At sunrise Sunday, the sun set on the iconic building that had served as the headquarters of Jones International and Jones Intercable, the MSO founded by Glenn R. Jones, the cable pioneer and entrepreneur, who died on July 7, 2015, at age 85.

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The building, located just south of Denver along 1-25 at 9697 East Mineral Ave. in Englewood, was completed in 1984 and served as the corporate headquarters of Jones Intercable, a major U.S. MSO that was sold to Comcast in April 1999. It also was home to several other Jones-run businesses through the years, including education network Mind Extension University (ME/U) (later renamed Knowledge TV), Jones Cyber Solutions, Jones International University (a distance education school founded by Jones in 1993 and shut down in April 2015), and Jones/NCTI, a cable training company that was acquired by Stacey Slaughter in late 2015 and rebranded as NCTI in June 2016. The building came down as The Opus Group prepares to start the next phase of a new mixed-use, master-planned project called The Jones District.  

South Metro Fire Rescue conducted the implosion early Sunday morning, according to 9News/KUSA-TV, which has also posted a video of the demolition.

South Metro Fire Rescue also tweeted videos of the demolition, including this alternate view: 

Another impressive view of the Jones implosion from 06:45 a.m. today. pic.twitter.com/2SocqkT8V6

— SouthMetroFireRescue (@SouthMetroPIO) October 8, 2017

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A group of former Jones “associates” (Glenn Jones preferred that term over “employees”) gathered Saturday (October 7) afternoon to bid good-bye to the building, reminisce, and to raise a toast to the late cable executive and pioneer, who was also referred to as the “The Poet of Technology,” as he composed several volumes of poetry under the pen name of Yankee Jones, and wrote numerous books about his visions, including Cyberschools: An Education Renaissance, Free Market Fusion, and Make All America a School, among others.

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Another, smaller group gathered Sunday (October 8) morning, soon after the building was reduced to rubble.

Jim Honiotes, a former Jones associate who is now executive director of Prosonta Associates, has been using Facebook to post information about the demolition and to offer a place on social media for others to contribute their remembrances.

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“There were a few who enjoyed the building's very first (leaky) days in July 1985 and many who came later or stayed longer,” Honiotes wrote. “But don't think for a minute that this was ‘just a building’ or a place to work. It was a feeling of belonging, of pride in your work, in enjoying your co-workers, giving your best and being appreciated. This futuristic space-ship-inspired building launched many successful careers and taught thousands of people that being FOR something would always be better than being AGAINST something.”

Honiotes also confirmed that a former Jones associate is now in possession of the "JONES" letters that comprised a sign that was emblazoned on the northeast corner of the building, facing the highway.

Despite the razing of the building, the Jones name will live on in the area. The Jones District, located west of I-25, is a multi-use, master planned development by Opus Development Company, and named for Glenn Jones.

Opus has already started a 306-unit apartment building to be called “The Glenn at The Jones District,” with completion slated for February 2018. There’s also a proposal for an eight-story mixed use project that will consist of two office buildings as well as a mix of “street-oriented retail” to be located adjacent to the District’s central park.

The Jones organization sold the remainder of The Jones District on June 17 to Opus, according to an official, who added that there is no immediate plan for the land that contained the original Jones HQ building, but that conversations are underway.

[Editor's Note: The author of this article was an employee of Jones Education Networks and ME/U from 1994 to 1998.]

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Poet, technologist, educator, businessman, entrepreneur — Glenn Jones was all of that and more to the people he encountered in the cable business over the past 50 years.

One of the true cable pioneers — he famously borrowed $400 against his Volkswagen to buy his first system in 1967 — Jones died at 85 years old on July 7. He leaves behind his companion of 34 years, Dianne Eddolls; daughters Christine Marocco and Suzanne Jones; son John Paul; grandsons Joseph and Daniel Marocco and David Jones; sister Ruth Terrian; brother Neil Jones; and numerous nieces and nephews.

In an industry full of outsized personalities, Jones stood out in his own way. Introspective and scholarly, he joined the U.S. Navy after graduating from Allegheny College with a degree in economics and served in its underwater bomb-disposal unit. He received a law degree in 1961 from the University of Colorado School of Law, and launched his cable career by representing MSOs in their acquisition efforts.

In 1964, Jones put his law career on hold to run for the U.S. Congress in Colorado’s First Congressional District (Denver). After an unsuccessful run, he decided to renew his focus on the cable television industry.

TOP-10 CABLE OPERATOR

But Jones made his mark in the cable industry, parlaying that $400 investment to help create what would at its peak become one of the 10 largest cable companies in the country with about 1.4 million subscribers. He sold Jones Intercable to Comcast in 1999.

“I affectionately referred to Glenn Jones as the ‘cable poet’ because he was such a unique and multitalented individual,” Mediacom Communications founder, chairman and CEO Rocco Commisso said in a statement. “After 32 incredibly successful years at Jones Intercable, Glenn followed his entrepreneurial instincts and poured his creative talents into a number of other highly successful ventures.”

Jones wrote a lot of poetry — he published several volumes of Briefcase Poetry of Yankee Jones — but that wasn’t his only passion. Over his nearly 50 years in the business, he pioneered forming public limited partnerships as a way to finance cable acquisitions, laid the groundwork for what would become the industry’s most profitable business line — high-speed Internet service — and created the first accredited online university in Jones International University.

“Glenn was truly a Renaissance man,” said friend Decker Anstrom, the former National Cable Television Association president and former president of Landmark Communications. “He had such varied interests. You could sit down with him and one moment he’d be talking about finance, then about poetry or politics. And of course his true passion was education.”

And he wasn’t afraid to take on a fight.

Anstrom cited the significance of Jones’s Alexandria, Va., system, which first showed the power of two-way cable by demonstrating an Internet connection in 1993. At that time, there was a lot of turmoil in the industry as telcos were putting heavy pressure on Congress to allow them into the cable business.

“Glenn’s basic view was, ‘Why should we be afraid of that?’ ”Anstrom said. “We’re more nimble, we will have a better plant and we’ll be able to do things they can’t do, and we have this relationship with customers through our video service.”

It helped that at the time, as Congress was pushing for more competition in the video industry, it also was looking for new phone-industry entrants to balance out the telcos’ dominance of that business.

VITAL DEMONSTRATION

“I think Glenn’s ability to demonstrate hands-on what could happen was very pivotal in changing a lot of people’s minds that cable could be the competitor to wireline telephony,” Anstrom said. In order to do that, Jones and the cable industry convinced regulators that MSOs needed access to investment capital to rapidly upgrade their plant, which led to the reversal of the 1992 Cable Act and to the 1996 Telecom Act.

Jones also recognized early that original content would drive pay TV subscriptions. He had a hand in creating several networks through his Jones Media Networks, including Great American Country, which was sold to Scripps Networks in 2004, and Knowledge TV. His Jones Entertainment Group produced award-winning documentaries and movies such as The Mystery of Genius, The Secret of Roan Inish, The Story Lady, The Whipping Boy and The Little Kidnappers.

“Glenn was a man before his time,” Jones/NCTI CEO Stacey Slaughter said in a statement. “He leaves a tremendous legacy for our Jones companies and for the industries he served.”

A memorial service for Jones is scheduled for July 29 11 a.m. (MT) at the Ellie Caulkins Opera House in the Denver Center for the Performing Arts (1101 13th St.) in Denver. A reception will follow in the Seawell Ballroom.

In lieu of flowers, donations may be sent to: Denver Area Council, Boy Scouts of America, 10455 W. 6th Ave. No. 100, Denver, CO, 80215; or Volunteers of America, Colorado Branch, 2660 Larimer St., Denver, CO, 80205.

Jones International University, the Colorado-based distance education school founded by cable pioneer Glenn R. Jones in 1993, will be shutting down due to a sharp decline in enrollments, according to theDenver Business Journal.

The publication said JIU’s decision follows a 55% drop in enrollments between 2011 and 2014, leaving it with about 2,000 students.

The decision will not impact the operations of Jones/NCTI, a provider of workforce education, career planning and performance products for the cable/broadband industry that is headquartered at the Jones building in Centennial, Colo. (pictured). “Jones/NCTI will continue to provide employee training, consulting services, and online educational services for the cable/telecommunications industry,” a spokeswoman said via email.

In a message on its Web site, JIU said currently enrolled students have been alerted to the impending closure and its timeline, along with details about how they can transfer their studies to Trident University International as part of a formal agreement. Trident, founded in 1998, is an online university based in Cypress, Calif.

“Jones International University is committed to a smooth and orderly transition and providing you clear direction and information during this time,” JIU added.

TheDenver Business Journalsaid JIU expects to complete its wind-down over the next 12 to 15 months, noting that students with less than a year left in their studies will be able to complete their courses and graduate from JIU.

JIU, once billed as “The University of the Web,” began to offer classes in the spring of 1995. JIU was the first online university to receive accreditation, obtaining that distinction in 1999 from the Higher Learning Commission of the North Central Association of  Colleges and Schools. JIU awarded its first graduate degree in 1997.  

Glenn Jones, who sold Jones Intercable, once a top-10 cable operator, to Comcast in April 1999, has been a leading proponent of distance learning, going back to Mind Extension University (ME/U)*, an education-focused cable channel that launched in 1987 and was sold to Discovery in 1999, when the Jones-run programmer was known as Knowledge TV. Jones has also authored books about his vision for distance learning and online education, including Make All America A School and Cyberschools: An Education Renaissance.

Jones’s legacy and passion for distance learning will live on at Trident.

"The decision to close JIU was particularly difficult for our founder, Glenn R. Jones, who poured his energy and personal financial resources into making JIU the first regionally accredited fully online university,” Bryan Wallace, JIU’s COO, said in a statement to the DBJ.  “In recognition of Mr. Jones’s military service, entrepreneurial spirit and extensive contributions to the fields of business and education, TUI is renaming its College of Business Administration The Glenn R. Jones College of Business Administration."

*The author of this article, Multichannel News technology editor Jeff Baumgartner, was an employee of Jones Education Networks and ME/U from 1994 to 1998, and took several courses from JIU.