Founded in 1980 by Cathy Hughes, the company primarily operates media properties targeting African Americans.

[8][9][10] She changed the station's programming format from all-music to one that examined politics and culture from an African American perspective.

The purchase included 15 radio stations owned and operated by Cincinnati-based Blue Chip in Ohio, Minnesota and Kentucky.

[8] In February, Radio One purchased country station WSNJ in Bridgeton, New Jersey, for $35 million; it had been on the air since 1937 and family-owned by the Ed and Katherine Bold family for over 50 years.

[28][25] However, that same year, Radio One would sell ten stations to Main Line Broadcasting for approximately $76 million in cash.

[32] In 2011, Radio One changed stations in Houston, Cincinnati and Columbus, Ohio, from African American to general interest formats, due to low ratings.

On January 19, 2019, Urban One launched Cleo TV, a cable channel aimed at millennial and Generation X African American women.

On January 19, 2004, Martin Luther King Jr.'s birthday, Urban One launched TV One in a joint venture with Comcast.

A sister network aimed at young millennial and Generation X African American women, Cleo TV, would launch in January 2019.

Interactive One (also known as iOne), launched in 2008, is Urban One's online portfolio of digital brands complementing other media companies.

The unit operates numerous digital brands, including NewsOne (a news website which curates stories from other media sources for an African-American audience.

[30][42] By 2011, Interactive was the largest network of owned and operated sites aimed at an African-American audience,[43] and by 2014, had reached over 18 million unique monthly users on its platform through over 80 national and local brands.

[45] As of 2013, Interactive One has a partnership with Global Grind, a website founded by Russell Simmons and focused on pop culture and music content for African American and Hispanic audiences.

[50] That same month, Radio One announced that the following year, it would merge its "Syndication One" urban programming lineup with Reach Media.