ALAMEDA, Calif.—Clear-Com recently contributed its Gen-IC virtual intercom solution to power real-time communications for On-Air Student TV, a 24-hour global student broadcast organized by media leader Carrie Wootten under the banner of the Global Media and Entertainment Talent Manifesto.
The broadcast brought together 913 students, staff and industry volunteers across 17 locations on six continents with more than 10,000 YouTube viewers tuning in to watch the 24-hour live stream.
Gen-IC connected program directors at Ravensbourne University in London and participating universities from Brisbane, Australia, to Los Angeles, via São Paulo, Brazil, Mumbai, India and across Europe, all without the need for dedicated intercom hardware, Clear-Com said.
“Each participating university was provided with Clear-Com’s Station-IC virtual desktop client, allowing teams to easily coordinate their contributions,” John Sparrow, Clear-Com’s technical support engineer for the project, said.
“Once installed on a PC or Mac, all they needed was a headset to achieve perfect communications. Gen-IC reliably linked all Station-IC instances via the cloud, giving teams full real-time connectivity wherever they were.”
Some universities took integration a step further, linking Station-IC to their local wired intercom systems. Students at Mulberry University Technical College (UTC) in London, for example, worked with Rise Academy to integrate a Stream Deck controller using the latest Station-IC update, creating a physical interface for operating the comms, the company said.
“I stayed up for 36 hours straight to support the initiative, and it was very much worth it,” said Sparrow. “With contributions from 17 locations on six continents, the buzz in the temporary MCR was incredible.”
The broadcast also made history as the first live event to incorporate the Time Addressable Media Store (TAMS), an open-source API specification developed by BBC Research & Development. More than 30 industry partners including Sky, AWS, ITV Studios, SMPTE, Vizrt, Levira and Techex joined forces on the project, working under Wootten’s leadership to deliver a global, collaborative showcase of student talent and media innovation.
“Clear-Com’s Gen-IC unlocked a level of coordination and professionalism that elevated this project to new heights,” said Wootten, founder of the Global Media and Entertainment Talent Manifesto. “It’s beyond what I imagined we could achieve, and it demonstrates the power of industry and education coming together.”
More information is available on the Clear-Com website.
