From the Lady Bird Johnson Obituaries

New York Times
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.

Washington Post
In 1943, she spent $17,500 of her inheritance to purchase KTBC, a 250-watt radio station in Austin operating at a deficit. Its previous owners had been unable to obtain approval from the Federal Communications Commission for a power increase, but Mrs. Johnson was granted approval within a month. Critics concluded that her husband's close connection to Franklin D. Roosevelt had made the difference.

Although Mrs. Johnson was president of the company, commuting from Washington to Austin weekly, it was her husband who negotiated an affiliation with the CBS radio network. The arrangement dramatically boosted advertising revenue and made the Johnsons millionaires.

In 1952, she decided to buy a TV station, despite Johnson's objections. "It is my money," she reminded him. By the mid-1960s, the family fortune included an Austin cable TV company, a bank, three other ranches and assorted real estate. She remained involved with the business, LBJ Holding Co, well into her 80s.

Boston Globe
Mrs. Johnson once again demonstrated her usefulness to her husband when, during his brief service in the Navy during World War II, she managed his congressional office and then, in 1943, purchased a small Austin radio station, KTBC, with money from her inheritance.

It became the foundation of a broadcasting and real estate empire worth $6 million by 1964 (at least $40 million in today's dollars).

USA Today
Throughout her life, Johnson combined Southern charm with a spine of steel. When her husband enlisted in World War II, Johnson ran his congressional office. Later, she used an inheritance to buy a low-power radio station in Austin. Johnson, who personally cleaned the offices, parlayed it into a regional radio-TV consortium.

Los Angeles Times
With her husband away at war, Lady Bird began to consider other ways to ensure a steady family income. In 1943, using $41,000 of her inheritance, she bought KTBC, a small Austin radio station that was thousands of dollars in debt. Within two years, she turned the red ink to black through diligent, tight-fisted management. With her husband's connections in Washington, she won federal approval to double the station's transmitting power and increase its air time.

In 1952, she obtained permission to open a television station. It soon had contracts with all three major networks, and other acquisitions followed. The Johnson family would remain in the broadcast business until 2003, when it sold its last six stations for $105 million.