Surrey students join global 26-hour broadcast

Students across the University of Surrey have been given a new challenge – to produce a one-hour live broadcast of quality content with just four weeks of preparation.

SKA-Meisters

The On Air programme, which will take place on 16 October 2025, mirrors the experience many broadcast professionals face on a regular basis. This initiative gives Surrey students a heads up before they graduate – demonstrating Surrey’s excellent track record of producing work-ready graduates.

Surrey's broadcast will be part of a 26-hour event, starting in Sydney, Australia, and finishing in Los Angeles, USA.

The production will contain performances from across the University’s School of Arts, Humanities and Creative Industries, including the University’s Big Band society and student bands, such as the SKA-Meisters.

Through working with Surrey’s Creative Challenge Lab, students have produced an arts and culture programme for the live broadcast, which will share poetry about the student life that thrives on campus and celebrate the cultural history of our international students through their national costumes. The production will also share the experience of living with a neurological condition through a film made in association with the University's world-renowned Guildford School of Acting.

Surrey is celebrating 55 years of its world-leading Music, and Music and Sound Recording (Tonmeister) degrees in 2025. The Tonmeister course has produced many BAFTA, Grammy, Emmy and Oscar-winning alumni, and Surrey's On Air hour will feature appearances from multi-Grammy award-winning sound mixer Oli Jacobs and multi-Emmy winner Michael Price.

Most professional productions take months to plan, but our students are pulling together a full hour of live television in just four weeks. It’s an ambitious, exciting challenge that brings together the creative talent across our University. There’s no better way to learn than by doing, especially in a live broadcast where teamwork and quick thinking matter most. Susan Pratt, Associate Head of Employability, School of Humanities, Arts and Creative Industries. Associate Professor

Students from across the University will take on every aspect of production, from scripting and pre-production to live sound, camerawork, graphics, vision mixing and other production gallery roles. They will be supported by Surrey’s Film Production and Broadcast Engineering team, as well as students from Stage Crew and StagTV, who have experience working on major live events such as Univision and Strictly Come Surrey.

This year’s challenge is designed to give students real-world experience under pressure, testing their creativity and teamwork in a professional environment. Alan Haigh, Senior Lecturer in audio and video, Programme Leader Film Production and Broadcast Engineering

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