDF (910AM, "910 AM Superstation") is acommercialAMradio stationlicensed toFarmington Hills, Michigan, and servingMetro Detroit. The station is owned and operated by Kevin Adell (via his company Adell Radio Group), who also owns the market'sMyNetworkTV affiliateWADL and religious broadcasterThe Word Network. It airs aconservative talk radioformat withstudios and offices on West Ten Mile Road inSouthfield, Michigan.
WFDF is aClass B station broadcasting on a regional (notclear-channel) frequency. By day, WFDF transmits with 50,000watts, the maximum for AM stations in the United States. To avoid interference to other stations on910 AM, it reduces power at night to 25,000 watts. It uses adirectional antenna with an eight-tower array. Thetransmitter site is on Maxwell Road inCarleton, Michigan.[2] WFDF transmits inHD and is also simulcast on the seconddigital subchannel ofWOMC.
Most of WFDF's schedule isnationally syndicated talk programs. Weekdays begin withThe Michael DelGiorno Show. That's followed byThe Glenn Beck Radio Program,The Clay Travis and Buck Sexton Show,The Sean Hannity Show,Common Sense with Bill O'Reilly,The Jesse Kelly Show andOur American Stories with Lee Habeeb.
On weekends, WFDF has specialty shows on money, technology, home repair and religion. Syndicated weekend programs includeAt Home with Gary Sullivan,Rich DeMuro on Tech,The Weekend with Michael Brown,The Todd Herman Show,The Ben Ferguson Show,The Cat's Roundtable with John Catsimatidis,The Jesus Christ Show with Neil Saavedra andThe Larry Kudlow Show. Most hours begin with an update fromABC News Radio.
The station is one of the oldest in Michigan, first licensed on May 25, 1922. Its originalcall sign was WEAA and it was located inFlint. It made its first broadcast on July 3, 1922; 103 years ago (1922-07-03).[3] The call letters were changed to WFDF in 1925, in honor of the founder of the station, Frank D. Fallain (1890–1968).[4]
For many years[when?] the station featured afull service,middle of the road format of popular adult music, news and sports, targeting Flint. It experimented with aTop 40 hits format (using the nickname "Giant 91") for a time in the early 1970s, but the station shifted its music mix back towardadult contemporary by 1975.[4] In the 1980s, as listeners moved to FM to hear contemporary music, WFDF became anadult standards station aimed at olderdemographics.
The music ended and the station flipped totalk radio in 1993. In 2001, the station was acquired byCumulus Broadcasting.[5][citation needed]
In 2002, Cumulus sold the station toABC Radio, asubsidiary ofThe Walt Disney Corporation. On August 15, at 3:49 pm, the station began featuringchildren's radio programming fromRadio Disney. In 2003, Disney began preparations to move WFDF to the more lucrative Detroitradio market. It announced plans for a new eight-tower array inMonroe County, south of Detroit.[6] Originally, Disney applied to use the new site only for daytime operation with Flint in the northwest corner of the proposed daytime coverage area. It would continue using the existing transmitter site inBurton, east of Flint, during nighttime hours. (Providing an interference-free nighttime signal to Flint from the Monroe County site, without exceeding the 50,000 watt maximum power limit, would have been practically impossible.) Shortly after WFDF started broadcasting with this two-site operation, Disney applied to change WFDF's city of license to Farmington Hills, a Detroit suburb, with 50,000 watts of daytime power and 25,000 watts at night, both from the Monroe County site.
For this change to take place, two radio stations operating atAM 900 that would have interfered with a relocated WFDF had to be deleted. Disney purchased the AM license ofWFRO inFremont, Ohio, whileits FM sister station was spun off to a new owner. InGaylord, Michigan, WSNQ wentsilent shortly after its FM station,WMJZ, was spun off to a new owner. With the two AM 900 stations now silenced, this paved the way for WFDF to substantially increase its power and move into the more profitable Detroit radio market.
The new array still covers Flint with a city-grade signal during daytime hours. The FCC granted a license for the new facilities in January 2006.[7] The city of license changed in February 2006. The former towers in Burton were taken down and dismantled in April 2006.
The station's office is located inSouthfield, moving away fromGenesee County in the spring of 2006.
On August 13, 2014, Disney put WFDF and 22 other Radio Disney stations up for sale, to focus on digital distribution of the network.[8][9]
On November 18, theRadio Disney Group (the Disney subsidiary that held the license of the station) filed to sell WFDF to Adell Radio Group, Inc., an affiliate ofThe Word Network, owned by Kevin Adell. Adell also owns TV stationWADL channel 38.[10][11]
On January 20, 2015, The Word Network closed on the purchase of 910 AM at a price of $3 million. It changed the programming to itsChristian talk and teaching format.[10] The changeover took place with no prior announcement at 5 p.m. on January 20.[12]
On November 9, 2015, Adell re-launched WFDF as "the Superstation", with anAfrican American talk radio format.[13] The station later carriedESPN Radio sports programming in the overnight hours.[14]
On August 11, 2023, Adell suddenly announced that the station would rebrand to an "all-sports format" with a local morning show host to be named,[15] though several media outlets speculated that Adell's financial issues (including the attempted sale ofWADL toMission Broadcasting) was a part of him selling off assets during a personal financial crisis.[16][17][18][19] At this time, the station began to carry Fox Sports Radio full-time.[14]
After a few weeks, plans changed. On September 1, 2023, Adell Media announced that WFDF would end its brief run at sports and would flip to aconservative talk format on September 5. It would feature a local morning show hosted by Justin Barclay (formerly ofWOOD inGrand Rapids). The station would also carry most of the standardPremiere Networks syndicated talk schedule, includingGlenn Beck,Clay Travis and Buck Sexton andJesse Kelly, along with several other syndicated programs.[14]The Sean Hannity Show would move fromSalem Communications-owned talk station 1400WDTK to WFDF.
The format change placed WFDF in direct competition with conservative talk rival WDTK.[20] WFDF has an advantage over WDTK in terms of signal coverage area.[21][22] WFDF has a 50,000-watt daytime signal and 25,000 watts at night. It reaches from Monroe through Genesee counties, covering nearly the entire Southeast Michigan radio market and into the city of Flint. Meanwhile, WDTK, with its 1,000 watt signal[23] and its 99-watt FM translator, have coverage that is limited to the densely populated areas of Northern Wayne, and southern Oakland and Macomb Counties.
WFDF formerly had a thirty-person staff. In the fall of 2017, the station hired reporters Andre Ash,Detroit News editorial page editor Nolan Finley,[24] and Steve Neavling, editor and publisher of the investigative news site MotorCityMuckraker.com.[25]
On October 5, 2016, morning show host Ralph Godbee quit in the middle of his show because of a content dispute over programming conflicts the two had regarding the Word Network.[26]
