Bob Johnson's High-Flying Empire

(CBS)  He could be a textbook example of how to achieve the American Dream. One of ten kids from a small Midwestern town, Bob Johnson was the first in his family to go to college. And he made the most of it.

Today, Johnson's American Dream is a dream no longer, because he answered when opportunity rang. He recently proved again that he can't resist that ring.

"My definition of success is achieving what you want to achieve and being the best at it that you can possibly be," says Johnson.

Johnson sits at the helm of BET Holdings, the largest black-owned and operated business empire in the country.

"You've got to have a tremendous sense of determination and self-confidence. You've got to believe in yourself," he says. He does: "I knew whatever I tried I was going to be pretty darn good at it," he says.

Growing up in Freeport, Illinois, Johnson wanted to be a fighter pilot.
By the time he graduated from Princeton, he had a different dream but not much cash to make it happen. He borrowed $15,000 to get his start. That "15 grand," he says, "was my initial seed money that I borrowed from a local bank to put together what I wouldn't call a Harvard business school plan, but more my backyard business plan."

It was an idea for an all-black cable television channel. "Just as Ebony magazine attracted black readers, and black radio attracts listeners, why couldn't we use the technology of cable/satellite to create a targeted product to the African American community?" he argued.

BET started with two hours of programming a week on Friday and Saturday nights back in 1980, with a potential audience of about three million cable homes.

Twenty years later, it reaches 60 million cable homes on 4 channels. And, it is now a $2.5 billion operation that has branched out to include five magazines, four restaurants and two film studios.

That kind of growth entails risks. But, says Johnson, "Risk is inherent with anybody who wants to be a success. I call it 'welcome to the NFL.' You know, if you're going to play in the NFL you're going to get hit, so if you don't want to get hit, don't get on the field."

Johnson is about to take another risk. This time, he's setting his sights sky-high. If the proposed merger of US Airways and United Airlines gets government approval, its Washington-based subsidiary, DC Air, will be headed by Bob Johnson.

Johnson was approached by Stephen M. Wolf, chairman of US Airways Group, to create the new airline in response to potential competitive concerns related to the merger. Johnson has agreed to buy some of the assets of US Airways, and is its sole investor.

"When somebody comes to you and says, 'I believe enough in you to offer you this opportunity or this challenge,' that is a heck of an endorsement. I couldn't turn him down," Johnson says of Wolf.

DC Air will lease 37 planes from United, as well as flight and ground crews, creating a ew airline with the experience of a major carrier. Johnson estimates the airline will carry 3 million passengers a year.

Although he admits he knows nothing of the nuts and bolts of the airline industry, Johnson has learned enough about business over the years to make his airline fly.

"When you are running a business, the smartest thing in the world to do is figure out what you don't know and find the best people you can to do what you can't do," he says. "If you look at any great CEO or any great builder of an enterprise, they have always surrounded themselves with people that are smart in categories they aren't smart in."

Plans call for Johnson's airline to operate out of Washington's Reagan National Airport, flying to 43 cities beginning early next year.