Howard University to Name Cathy Hughes School of Communications

With the Howard University School Of Communications celebrating its 45th anniversary last month and speculations of a new School of Communications’ building to be built in the near future, the school will now be having a new name: the Cathy Hughes School of Communications.

According to Radio One’s WOL News Talk 1450 AM, the naming ceremony will be held on Sunday, October 23, at Howard University, a day after the conclusion of events from Howard Homecoming’s #ExperienceBlueprint. Multiple sources within Howard University told The Hilltop that Hughes donated a monetary gift of $4 million dollars to Howard University.

Born in Omaha, Neb. in 1947, Hughes is no stranger to The Mecca. After beginning her career in radio in 1969 with KOWH, a Black radio station in Omaha, Howard University offered her a position as a lecturer. She was then appointed as the general sales manager of WHUR 96.3 FM, Howard’s operated and owned campus radio station, in 1973, then two years later was later promoted to WHUR’s general manager. During that time, Hughes played a big role into increasing the radio station’s annual revenues from $300,000 to more than $3.5 million. In 1978, Hughes would depart WHUR for WYCB Radio where she served as the vice president and general manager of the station.

In 1979, Hughes was able to secure a bank lender to buy WOL, a small Washington, D.C. station, that would birth Radio One in 1980. In January 2004, she launched TV One, a cable television channel targeted at the African-American community.

Ms. Hughes currently serves as the chairperson of the board and secretary of Radio One since 1980, and was formerly the chief executive officer of Radio One from 1980 to 1997. Radio One, the largest Black-owned broadcasting company in the country, recently celebrated its 36th anniversary this year.