“Somewhere over the rainbow….”
That line from the song in The Wizard of Oz makes me think of Dorothy and her desire to return to Kansas. It also makes me think of modern Kansans who are using the wizardry of modern telecommunications to help their home state.
Jason Smith is general manager and CEO of Rainbow Communications in Everest, Kansas. He grew up in Everest and graduated from Horton High School.
“I figured I was never coming back,” Smith said. He went to K-State and became the first in his family to go to college. He was undecided what to pursue for a career.
“I knew about the jobs of the farmer and the banker, but this was during the farm crisis of the 1980s and neither of those was any fun,” Smith said. He had friends who were majoring in agricultural economics, so he joined them and got a degree in agribusiness.
Smith took a position with a John Deere dealer. He also met and married his wife, who is a teacher. They would have four children. The oldest now is an engineer and a K-State graduate. They have a daughter studying pre-physical therapy, a son in high school, and an eighth-grade daughter.
Smith’s hometown happened to be the headquarters of the Rainbow Telephone Cooperative Association (later known as Rainbow Communications). In 1998, the company advertised for its first-ever marketing manager. Smith applied for the job.
“I’m not sure any of us really knew what a marketing manager was supposed to do,” Smith said with a smile. “During the interview, they asked me, ‘What do you know about marketing?’ I said, `Well, I put ads in the paper for the last company that I worked for.’”
Smith got the job. He grew to learn a lot about market research and the telecommunications industry. In 2009, he earned an online MBA from Baker University. In 2016 when Rainbow’s previous general manager retired, Smith became CEO and general manager.
Rainbow Communications has worked hard to enhance the company’s service to the region. “We have fiber to the home in every place in Everest, and fiber within our co-op boundaries since 2012,” Smith said.
In 2005, Rainbow bought a local cable television company and expanded service. Rainbow replaced the existing co-axial cable with fiber.
In 1998, when Smith joined the company, Rainbow had 1500 cooperative members and nine employees. Now they have 40 employees and can serve 9700 locations. “We’re committed to a culture of service and we have a great team,” Smith said.
“We wouldn’t be where we are today without excellent leadership from our board of directors and the total buy-in from the organization. We developed a strategic plan and have persevered through challenges.”
Smith has seen firsthand the importance of broadband. He earned his MBA online from home while his kids were little. “Good access to the Internet made it possible,” Smith said.
The pandemic drove that lesson home again, when schools and businesses shut down and students were trying to do school from home. “It taught all of us the importance of broadband,” Smith said. “We put out hotspots to try to help students access their schoolwork.”
In particular, he said, Rainbow Communications emphasizes customer service. The company’s outreach led to a national award in 2015.
“We live in the communities we serve,” Smith said. “I value the feeling of being in a community and knowing your neighbor.”
Everest is a rural community of 265 people. Now, that’s rural. Smith has come to appreciate such small town connections. “From my office window, I can see my parent’s driveway,” he said.
For more information, see www.rainbowtel.net.
“Somewhere over the rainbow….” Just as Dorothy sang that song in The Wizard of Oz and rhapsodized about Kansas, we appreciate Kansans such as Jason Smith who are making a difference by investing in the future of their communities and their state.
After all, there’s no place like home….
And there’s more. That national award was part of a special initiative. We’ll learn about that next week.
