Welcome to the world of live streaming.

Whether you are broadcasting student news and sports, guest lectures, award ceremonies, or graduations, having access to a quality live streaming setup can open up new avenues for reaching your audience and engaging with your community. Starting from scratch can be a daunting prospect. We can help you understand the basics, and offer suggestions that will help you to establish a successful, affordable live streaming setup.

Wirecast is used in schools, colleges, universities and technical institutions all over the world. Professors, teachers and online educators use Wirecast to stream presentations, courses and lectures, online classes, software demos, tutorials, meetings and conferences, as well as public events.

Administrators and technology coordinators use Wirecast to stream graduations and special events, district meetings, and inter-organizational trainings and seminars.

Students use Wirecast to learn broadcasting techniques, build and grow community, broadcast sports, news, and school events, among many other uses.

Background.

The broadcast media program at Whitney High School, a public high school in Rocklin, California, USA, stands out as one of the most impressive and successful programs of its kind in the country. Their student-produced 15-minute daily newscast, Unleashed, has won numerous national awards for excellence in student broadcasting. Today, the program has expanded into a full-fledged community television station, branded as WCTV19, which is watched on the school’s campus-wide channel 19, on two local cable channel systems, and on the school’s social media outlets

Challenge.

Since professional video equipment is typically a big capital expense, the biggest challenge that has faced the broadcast media program has been financial. Over the years, Ben Barnholdt, Teacher/Director of the Broadcast Media Program, has managed to raise the money he needed to launch and expand their broadcast facilities through inventive means. Through a GoFundMe campaign and a technology grant, the program recently acquired a new 25-foot broadcast production trailer that’s pulled by a pickup truck. The trailer’s interior has new flooring, carpeted walls, equipment racks, consoles, wiring, cabling and air conditioning.

Solution.

By continually expanding and upgrading their facilities, and taking good care of the equipment they own, WCTV19 now looks like a professional television station. The current equipment complement includes Wirecast software, Studio with a news set, 4 HDTV studio cameras, Teleprompter, Microphones and a Bluescreen background. During the production, a student crew runs the cameras and teleprompters in the studio. In the control room, a separate student crew handles the technical execution of the show. While Wirecast integrates the functionality of video production switcher, Barnholdt has one student switching the four camera feeds using a third-party production switcher. Then that switcher’s output flows in real-time into Wirecast where the show’s finishing touches are added.