metro »

Media Mogul

WADL-TV owner Kevin Adell buys radio station, plans for mega water park.

Jackie Headapohl | Managing Editor

A

s media moguls go, Oakland
County resident Kevin Adell, 49,
keeps a pretty low profile, although
you might bump into him at a classic car
show or the annual Concours D’Elegance
(a collector, Adell has about 80 vehicles,
including the original Batmobile). Press
shy, Adell rarely grants interviews, but he
reached out to the Jewish News to share
what’s new with his business and his excit-
ing plans for the future.
His father and uncles owned an auto
company that supplied door guards to the
Big Three. Always a gearhead, Adell’s initial
career plans were to own a car dealership. “I
never planned on getting into broadcasting,”
he says.
In 1978, Adell’s parents applied for a
license for WADL. A decade later, in 1988,
they received it. Kevin got a call from his
dad. “I’ll buy you a Corvette if you come
and build the station,” he told him.
It was a tempting offer. Adell came home.
He was 21. “We borrowed $3 million to
build WADL that first year,” he says. “It took
120 days to build. The Home Shopping Club
was our first client,”
The station grew. WADL, local chan-
nel 38, went from mainly electronic retail
shows in its early days to a mainstream
broadcast channel that includes shows like:
Seinfeld, Law & Order, House of Payne,
Raising Hope and also weekly movies from
MGM, Sony and Paramount. But Adell
wanted more.
“People within 200 miles of our tower
could get our signal, but with cable, your
audience is the world,” he says. He tried six
times to build a network: a car channel, a
military channel, a Kmart Home Shopping
channel … nothing worked, he says.
“Religious programming was my last try.”
At age 32, Adell built the Word Network.
He bought a building on the grounds of
Channel 7, put an uplink in the ground and
then put together programming, including
shows from well-known figures like Jesse
Jackson and Al Sharpton.
Adell, who had his bar mitzvah at
Congregation Shaarey Zedek, can read
Hebrew and speaks Yiddish at home,
built his network into the largest African-
American religious network in the world,
reaching 3 billion people worldwide. It is
streamed live around the world and has
apps on all platforms. It is also available
in hotels and airlines serving the United
States. “We’re like the ESPN of religion,” he

10 April 21 • 2016

Bankole Thompson

Kevin Adell at the site of the future Water Factory in Novi

says. “We program in several languages and
broadcast to the four corners of the Earth.”

TAKING TO THE AIRWAVES
As a child, Adell was a HAM radio operator
and taught himself Morse code at age 13. “I
always wanted a radio station,” he says, “but
it wasn’t easy to get one.”
Years ago, he tried to buy 1270 AM, but
CBS ended up getting it. He gave up on the
idea until recently, when an opportunity
came his way last fall to buy from Radio
Disney, AM 910, a 100-year-old, 50,000-
watt station that specialized in children’s
programming. “The station had good bones
and broadcasts from Toledo to Mackinac. I
decided to buy it,” he says.
“I chose to switch it to an African
American talk radio format. There was no
competition, really. I got some movers and
shakers, and it took about eight weeks to
build it up to where it is now,” he adds.
One of those movers and shakers is
Detroit News columnist Bankole Thompson.
Adell approached Thomspon, who was
broadcasting his show Redline on WDET,
and asked him to join.

On the set at 910 AM

“I looked at the audience demographic
and the scope and decided it was something
to seriously consider,” Thompson says.
“Given this election year — when people
need more engaging and insightful dialogue
— Redline is strongly positioned to be that
medium on 910 AM.” Redline now airs each
Friday on 910 AM Superstation from noon-
2 p.m.
Other voices on 910 AM have been
Christine Beattie, Bob Ficano, Vonda Evans
and L. Brooks Patterson. “This is what talk
radio should be,” Adell says, “aggressive,
controversial and engaging. We get 75 calls
every half-hour. The station airs talk from
5 a.m.-midnight. Music is aired from mid-
night to 5 a.m.”

WHAT’S NEXT:
THE WATER FACTORY
Adell owns 25 acres at Grand River and
Novi roads in Novi, where his dad and
uncles used to run their manufacturing
plant. The property includes a water tower
that displays his name. Soon, it will become
a three-story, indoor-outdoor waterpark
and hotel called the Water Factory.

“The mayor, city manager and city coun-
cil are all behind the project, which is in
the beginning phase right now,” Adell says.
“Because the property once housed a fac-
tory, we’re going to keep that theme. We will
have exposed ductwork, a concrete floor
and a glass facade that will be visible from
the freeway.”
Adell is working on the financing for the
project, including putting together a Real
Estate Investment Trust. He is working with
the city on bonds for the necessary infra-
structure. “The water tower can produce
200,000 gallons a minute, so we’re all set
with that,” he quips.
Once completed, Adell envisions the
Water Factory becoming a destination
resort for people living in the tri-county
area. “There won’t be a need to drive Up
North or to Toledo to take your kids to a
world-class waterpark,” he adds.
Adell, who is married to former TV
news reporter Joelle Lukasiewicz, and has a
daughter, Savonna, says he feels privileged
to own his properties and provide program-
ming worldwide. “It’s an honor, and I never
take it for granted,” he says.

*