jerry chief scullawl

Jerry “Chief” Scullawl, Orbitel Communications Chief Technology Officer, is presented with his Southwest Cable Television Hall of Fame plaque, by Harvey Boyd. Boyd is a former Western Broadband president and CEO who retired in 2010. He is also a Hall of Fame member.

Jerry “Chief’” Scullawl of Orbitel Communications in Sun Lakes, AZ was inducted into the Southwest Cable Television’s Hall of Fame at a dinner in Scottsdale.

Inductees are cited for their long tenure in the industry and for significant contributions to the development of cable television in Arizona, New Mexico and Nevada.

The Cable TV Pioneer Hall of Fame was organized in 1987 by the members of the Southwest Cable Telecommunications Association to recognize outstanding contributions to the cable television industrv.

A stint in the U.S. Navy took Scullawl from an Oklahoma Indian Reservation to the head ends of the cable TV industry, and 33 years later he is Chief Technology Officer at Orbitel Communications in Arizona.

After being introduced to cable systems in the Navy, Jerry began working as an installer for Tulsa Cable, promoted after six months and a year later. At the age of 26 he was responsible for 23 headends for Storrs Communication throughout Texas, Oklahoma and Kansas. Over time and consolidations he was Chief Technician with Star Cable and Charter Communications.

This was followed by a stint with Southwestern Bell and then a period when he was designing new systems for smaller rural areas in Colorado, New Mexico and Arizona. This led him to Western Broadband in 2005 where he rebuilt an aging system.

When Schurz Communications acquired Western Broadband and Orbitel in 2012 they discovered they had a “Chief” Technical Officer with extensive knowledge, ingenuity and vision. As Schurz integrates the two cable systems into one Arizona entity, Orbitel Communications, Jerry is leading the engineering challenges.

Jerry is married to Melba and has two children and seven grandchildren.

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