Catherine L. Hughes is the founder and chairperson of Radio One, the largest African American owned and operated broadcast company in the nation. Born in Omaha, Nebraska in 1947, Catherine Hughes attended Creighton University and University of Nebraska. Around 1969 she began working at KOWH, a black radio station in Omaha. In 1971, Hughes moved to Washington, DC and became a lecturer at the newly established School of Communications at Howard University. In 1973 she became sales director at WHUR-FM.

Two years later she became the stations general manager, boosting sales revenue to $3.5 million from $300,000. In 1975, Hughes became the first female vice president and general manager of a station in the nation's capital and created the format known as the "Quiet Storm" the most listened to nighttime radio format, heard in over 50 markets nationally. In 1980 she purchased her first radio station, WOL-AM (DC), creating Radio One.

Source: http://www.radio-one.com/about/teamBio.asp?ID=2