Students Host Second Global On Air Broadcast
Over 2,500 students across six continents collaborated to produce five specialized broadcast channels.
Updated on Oct. 23, 2026 in Distance Learning
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Students from 48 global locations participated in the second annual On Air broadcast, a massive collaborative production centered at Westminster University in London. The project featured five distinct channels covering topics ranging from sports and film to news and culture.
Why it matters
The initiative aims to expand educational reach by providing inclusive, real-world broadcasting opportunities to university students worldwide. By coordinating complex schedules across time zones, the project simulates professional media operations on a global scale.
The production utilized the Mimir media asset management system supported by AWS S3 buckets to deliver five channels. Over 100 industry supporters contributed to the event which reached participants across six continents.
The players
Westminster University
This London-based institution served as the primary production hub for the global broadcast.
Carrie Wootten
She is a partner who initiated planning for the broadcast project in late 2025.
Doug Specht
He is a partner who worked alongside Carrie Wootten to coordinate the international project planning.
The details
Coordinated from a main hub at Westminster University, organizers managed diverse program lengths and complex scheduling across different time zones. The project relied on advanced infrastructure to manage media assets effectively across the widespread network of universities.
Timeline
December 2025: Carrie Wootten and Doug Specht began partnership planning.
January 2026: Organizers released the first press statement for the project.
October 2026: The On Air 2026 global broadcast occurred.
Culture Shift
The broadcast project demonstrates a broader shift toward decentralized, cloud-native production workflows enabled by the Mimir media asset management system. This approach reflects an increasing integration of professional industry tools into international distance learning environments.
Students participating in such global projects gain hands-on experience with professional media asset management workflows that are currently standard in the broadcasting industry. This project provides a practical model for how universities can overcome geographic barriers through collaborative technology.
The takeaway
This global event highlights the feasibility of coordinating large-scale productions using distributed cloud infrastructure. Students interested in media production can seek out similar collaborative networks to build practical skills beyond traditional coursework.
Further reading
For more information on trends in global media education, visit our Distance Learning section.
Source note: This article includes information reported by TVBEurope.
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