These days it seems like it is hard to get away from all the talk about Radio One’s interactive play. This weekend was no exception, while visiting family in the DC area I opened the Business section of Monday’s Washington Post and what do you know! Another story about Radio One, this article took a much more insightful spin on all the buzz the company has been getting. It focused on its stock prices and executive compensation instead…or at least that is what stood out most to me. In an article by Washington Post staff writer Anita Huslin titled “Radio One CEO Prepares for Shareholders” many intriguing statements were made by Alfred Liggins III, some of which include:

“The strategy is to build a company where we can compete for $28 billion in Web revenues by providing content for African Americans and build scale for advertisers, I think our ability to build that online won’t take long.”

He also said advertisers “will do business with us because we reach 82 percent of African American households in this country…”

Other interesting tidbits include the compensation package Liggins and Hughes will receive from their board:

• Liggins will get $1 million for having been under paid for the past 3 years PLUS he will also get a 70% raise that will bring his annual salary to $980,000, his new annual salary also has the opportunity to be matched with a bonus.

• Hughes will get a 75% salary increase increasing her pay to $750,000 annually.

All while the company’s stock hovers around $1/share. Radio One’s annual shareholder meeting will occur sometime today and I am sure there will be lots of questions. Liggin’s goes on to justify his compensation stating that it is inline with other CEO’s in radio from companies like Citadel and Cumulus. Citadel’s stock price is not much better than Radio One’s but Cumulus is nearly 5 times that is Radio One’s.