Lady Bird and the FCC

LADY BIRD AND THE FCC
[SOURCE: New York Times, AUTHOR: Enid Nemy]
Lady Bird Johnson, the widow of President Lyndon B. Johnson, who was once described by her husband as “the brains and money of this family” and whose business skills cushioned his road to the White House, died yesterday afternoon at her home in Austin, Tex. She was 94. Mrs. Johnson came to Washington in 1934 as the 21-year-old bride of Lyndon Johnson, then an assistant to a Texas congressman. By the time he became president, Mrs. Johnson had acquired more than a quarter century of experience in national politics, covering his 12 years in the House, 12 years in the Senate — 6 of them as majority leader — and almost 3 years as vice president. She also became a successful businesswoman in those years, using the final $21,000 of her $67,000 inheritance in 1942 to buy KTBC, a small radio station in Austin. Although the station was bought in Mrs. Johnson’s name, her husband’s political influence, even though limited at the time, helped in acquiring the license from the Federal Communications Commission. Johnson became the commission’s champion at a time when Congress was about to cut its budget. Mrs. Johnson’s application was speedily approved. KTBC had no nighttime franchise and no network connection, and it owed money to several banks. Mrs. Johnson went to Austin and reviewed the debts, the accounts receivable and the staff and made changes. Seven months later, the station showed its first monthly profit, $18. Within 20 years, the station and the affiliates bought with its profits became a multimillion-dollar radio and television enterprise. At one time, the Johnson interests included KTBC Television, which was sold to Times Mirror in 1973, Austin cable interests, which were sold to Time Warner Cable, and Karnack Cable System, cable interests outside Austin, which were sold to Tele-Communications.
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