Radio flyer hits airways.

John Douglas has built a radio network that is like no other in the United States. It does not, for the most part, employ deejays who tell jokes and play the latest urban contemporary, jazz or rap hits. Instead, Douglas' 10 radio stations have what is referred to as "specialty formats." His audience consists of Asian-Americans and other ethnic Americans in the top radio markets across the country.

"The top ethnic groups we're interested in are Koreans, Chinese and Japanese. The demographics are very attractive," says Douglas, the 53-year-old president and CEO of Douglas Broadcasting Inc. (DBI). "Asian-Americans are the fastest-growing ethnic group, and they also have the highest household income."

According to the U.S. Bureau of the Census, in 1990, the median household income for Asian-Americans was $38,450, compared with $31,231 for whites and $18,676 for African-Americans.

Serving that market has worked out well for Douglas whose programming ranges from foreign language broadcasting to gospel music. His 3-year-old Palo Alto, Calif., company grossed $5.4 million in revenue last year with four stations. Douglas says that he operates his network of radio stations through an innovative concept called "trimulcasting," where three radio stations share the same frequency and broadcast simultaneously. Says Douglas: "You get one continuous signal from Santa Barbara, Calif., all the way down to the edge of San Diego. About 12 million people are under the signal."

DBI was not Douglas' first foray into the broadcasting industry. In 1981, he used $4 million in venture capital, personal savings and bank loans to launch National Group Television Inc. (NGTV), the licensee of KSTS-TV Channel 48, a UHF television station operating in the San Francisco market.

Six years after starting NGTV, Douglas sold it for a whopping $17 million. "We did it because we got an offer that was pretty hard to refuse and because there was more competition in the television market--mostly from cable," he says.

In 1988, Douglas approached Prudential Insurance Co. with a proposal to help finance the purchase of several radio stations. Why Prudential? "They had the deepest pockets," Douglas explains. In less than six months, Prudential agreed to put up $25 million in venture capital to launch DBI and to enable Douglas to acquire his first three California stations. (Prudential owns 45% of the company stock, and Douglas controls 55%.)

Since buying those stations, Douglas who employs 40 workers, has acquired seven addition stations--including the $50 million leveraged buyout of four stations in the New York, Los Angeles and Chicago metro areas. "That gives us exposure to over 50% of the Asian market," boasts Douglas.

Now that Douglas' stations are making money--he projects $10 million to $12 million in revenue in 1992--he plans to acquire more stations. "I'm looking at secondary markets that serve ethnic populations like Washington, D.C., or cities, like Houston, which have a large Vietnamese population," Douglas says.