As the saying goes, Rome wasn't built overnight, and the same holds resoundingly true for Urban One, Inc. But it's taken considerably less time for Cathy Hughes to build what first started as Radio One into the formidable multimedia empire that it has become today than it did for the Holy Roman Empire to come to fruition. Source: NAB / NAB Today, Friday, October 3 marks the 45th anniversary of when Hughes founded Radio One, a project of her own passions that she turned into one of the top Black-owned businesses in the United States.