Cable's do-it-yourselfer. (profile of Home & Garden Television founder and CEO Kenneth Wayne Lowe)

From age 10, Ken Lowe knew he wanted to build things. But rather than tackle the common tree house, Lowe built a radio station with a small transmitter and a control room fashioned from wooden planks. He named the station WGOB for "gobs of fun." While it was a crude attempt at broadcasting, Lowe says WGOB introduced him to the business he's "always wanted to be in."

Lowe has come a long way from playing home-town disc jockey with his school pals. He oversees Home & Garden Television, a cable network he helped to launch in December 1994. His hunch was that there were other frustrated part-time home builders like himself who were eager to learn about the trade that was their weekend obsession.

In less than three years, HGTV has …