Sensei Aishitemasu | Hidden Figures: Catherine Liggins Hughes #BlackHERstoryMonth 9/28 @SenseiAishitemasu | Uploaded February 2021 | Updated October 2024, 2 hours ago.
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Catherine Liggins Hughes (born April 22, 1947) is an American entrepreneur, radio and television personality and business executive. Hughes founded the media company Radio One (now known as Urban One), and when the company went public in 1999, she became the first Black American woman to head a publicly traded corporation. Urban One is the largest Black American-owned broadcasting company in the United States. In the 1970s, Hughes also created the urban radio format called "The Quiet Storm" on Howard University's radio station WHUR, which revolutionized urban radio.
Cathy Hughes was born in Omaha, Nebraska in 1947, and developed a love of music at a very young age when her mother gave her a transistor radio for her 8th birthday. At 16, she got pregnant, and said the birth of her son became her “impetus to achieve.” She got a job working at iconic Black American newspaper the Omaha Star in the mid-1960s, which shaped her philosophy on the responsibility of Black-owned media to give a voice to the Black community.
In 1969, she began her radio career at KOWH, a radio station in Omaha owned by Black American professionals. She also became executive director in Omaha for Project Equality, which encouraged companies to practice non-discrimination in hiring. Hughes left Nebraska for Washington, D.C. after she was offered a job as an administrative assistant at the School of Communications at Howard University. In 1973, she became General Sales Manager of the university's radio station, WHUR-FM, increasing station revenue from $250,000 to over $3.5 million in her first year. In 1975, Hughes became the first woman vice president and general manager of WHUR, and created the easy listening format known as the "Quiet Storm," which revolutionized urban radio and was aired on over 480 stations nationwide.
In 1979, Hughes set out to purchase her own radio station. Successfully finding a lender after being denied thirty-two times by banks, she founded Radio One in 1980, buying AM radio station WOL 1450 in Washington, D.C. Financially destitute after the purchase, Hughes and her son moved into the radio station building, where they lived until the station began to turn a profit. Hughes revamped WOL, which was an R&B station, to a 24-hour talk radio format with the theme "Information is Power." Aimed at empowering Black American audiences in DC, Hughes served as the station's ‘Morning Show’ host for 11 years. In 1982, she pivoted the format again, keeping talk radio in the morning and reintroducing music throughout the day.
Radio One went on to own 70 radio stations in nine major markets in the U.S. In 1999, Radio One was listed under the NASDAQ stock exchange, making a Hughes the first Black American woman to head a publicly traded company. In January 2004, Radio One launched TV One: a television network which bills itself as the "lifestyle and entertainment network for Black American adults,” and has a current viewership of over 57 million households. In 2018, Radio One was rebranded as Urban One. Urban One is the largest Black American-owned broadcasting company in the United States, operating 55 radio stations and the cable network TV One. Hughes has a current net worth of $460 million.
#HiddenFigures #CatherineLigginsHughes
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Did you know I wrote a book? ☺️ 'So, About That... A Year of Contemporary Essays on Race and Pop Culture'
Paperback: amazon.com/About-That-Contemporary-Essays-Culture-ebook/dp/B013V0CHK6
Kindle: amazon.com/dp/B013V0CHK6
Digital download (e-book): gumroad.com/l/IkUa
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Links:
cathyhughes.com/about
Cathy Hughes honored at a street-naming ceremony on D.C.’s H Street:
rollingout.com/2015/10/02/cathy-hughes-honored-street-naming-ceremony-d-c-s-h-street/#1
Cathy Hughes' Biography:
thehistorymakers.org/biography/cathy-hughes-39
Howard University to Announce Cathy Hughes School Of Communications:
thehilltoponline.com/2016/10/05/howard-university-to-announce-cathy-hughes-school-of-communications
So What Do You Do, Cathy Hughes, Founder of TV One and Radio One?
mediabistro.com/interviews/so-what-do-you-do-cathy-hughes-founder-of-tv-one-and-radio-one
Media Mogul Cathy Hughes Knows What It's Like to Suffer From Hunger:
womansday.com/life/real-women/a51508/media-mogul-cathy-hughes-knows-what-its-like-to-suffer-from-hunger
If you enjoy my work, please consider supporting! CashApp: $SerenSensei Patreon: patreon.com/seren_sensei
Catherine Liggins Hughes (born April 22, 1947) is an American entrepreneur, radio and television personality and business executive. Hughes founded the media company Radio One (now known as Urban One), and when the company went public in 1999, she became the first Black American woman to head a publicly traded corporation. Urban One is the largest Black American-owned broadcasting company in the United States. In the 1970s, Hughes also created the urban radio format called "The Quiet Storm" on Howard University's radio station WHUR, which revolutionized urban radio.
Cathy Hughes was born in Omaha, Nebraska in 1947, and developed a love of music at a very young age when her mother gave her a transistor radio for her 8th birthday. At 16, she got pregnant, and said the birth of her son became her “impetus to achieve.” She got a job working at iconic Black American newspaper the Omaha Star in the mid-1960s, which shaped her philosophy on the responsibility of Black-owned media to give a voice to the Black community.
In 1969, she began her radio career at KOWH, a radio station in Omaha owned by Black American professionals. She also became executive director in Omaha for Project Equality, which encouraged companies to practice non-discrimination in hiring. Hughes left Nebraska for Washington, D.C. after she was offered a job as an administrative assistant at the School of Communications at Howard University. In 1973, she became General Sales Manager of the university's radio station, WHUR-FM, increasing station revenue from $250,000 to over $3.5 million in her first year. In 1975, Hughes became the first woman vice president and general manager of WHUR, and created the easy listening format known as the "Quiet Storm," which revolutionized urban radio and was aired on over 480 stations nationwide.
In 1979, Hughes set out to purchase her own radio station. Successfully finding a lender after being denied thirty-two times by banks, she founded Radio One in 1980, buying AM radio station WOL 1450 in Washington, D.C. Financially destitute after the purchase, Hughes and her son moved into the radio station building, where they lived until the station began to turn a profit. Hughes revamped WOL, which was an R&B station, to a 24-hour talk radio format with the theme "Information is Power." Aimed at empowering Black American audiences in DC, Hughes served as the station's ‘Morning Show’ host for 11 years. In 1982, she pivoted the format again, keeping talk radio in the morning and reintroducing music throughout the day.
Radio One went on to own 70 radio stations in nine major markets in the U.S. In 1999, Radio One was listed under the NASDAQ stock exchange, making a Hughes the first Black American woman to head a publicly traded company. In January 2004, Radio One launched TV One: a television network which bills itself as the "lifestyle and entertainment network for Black American adults,” and has a current viewership of over 57 million households. In 2018, Radio One was rebranded as Urban One. Urban One is the largest Black American-owned broadcasting company in the United States, operating 55 radio stations and the cable network TV One. Hughes has a current net worth of $460 million.
#HiddenFigures #CatherineLigginsHughes
******************
Merchandise! MAKE SURE U GETTA SHIRT!! teepublic.com/user/sssseren
shophouseof950.com/embroidery-tees/theblackamericans
shophouseof950.com/embroidery-tees/dacs?rq=d.a.c.s
Follow me on social media!
Instagram: @sensei_aishitemasu
Personal Tumblr: sensei-aishitemasu.tumblr.com
Tumblr for my work: sssseren.tumblr.com
GoFundMe: gofundme.com/tc5wh7q
******************
Did you know I wrote a book? ☺️ 'So, About That... A Year of Contemporary Essays on Race and Pop Culture'
Paperback: amazon.com/About-That-Contemporary-Essays-Culture-ebook/dp/B013V0CHK6
Kindle: amazon.com/dp/B013V0CHK6
Digital download (e-book): gumroad.com/l/IkUa
******************
Links:
cathyhughes.com/about
Cathy Hughes honored at a street-naming ceremony on D.C.’s H Street:
rollingout.com/2015/10/02/cathy-hughes-honored-street-naming-ceremony-d-c-s-h-street/#1
Cathy Hughes' Biography:
thehistorymakers.org/biography/cathy-hughes-39
Howard University to Announce Cathy Hughes School Of Communications:
thehilltoponline.com/2016/10/05/howard-university-to-announce-cathy-hughes-school-of-communications
So What Do You Do, Cathy Hughes, Founder of TV One and Radio One?
mediabistro.com/interviews/so-what-do-you-do-cathy-hughes-founder-of-tv-one-and-radio-one
Media Mogul Cathy Hughes Knows What It's Like to Suffer From Hunger:
womansday.com/life/real-women/a51508/media-mogul-cathy-hughes-knows-what-its-like-to-suffer-from-hunger
