Radio One is also expanding into cable, starting TV One, a black-oriented channel in January--teamed with powerhouse Comcast.

FORBES: Radio Days

Style is the hallmark of the YHT-697BL, as evidenced by its two glossy black curvilinear front channel towers and three compact, wall-mountable surround and center channel speakers.

ENGADGET: Yamaha YHT-697 home theater in a box brings AirPlay, iPad connectivity to the masses

The Soloist utilizes SurfaceSound flat panel speaker technology, and packs a subtle 10 watt-per-channel Tripath amplifier into a thin, black housing.

ENGADGET: Directed unveils Soloist universal media dock

As the operators obliged, the new channel generated enormous excitement in black America just as hip-hop culture, with its swaggering multimillionaire entertainers and athletes, was emerging.

FORBES: The cable capitalist

To sign up cable operators and undercut the perception that the new channel would appeal only to blacks, Johnson shed the original name--Black Entertainment Television--calling it simply BET.

FORBES: The cable capitalist