Linda never lost her sense of humor, her smile, her strong and comforting faith in God.

Linda Hughes was a visionary and successful business woman. She was one of the only women in America to be granted an FCC license to own and operate a radio station. In 2011 we purchased WAAM Radio — she was the driving force that made that happen. She immediately went to work in reshaping what was a mom-and-pop narrow-cast local small town radio station presence into a national caliber broadcast powerhouse. Linda rebuilt WAAM Radi from bottom to top, repositioning the station to serve all of Southeast Michigan at 1600 AM, 92.7 FM, and the world over via web streaming. Linda gave a radio voice to not only the best of national radio voices but the absolute best of local voices as well. One of those voices is that of Operation Freedom, and that is what Linda was all about — freedom! Here’s a touching tribute and eulogy offered by our dear friend Dr. David Janda, the host of Operation Freedom:

The Passing of Radio’s Most Iconic Woman

Friends,

A great woman, leader, visionary, Freedom Fighter and friend , Linda Hughes, has passed away. Linda was the General Manager of WAAM Talk 1600 as well as the only Woman owner of an independent radio station in the United States. She fought a courageous battle against the ravages of cancer.

She beat cancer years ago only to develop a recurrence of the cancer a number of months ago. She and her devoted husband threw everything they had at the terrible disease 24-7. Linda was relentless in her determination to give everything she had to defeat the disease a second time while she continued her Freedom Fighting efforts at her beloved WAAM radio station.

Linda was responsible (some would say to blame) for me having a radio show. Eight years ago, Linda walked up to me after a presentation I had given at an event and asked, "Have you ever thought about doing a radio show?" I told her "yes.... but for me to do a show I have to have full editorial control and no one will agree to that." She looked at me and said, " I will.... let's sit down and I will sign a letter that grants you full editorial control.... no exceptions." Linda sat down, wrote a letter, signed it..... I signed it.... and Operation Freedom was born. She has been a relentless supporter of my efforts and my show.

Linda was a charismatic, kind, caring, intelligent and gifted warrior who inspired every person she encountered in life. I close every show with the phrase...." Dream Big & Dare To Fail". Linda lived and implemented that phrase every day of her life and motivated every person she met to do the same.

I miss her so much and so will our country and world. The Freedom Movement lost an Iconic leader today. Please keep her and her devoted husband in your thoughts and prayers.

Dave

In December of 2005 my wife Linda Hughes was diagnosed with breast cancer. Through surgery, chemo therapy and radiation she remained cancer-free for eleven years. Linda and I thought cancer was behind her. We thought the ‘C word terror years’ were over and gone. They were not. In September of 2016 Linda was diagnosed with Stage 4 metastatic breast cancer. Cancer snuck up her almost overnight and invaded her liver and the pleural linings of her lungs. It all came on in an instant.

She was originally at the time of diagnosis given four months to live. We were devastated. But Linda never showed anything but positive hope and attitude throughout it all. Through a series treatments that slowed cancer growth and her will to fight on she lived a year and a half past her diagnosis. Linda was up and around, able to travel, throw and attend parties, enjoy life with friends and family. She led a strong, good and fruitful life. But in the end it caught up with her. Cancer took her lungs. And when it did it was an exponential and aggressive attack.

We both knew where it was all headed and given that sad fact Linda never lost her sense of humor, her smile, her strong and comforting faith in God. Linda was taken home way too early at 55 years of age on March 15, 2018. In the final days her suffering was at a minimum compared to many enduring the ravages of cancer. In the period between 2005 and 2018 Linda and I turned over every rock in both Western and so-called alternative medicine. We dug in and did the research. And we both came to the conclusion that wishful thinking miracle cure ‘alternatives’ were just that—wishful thinking. And in some cases fraudulent. And the best Western medicine has to offer is not a cure either. At best it’s a stop gap.

Chemo therapy is a temporary hold that can be placed on cancer development. And in Linda’s case she was allergic to all of it. Only through a custom designed protocol of infusion over a nine hour period was she able to take a treatment that would have been delivered to other cancer patients in a couple of hours at most. It was hell for her.

Linda lived and radiated her deep Christian faith every waking moment of her life.

Through it all she shined with hope and cheer, and it was never false bravado. Linda lived and radiated her deep Christian faith every waking moment of her life. She was one of the favorite patients of the staff at the infusion center. And when we became aware of immune-therapy it seemed that Linda may have a way out, a cure that would set her free from cancer. It was not to be.

All the immune-therapies we checked into, as was the case with all clinical trials we were told, were not for the cancer type that afflicted Linda. But given what cancer actually is, immune-therapy treatment offered the most hope for a real cure. But at that time it was all specific to certain types of cancer. Being in its nascent stages it was not to be for my wife.