Radio One Decides on Move to Silver Spring, MD instead of D.C.

Radio One had backed out of plans to relocate from Lanham, Maryland to Washington D.C.’s Shaw neighborhood more than a year ago. That move would have been a homecoming of sorts for founder Cathy Hughes, since the planned project would have been near WHUR radio and Howard University, the place where she made her mark in the radio industry in the mid-1970's.

Radio One has instead decided to move it's corporate headquarters to the top floor of an office building right across the D.C. border in Silver Spring, MD, which also houses their cable channel TV One. The company will occupy 23,000 sq. ft beginning in September. Maryland Gov. Martin O'Malley reportedly pushed through a $400,000 grant that requires Radio One to invest at least $1.25 million in the move by the end of 2012 and maintain at least 210 employees throughout the six-year lease.

Radio One currently owns 53 stations in 16 markets across the country and was founded in 1980 with the purchase of WOL radio. Read more in the Washington Post