Clear-Com Powers On Air 2026 Student Broadcast With Integrated Intercom

Clear-Com supported On Air 2026, a 24-hour, student-run global broadcast that linked 45 universities across 30 countries. The company supplied Station-IC virtual intercom panels, an Eclipse HX Digital Matrix system and FreeSpeak Cell wireless beltpacks to streamline communications at the University of Westminster's School of Media and Communication in London.

Running from 1 a.m. GMT on 22 October to 1 a.m. GMT on 23 October, the event carried five dedicated YouTube channels covering culture, kids, news, sport and film. More than 2,500 students, staff and industry partners contributed content from Australia, New Zealand, Africa, Asia, Europe, the UK, North America and South America.

Led by Carrie Wootten, producer of On Air 24 and CEO of Media Talent Manifesto, this year's edition scaled up from a single-channel output to five channels across four studios. The end-to-end workflow was fully cloud-based, supported by technology from over 40 industry partners.

"On Air 2026 was an incredible opportunity to bring together students and industry partners from around the world to experience the collaboration and coordination required to deliver a complex broadcast," said Wootten. "With five channels running across multiple studios and a fully cloud-based production workflow, everyone was able to stay connected and working together throughout the 24 hours."

Clear-Com provided Station-IC panels to more than 30 universities, linking them to an Eclipse HX Delta matrix frame at the University of Westminster via a fixed IP address. Two E-IPA interface cards in the Delta frame kept the external comms network isolated from the university's internal network. One E-IPA card supported five lever key panels for channel operators and two lever key panels for the main MCR team.

To extend comms beyond the control room, the production deployed four FreeSpeak Cell beltpacks at key locations. Operating over the public 5G cellular network, students and crew received cues and spoke directly with channel operators, including inside the auditorium hosting the film channel and awards programming.

Additional FreeSpeak Cell beltpacks supported the newsroom for the news and kids channels, the TV studio for the culture channel and roaming engineering across campus. One beltpack also served as the primary communications point in the podcast studio.

This blend of virtual panels, a centralised matrix and cellular wireless comms enabled seamless co-ordination across multiple sites throughout the continuous broadcast.

"Having taken part in last year's On Air, which broadcast a single channel of YouTube content presented from one TV studio, we knew that this year's 24 hours would be more of a challenge with five channels presented from four studios," said John Sparrow, EMEA senior systems consultant at Clear-Com. "By utilizing the Delta matrix and FreeSpeak Cell alongside Station-IC and hardware panels, we were able to scale the system up to give a seamless communications experience to the students and industry volunteers who took part."

Clear-Com's involvement also helped nurture emerging broadcast talent while engaging with cutting-edge cloud production tools. The event followed the success of On Air 24, which won the Collaborative Team Award at the Royal Television Society Awards; the 2026 broadcast coincided with the ceremony on 22 October.

The On Air 2026 content can be viewed on the On Air YouTube channel: www.youtube.com/@thisisonair.