How RaiderTV Streams Daily Live News Program with Telestream Wirecast

It’s 7:55am and RaiderTV, a student produced live news program at Cleveland Middle School, is streaming live to their school’s students and staff.

RaiderTV is part of a holistic curriculum at Cleveland Middle School in Cleveland, TN, under the umbrella of communications that focuses on oral, print, web, and video communication delivery systems. RaiderTV is a class, offered to 8th grade students at Cleveland Middle School, which provides students with real-life experiences in media, communications, and leadership.

The show airs every school morning and reaches 1,300 students and staff and then additionally reaches about 75-100 families after school hours. The broadcast includes the latest news and events at CMS, and it highlights varying aspects of school life. Students produce a special feature segment for each school day. On-demand videos are available for shows from the last two weeks for the convenience of students, parents, and faculty.

There are fourteen total staffed positions, and a student-producer oversees the production. RaiderTV has been recognized both locally and nationally for its high production value and professionalism in its broadcasts.

Challenge

In the beginning, Cleveland Middle School needed a way to produce their daily news show and tried using various streaming solutions. Unfortunately, the programs were unreliable, used too many system resources, and struggled to maintain audio and video sync. In addition, the pixilation on high motion video was too great and lowered the production quality.

In the end, they implemented Telestream Wirecast live streaming production software. In addition to providing excellent streaming stability, Wirecast allowed them
to use complex graphics during the production of the show without expensive or complex graphics systems with alpha channels. And it was easy to use.

“We consistently produce high quality broadcasts with Wirecast and the best part is that it’s so easy to use that the students just click a button to start the stream,” says Cody Raper, Communications Instructor at Cleveland Middle School.

Their set up:

•  A 2012 iMac with an Intel i5 processor is located in the master control room next to the soundboard
• 4 Canon XF-105 cameras are run over HD-SDI tosend camera feeds from 3 different sets back to the master control room
• The soundboard is a PreSonus StudioLive 16.0.2 digital mixer
• 5 Shure SM93 lavalier microphones
• Non-keyed graphics and packages are provided from the iMac running RenewedVision’s ProPresenter

Results

By implementing Wirecast to produce RaiderTV, Cleveland Middle School has seen an increase in student engagement. Students now have an enhanced awareness of special events and extracurricular activities through the special features on the show. Additionally, RaiderTV is used for trivia questions and content refresher segments, which helps prepare students for standardized testing. In a nutshell, the daily live stream has unified the school, enhanced school pride, and provided an avenue to effectively communicate information.

For more information about how others are using Telestream Wirecast, or to download a free trial of the software, go to www.telestream.net/wirecast. Visit Telestream’s ISTE booth #3425 to see Wirecast in action.