[Congressional Record Volume 166, Number 212 (Tuesday, December 15, 2020)]
[Senate]
[Page S7500]
From the Congressional Record Online through the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]




                        TRIBUTE TO CATHY HUGHES

 Mr. VAN HOLLEN. Mr. President, I rise today to honor a 
tenacious entrepreneur, visionary radio personality, and powerful 
advocate for the African-American community, Cathy Hughes. This year, 
her pioneering radio company, Urban One, celebrated 40 years on the 
air. Cathy Hughes has left an indelible mark on the State of Maryland 
and inspired millions of listeners across the country.
  This titan of the airwaves began her extraordinary career in Omaha, 
NE, where she worked for a local radio station, KOWH. But it was when 
she moved to Washington, DC, in 1971 to pursue a job at the Howard 
University School of Communications that her career took off. While 
working at Howard, she got involved in the university's radio program 
as a station manager. In her first year on the job, she increased the 
station's revenue twelvefold.
  Cathy Hughes has always aimed high, and when she learned that the 
local DC radio station WOL was up for sale, she seized the opportunity. 
After being denied a loan 32 times, she finally received the bank 
financing she needed. So she purchased WOL, founded her own media 
company, Radio One, and quickly soared to new heights. Cathy Hughes 
revolutionized radio by rebuilding WOL from the ground up, literally, 
and brought on grassroots volunteers from the neighborhood to develop 
her station's headquarters on H Street and 4th Northeast, just a short 
walk from the U.S. Capitol. Her innovative broadcasts captured the 
attention of the African-American community and attracted a wide 
audience of devoted listeners.
  Although she got her start in Washington, DC, Cathy Hughes has become 
a champion for Maryland. When her company first expanded out of 
Washington, its first stop was Baltimore. And her flagship venture, 
which was renamed Urban One in 2017, is now headquartered in Silver 
Spring. She has cultivated strong roots in Anne Arundel County and has 
been living in Pasadena for 20 years. Today, Urban One's broadcasts 
reach households across Maryland and provide a platform for honest 
conversation on the issues that matter to our State. Cathy Hughes has 
given back time and time again to the communities that raised her up by 
hiring locally and employing countless Marylanders. That tradition of 
uplifting others has remained a hallmark of her career. Her company, 
which now houses two new multimedia ventures, CLEO TV and TV One, both 
stationed in Maryland, has created 1,500 jobs.
  In the 40 years since purchasing WOL, Cathy Hughes has never stopped 
overcoming barriers. In 1999, she became the first African-American 
woman to chair the board of a publicly held corporation. She headed the 
first African-American-run company to succeed in multiple radio markets 
simultaneously. Cathy Hughes made history again as the first woman to 
own a radio station ranked No. 1. Her trailblazing multimedia 
enterprise now reaches 82 percent of the African-American community and 
has cultivated a devoted weekly following of 15 million listeners.
  Speaking of Cathy Hughes' inspiring career, Reverend Al Sharpton 
said, ``She took the `mute' button off of Black America.'' Her legacy 
has been defined by a commitment to speaking up for those who have long 
been silent in the radio arena. While she has already lived a storied 
life and achieved enormous success, Cathy Hughes hasn't slowed down. 
Her recent efforts to highlight local Black businesses struggling to 
weather the storm of this pandemic speaks to the depth of her lifelong 
passion for shining the spotlight on others. While her name has already 
been inscribed on the aptly renamed Cathy Hughes School for 
Communications at Howard University where she once worked, her story is 
still being written.

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