Cathy Hughes

Cathy Hughes and WOL-AM have made an indelible mark on this Washington D.C. community. In 1982, Hughes purchased a building at the corner of 4th and H Streets and found it littered with almost 200 hypodermic needles and crack pipes. The home of her first radio station had been used, for years, as a drug den. The surrounding community was still struggling to recover from the riots that followed the assassination of Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr. in 1968. Residents and merchants knew something significant was taking place when station vans, with the WOL logo, pulled into the neighborhood. It was clear that Cathy Hughes was committed to the revitalization of the H Street corridor and adjoining neighborhoods because WOL-AM became the very first, major business to relocate to the area., With a group of volunteers, Hughes worked tirelessly, transforming the building into a functioning radio station and resource center for the community. Three large picture windows were cut into the one story, brick, rectangular building, allowing residents to observe media at work, at all times. The station became known as “RADIOVISION,” and crowds routinely came out to meet and greet politicians, celebrities and entertainers who visited the station. Cathy Hughes partnered with local businesses, sponsored community initiatives and festivals and created programs, which helped many of the residents to get back on their feet. WOL, an acronym for “We Offer Love,” allowed Hughes to combine her love for radio and the black community. WOL-AM positioned her to create positive change, pride and progress in the northeast H Street corridor., Armed with her slogan “information is power,” Hughes kept her listeners informed and tackled tough issues facing the community on the “Cathy Hughes Morning Show.” She employed many local residents, several of whom lived close enough to walk to work, and taught them the business of radio. WOL was also singularly responsible for taking “Go Go” music, D.C.’s own popular, homegrown, musical genre, and elevating it to a national level., With humble beginnings here in northeast Washington D.C., Cathy Hughes went from H Street to Wall Street after WOL-AM became the birthplace of Radio One, Inc. By 2016, Radio One was a multimedia conglomerate with more than 56 radio stations across the country comprised of talk/news, gospel, R&B, and hip-hop formats. It has diversified and branched out into television and digital media and is the parent corporation of the subsidiaries TV One, Reach Media, Interactive One, and One Solution. Hughes’ media corporation is now the largest African-American owned business of its kind in the country; yet Hughes still credits her neighbors at 4th and H Street NE helping her to lay her foundation.