Metro Detroit media mogul sells WADL-TV as feds pursue him for unpaid estate, gift taxes

Violet Ikonomova, Detroit Free Press
Updated ·2 min read
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Controversial metro Detroit broadcast CEO Kevin Adell has sold his WADL-TV to a Texas-based media group.

Mission Broadcasting Inc. purchased the Adell Broadcasting Co. station for $75 million, according to a Saturday news release and spokesman for Adell. Launched in 1989, WADL-TV, based in Clinton Township, reached 2 million households, the release said, with shows including "Law & Order: SVU," "Dateline" and "Family Guy."

"I started this journey 34 years ago at my parents’ kitchen table, where I mortgaged their home in order to build what would later become WADL-TV," Adell, who also owns 910AM Superstation and the Word Network, said in a statement. "I could not have selected a better successor of my legacy than Mission Broadcasting.”

Adell Broadcasting Co. station WADL-TV, based in Clinton Township, was sold to Texas-based Mission Broadcasting Inc. for $75 million.
Adell Broadcasting Co. station WADL-TV, based in Clinton Township, was sold to Texas-based Mission Broadcasting Inc. for $75 million.

The Wichita Falls company owns more than two dozen television stations in small- to medium-size U.S. markets including Lansing ABC affiliate WLAJ, its website says. Metro Detroit will be the second-largest market in which it has a station.

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“The purchase of WADL represents a rare opportunity to acquire a full-power station in a top-15 market,” Mission Broadcasting President Dennis Thatcher said in the release. “We are very excited about playing a role in the continued renaissance of this great American city.”

The sale, which is subject to regulatory and other approvals, comes as the federal government pursues Adell for nearly $18 million in allegedly unpaid estate and gift taxes on his inheritance. Last month, it sought a court order to sell his $3.7 million Bloomfield Hills mansion. The local media mogul at the time told the Free Press that he expects to prevail.

Adell does not plan to give up his other properties, a religious television network with global reach and a local African American talk radio station. Through a spokesman, Adell told the Free Press that The Word Network and 910AM Superstation are “absolutely not for sale.”

This article originally appeared on Detroit Free Press: Media mogul sells WADL-TV to Texas-based group