WIWU-TV once again extended its reach around the world with live coverage of the NAIA Track and Field National Championships last May. The station presented approximately 20 hours of competition during the three day meet, through multiple Internet streams and local broadcast television.
Since NAIA athletes come to North American colleges and universities from many international locations, viewers watched WIWU-TV from 60 different countries, including Germany, The United Kingdom, New Zealand, France and Australia. The station served nearly 210,000 individual web streams, representing over 23,000 unique visitors who saw at least part of the webcast.
“This has turned into one of the highlights of our year both for WIWU-TV and our media students,” said Dr. Randall E. King, IWU Director of Broadcast Media. “It’s so satisfying knowing you’ve got these beautiful shots of exciting competition and families and friends of the athletes are watching from all over the world,” he said.
This is the third year WIWU-TV covered the championships live since Indiana Wesleyan University began hosting the event in 2010. It takes a massive commitment of equipment and personnel to make the IWU track broadcast-ready. At peak competition times, the crew ran eight cameras, two graphic computers, instant replay and up to 4 simultaneous live streams. The TV control room operated from a large tent in the stadium infield, with platforms and cabling set up specifically for the international webcasts.
Fans at the track stadium also got to enjoy WIWU-TV’s video for the first time on a special jumbo screen, visible throughout the arena. IWU Media Communication students, alumni and several Communication/Theatre faculty were on the broadcast team in on-air and behind the scenes roles. The production is coordinated by full time staff of WIWU-TV.
Watch highlights from the WIWU-TV Coverage:
Watch coverage of the NAIA Marathon:
