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Cathy Hughes 1

Cathy Hughes: Black Female Business Executive

Clarence Alford

Organizational Leadership 310

Mercer University

Professor Johnson

July 3, 2010

Cathy Hughes 2

Cathy Hughes: Black Female Business Executive

Cathy Hughes was born Catherine Elizabeth Hughes on April 22, 1947 in Omaha,

Nebraska. Cathy Hughes father was an accountant and her mother was a musician. Cathy

Hughes has three younger siblings. Cathy Hughes became pregnant at 16 and married her sons

father before the baby was born. Cathy Hughes has been married and divorced twice resulting

in one child a son from her first marriage. Cathy Hughes was the first African American to attend

an area Catholic girls school in Omaha. Cathy Hughes also attended Creighton University and

University of Nebraska at Omaha but did not graduate.

In 1969 according Infoplease.com Cathy Hughes starting working at KOWH a black

radio station in Omaha where she became well known enough for Howard University to offer her

a job as a lecturer. In 1973 Cathy Hughes became sales director at WHUR- FM and in two short

years under her leadership sales revenues jumped from $300, 000 to 3 million dollars. In 1979

Cathy Hughes and her then husband Dewey purchased a small Washington radio station WOL

creating Radio One. Cathy Hughes marriage ended and she bought out her husband shares to

gain controlling interest. In January 2004 Cathy Hughes used her company to start a new cable

channel called TV One aimed at black audiences. This venture made Cathy Hughes the first

African American woman to head a firm publicly traded on a stock exchange in the United States

(Hudson, K 2007).

Cathy Hughes is currently owner and Chief Executive Office of Radio One Incorporated

which makes her the boss of the largest African American owned broadcasting company in the

United States. According to Answers.com Radio One earned more than 50 million dollars in

1997 which ranked it has the twenty...