Cablefax The Magazine - July 2012 - 37

2012 Top Ops Awards
INDEPENDENT SYSTEM EXECUTIVE OF THE YEAR
Scott Randall
Cable ONE
When it comes to navigating the
aftermath of natural disasters, the folks
at Cable ONE are darn near experts.
After the Biloxi/Gulfport, MS, systems
recovered from Hurricane Katrina in
2005, a tornado in Joplin wreaked
havoc on another Cable ONE system last year. But the indie op
has refused to let bad weather karma keep it from serving its
customers and buoying employees' spirits.
A great deal of that can be attributed to the Biloxi system's
GM, Scott Randall, who in the past 5 years has rebuilt the system
after the hurricane. At the time of the disaster, the media
focused primarily on the devastation in New Orleans despite
the considerable damage in Biloxi. Flood marks, for instance,
were up to 20 feet high. " The whole town was wiped out, " says
ACA COO Rob Shema. " Cable ONE didn't ask for any money.
They just rebuilt it themselves. "
Keeping employees' spirits up in the midst of such devastation
was a Herculean task. A third of their homes were
destroyed or nearly destroyed, and a third of their customers'
homes were affected as well. Employees' friends and family had
passed as a result of the fl ood. " Scott had the task of multi-year
and multi-month crisis rebuilding of the system and infrastructure
while associates had to rebuild their lives and homes, " says
Cable ONE president Tom Might, who spent weeks sleeping on
the fl oor of the company's offi ce in the wake of the disaster.
One of the GM's primary tasks was making sure the workers
themselves had basic necessities so they were in turn able to
take care of customers. They did whatever it took to take care
of employees, whether that meant doubling up on their pay
or hiring people to clear debris out of their yard so they could
come to work. " The team brought in semi loads of basic necessities
of life from our other systems, everything from diapers
to water, " says Might. Randall even came up with t-shirts that
read " Git-N-R-Done " the Biloxi system's new tagline to fi t the
resiliency and " can do " attitude of all involved.
As it happened, git-n-r-done resulted in a lot more than a
Fast Facts
✦ According to the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration,
" large portions of Biloxi and Gulfport, MI, were
underwater as a result of a 20 to 30+ foot storm surge which
flooded the cities. " Overall, more than 1.7 million people in the
Gulf states lost power as a result of the hurricane.
✦ Randall is a 33-year veteran of the cable industry and has
spent the last 8 with Cable ONE.
✦ Randall's hobbies are golf, fishing and duck hunting.
✦ He has one daughter, Josalyn, and a wife of 36 years, Margie.
newly rebuilt system. It established a strong relationship the
community and Cable ONE customers-and it got them a lot
more business. When the company reinstated its daily customer
satisfaction surveys (months after the hurricane, since
many were without phone service), Biloxi's customer satisfaction
shot through the roof, becoming the company's highest
nationwide. In contrast, Might points out, the telephone
company took longer to respond. " We stole a tremendous
amount of business thanks to the associates and Scott's
leadership of them, " he says. " Despite the fact that we lost
over 20% of our business, we gave everybody 2 months of
credit instantly-Scott did that. " AT&T customers fl ocked to
them and some satellite customers came over as well.
Randall attributes it all to the team. " It is the company
I work for and the associates I work with who put us in a
position to be successful. Tom Might set the stage and our
associates delivered the results, " he says. " No one-and I
mean no one-with Cable ONE was too important to roll up
their sleeves to help us through the disaster. "
Beyond his dedication toward rebuilding Biloxi, Randall
has proven an advocate for indie operators on a state and
national level. He's gone to Washington, DC, numerous
times on behalf of the Mississippi Cable Telecommunications
Association and ACA to fi ght for USF money that's given to
competitors in Mississippi. " He's not only trying to protect
his business, but other operators' businesses in Mississippi
as well, " says Shema. " Scott really understands the importance
of relationships in this industry, whether it be with his
employees, his customers or the elected offi cials in Jackson
and Washington, D.C., Scott is always willing to help out. " ✴
- Kaylee Hultgren
CableFAX: The Magazine
July 2012
cablefaxmag.com
37
http://www.cablefaxmag.com
Cablefax The Magazine - July 2012

Table of Contents for the Digital Edition of Cablefax The Magazine - July 2012
