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July 1, 2010
2010 Top OPS Awards: Independent Operator of the Year: NewWave Communications
NewWave Communications
It’s not easy to build a business on promises. But NewWave is our Independent Operator of the Year because the Sikeston, MO-based company is wowing customers by keeping its promise to make the underperforming systems it buys better, faster and stronger.
NewWave’s success is tethered to its strategy of revitalizing mostly rural systems with wholesale plant and product suite upgrades. But its 415 employees go the extra mile, bringing a personal presence and commitment to the 122,000 customers they serve. The winner of one of our Customer Service awards last year, its systems are located mainly in rural Kentucky, Tennessee, Missouri, Illinois and Arkansas.
Evidence of the goodwill the company has engendered poured in to our offices. We received more than 150 testimonials in support of NewWave’s nomination, including 10 from residents and employees in Hopkinsville, KY, a relatively new addition.
"The cable operator before us had a real disaster with the city of Hopkinsville as little as two years ago," says President/CEO Jim Gleason, who co-founded NewWave in 2003 with brother Tom Gleason (see p. 32). "It was heated, and they were pretty jaded, but we worked like dogs to do the right thing. Since we are working in turnarounds, we often have to change [customers’] image of what cable is," he adds. "That’s a hard thing to do."
Yet NewWave makes it look easy. Perhaps that’s because the Gleasons grew up in cable, helping build systems from the ground up for their father, Tom Sr. Both brothers worked at the elder Gleason’s Galaxy Communications. They started to lay the groundwork for NewWave in 2001.
And at a time when many operators are shuttering their storefronts or cowering behind an inconspicuous presence, NewWave is expanding its retail reach, opening stores that beckon customers with bright green signage.
"We have more than 40,000 people who come to our stores to make payments every month," Gleason says. "Rather than hide and be embarrassed, we figure, why not embrace the customer?"
The company also is investing heavily in programming, concentrating on community-specific news and sports. For sports-lover Gleason, it’s particularly gratifying that large broadcasters are clamoring to carry NewWave’s sports programming. "[Programming] is a natural extension of our local stores, local managers, and local involvement. Now we are developing really hyper local programming," says Larry Eby, SVP, Operations. To help propel the effort, NewWave purchased a low-power station in Hopkinsville.
"You can’t go very long without seeing a Dish or DirecTV ad," Eby says. "We can’t compete with that. We can’t buy that much air time," he adds. "But we can be the super local guys. That differentiates us from our competitors."
Fast Facts
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Nearly all of NewWave’s network has been upgraded to 870 MHz, allowing for a small number of homes per optical node.
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NewWave has had RGU growth of nearly 100% since Jan ’07 and has gained almost 100,000 new RGUs during the past three years.
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The company has reduced churn by 28% since January 2008; annual sales were $110 mln last year.
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Since its major acquisition campaign in 2006, NewWave has upgraded more than 2,000 miles of coaxial plant and performed more than 500 miles of fiber optic system connects.
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