{"id":1201723,"date":"2024-02-28T08:00:00","date_gmt":"2024-02-28T13:00:00","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.washingtoninformer.com\/?p=1201723"},"modified":"2024-02-29T18:27:28","modified_gmt":"2024-02-29T23:27:28","slug":"cathy-hughes-barrier-breaker-media-mogul","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.washingtoninformer.com\/cathy-hughes-barrier-breaker-media-mogul\/","title":{"rendered":"Cathy Hughes: Media Arts Entrepreneur, ‘Truth-Teller,’ Barrier-Breaker, Living Legend"},"content":{"rendered":"\n


Media arts mogul Cathy Hughes is a barrier-breaker and living legend.  <\/p>\n\n\n\n

From radio, to television, to Howard University\u2019s Cathy Hughes School of Communications (CHSOC)<\/a>, the barrier-breaking entrepreneur continues to influence people through her work and storytelling. Moreover, she uses her platform as a means of empowering Black communities globally.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cPioneer. Trailblazer. Innovator. Revolutionary,\u201d said a group of Howard University faculty and students who were asked to describe Hughes in one word. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

A jack of many trades, Hughes, created a legacy at the forefront of innovation and journalistic integrity when she entered the media world in 1969. More than 50 years later, her impact remains evident in the District, nation and world.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

D.C. Becomes a Defining Moment for Hughes<\/strong><\/h2>\n\n\n\n

Born Catherine Elizabeth Woods in Omaha, Nebraska on April 22, 1947, the future media mogul jump started her radio career when she worked for KOWH (AM) in her hometown before moving to Washington, D.C. in 1971. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

Upon arrival, Hughes joined Howard as a lecturer in the-then recently established School of Communications– more than four decades before it was renamed in her honor in 2016. A newly single mom with everything to prove, Hughes\u2019 decision to relocate to the District served as one of the most pivotal moments of her professional career. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201c[Cathy] is the core of what journalism is. She\u2019s a truth teller\u2026a fire-starter. As a native Washingtonian, I\u2019ve grown up with her. I don’t know any other Black woman that has that power as it relates to journalism,\u201d said Ericka Blount, a journalist and former editor for Interactive One, which Hughes founded in 2007<\/a>. . \u201cI look up to her as someone who is able to make change. I don\u2019t know many people in the city that haven’t been touched by her in some kind of way.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

In 1973, she pursued a managerial position at Howard\u2019s local radio station WHUR, where she increased the station\u2019s revenue from $250,000 to $3 million in her first year. Hughes would later become the first woman vice president and general manager of a station in the nation\u2019s capital and created the format \u201cA Quiet Storm,\u201d which revolutionized urban radio and aired on over 480 stations\u2013including one in Kansas City, Kansas. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

Alecia Taylor \u2013 a fall 2023 graduate of Howard\u2019s CHSOC \u2013 recalls listening to \u201cA Quiet Storm\u201d in her own hometown and feeling extremely honored to learn Hughes was the genius behind one of her favorite radio segments.  <\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cLearning about Cathy Hughes and some of the revolutionary things that she created, I feel like that’s going to inspire [the next generation] to look at what they can change and how to keep elevating,\u201d Taylor said. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

Hughes\u2019 innovative spirit didn\u2019t stop there. In 1980, the radical entrepreneur purchased her first radio station \u2013 WOL-AM, the flagship of Radio One \u2013 in D.C. She pioneered another innovative format, \u201c24-Hour Talk from a Black Perspective,\u201d and went on to serve as the station\u2019s morning show host for 11 years with the theme \u201cInformation is Power.\u201d WOL remains the most listened to talk radio station in the nation\u2019s capital. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

Dr. Yanick Rice Lamb, an award-winning journalist and a CHSOC professor, celebrated Hughes\u2019 barrier-breaking work and leadership. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cParticularly [with] Black women, it’s a little more challenging to break into certain fields and to rise in them. Sometimes, women wonder, can they have it all? And sometimes you can’t, but she’s made it. She’s used herself as an example to talk about some of the challenges of juggling your personal and professional life. Yes, it can be done\u2013no, it’s not easy; but it can be done,\u201d Lamb said.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

The Legacy Continues<\/strong><\/h2>\n\n\n\n

Today, the visionary remains the first African-American woman to chair a publicly held corporation with Urban One \u2013 the largest African American-owned and -operated broadcast company in the nation. Hughes, 76, has also been listed as the second richest Black woman in the world.\u00a0<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Howard University\u2019s School of Communications is named after Hughes as a reminder of the school\u2019s mission and commitment to legacy, excellence, and changemakers. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201c[Hughes] created this space where our stories are not just acknowledged, but they’re also respected. As an activist in advocacy, journalism was also a part of that. And so she has changed the scope of what journalism can be,\u201d Blount said. \u201cShe’s been a change agent in several ways\u2026and made things happen. She’s been a real force \u2026 initially it was just the Washington, D.C., community, but it’s now become national.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

As someone who walked the halls of the Cathy Hughes School of Communications, Taylor told The Informer Hughes\u2019 work and teachings continue to live on through students and alumni.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cPart of her legacy is\u2026how you can make a difference. I feel like that’s how [CHSOC] keeps her spirit alive\u2026asking \u2018What do you want your impact to be?\u2019\u201d<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Media arts mogul Cathy Hughes is a trailblazer and pioneer, having created a legacy of innovation and journalistic integrity in the media world, and is the first African-American woman to chair a publicly held corporation with Urban One.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":4419,"featured_media":1201725,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"newspack_ads_suppress_ads":false,"newspack_popups_has_disabled_popups":false,"newspack_sponsor_sponsorship_scope":"","newspack_sponsor_native_byline_display":"inherit","newspack_sponsor_native_category_display":"inherit","newspack_sponsor_underwriter_style":"inherit","newspack_sponsor_underwriter_placement":"inherit","apple_news_api_created_at":"","apple_news_api_id":"","apple_news_api_modified_at":"","apple_news_api_revision":"","apple_news_api_share_url":"","apple_news_cover_media_provider":"image","apple_news_coverimage":0,"apple_news_coverimage_caption":"","apple_news_cover_video_id":0,"apple_news_cover_video_url":"","apple_news_cover_embedwebvideo_url":"","apple_news_is_hidden":"","apple_news_is_paid":"","apple_news_is_preview":"","apple_news_is_sponsored":"","apple_news_maturity_rating":"","apple_news_metadata":"\"\"","apple_news_pullquote":"","apple_news_pullquote_position":"","apple_news_slug":"","apple_news_sections":[],"apple_news_suppress_video_url":false,"apple_news_use_image_component":false,"_primary_brand":0,"_newspack_byline_active":false,"_newspack_byline":"","nota_seo_page_title":"","nota_seo_page_description":"","newspack_featured_image_position":"small","newspack_post_subtitle":"","newspack_article_summary_title":"Overview:","newspack_article_summary":"","newspack_hide_updated_date":false,"newspack_show_updated_date":false,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paid_content":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[9,33768],"tags":[1615,30615,68589,67936],"brand":[],"newspack_spnsrs_tax":[],"nota":[],"coauthors":[68447],"class_list":["post-1201723","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-blackhistory","category-black-history-month","tag-black-history-month","tag-cathy-hughes","tag-chsoc-cathy-hughes-school-of-communications","tag-jada-ingleton","entry"],"apple_news_notices":[],"yoast_head":"\nCathy Hughes' legacy inspires next generation of changemakers - The Washington Informer<\/title>\n<meta name=\"description\" content=\"Cathy Hughes, a media arts mogul and trailblazer, continues to influence and empower Black communities globally. 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