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“If I can help a few thousand people, then I know that my work has not been in vain.”

Cathy Hughes, 1985

The Radio one legacy begins with the flagship station WOL. In those days what we now know as Radio One was “Almic Broadcasting”; named after the sons of Catherine L Hughes and Dewey Hughes.

When WOL was acquired Cathy Hughes instantly created a News Talk portal for African Americans; the first of it’s kind. Although investors tried to talk her out of it, she pressed on. Not realizing how expensive it was to run a News Talk station WOL struggled for the first 5 years. Eventually having to go it alone, Hughes made WOL a profitable station by 1986.

In 1987 WMMJ was acquired, Radio One’s first FM station and the first FM station on the east coast to adopt an Urban Adult Contemporary format.