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Business
Robert L. Johnson:
Media executive
Robert L. Johnson founded Black Entertainment Television, the first cable television network aimed at African-Americans. In 1999, Johnson sold the company to Viacom but remains its chairman and CEO. BET reaches more than 65 million U.S. homes and has expanded into other BET-related television channels, including BET International and BET Jazz. In 1998, Johnson created two more BET companies to produce and market films, documentaries and television movies with African-American themes. BET also has a Web site that is a joint venture of BET and Microsoft, Liberty Digital Media, News Corp. and USA Networks.
FULL NAME
Robert L. Johnson
BORN
April 8, 1946 in Hickory, Mississippi, the ninth of 10 children born to Archie and Edna Johnson.
EDUCATION
Johnson studied history at the University of Illinois and graduated in 1968 with a bachelor's degree. He earned a master's degree in public administration at Princeton University in 1972.
CAREER
Johnson worked for the Corporation for Public Broadcasting and the Washington Urban League before becoming press secretary for Walter E. Fauntroy, who was the congressional delegate from the District of Columbia. He moved from that position in 1976 to serve as vice president of government relations for the National Cable & Telecommunications Association (NCTA), a trade association representing more than 1,500 cable television companies. In 1979, he left NCTA to create BET, which launched in January 1980, broadcasting for two hours a week.
Eleven years later, BET became the first black-controlled company listed on the New York Stock Exchange. In 1998, Johnson took the company private, buying back all of its publicly traded stock. A year later, Viacom bought BET for $2.3 billion in stock. Johnson continued to be the company's chairman and CEO. He also serves on the boards of U.S. Airways, General Mills and Hilton Hotels.
AWARDS
Johnson has received the 1997 Broadcasting & Cable Magazine's Hall of Fame Award and Cablevision Magazine's 20/20 Vision Award, which named him one of the 20 most influential people in the cable industry. He has received the NAACP Image Award and has been named a distinguished alumnus of Princeton University.
PERSONAL
Johnson and his wife, Sheila, have two children and live in Washington, D.C.
