Wildcats Take the Airwaves: Inside Richmond Hill High School’s New Broadcast Studio By Amitrace
There’s something powerful about watching a student sit down behind a professional news desk, look into a camera, and tell a story — not as a simulation, but as a real, produced broadcast. That’s exactly what’s happening now at Richmond Hill High School in Richmond Hill, Georgia, and it’s changing what CTAE media education looks like in the Coastal Empire.
Amitrace recently completed the full installation of a professional-grade broadcast workflow at Richmond Hill High School, transforming the school’s media program into a production environment that rivals local television stations. From day one of training, students were in the seats, calling shots, running audio, and producing live content — and it showed.
A Studio Built for Real-World Learning
The centerpiece of the new space is a full broadcast studio featuring Blackmagic Design studio cameras, a custom Richmond Hill–branded news desk, a green screen backdrop, and POE lights from Ikan. Students aren’t reading from a sheet of paper — they’re delivering from Ikan teleprompters with talent monitors, just like working journalists do.
In the control room next door, multiple monitors line the walls. Students operate a TriCaster live production system, managing multi-camera feeds, graphics, audio mixing, and the teleprompter — all simultaneously. A Clear-Com intercom system connects the studio floor to the control room, giving students the same crew communication tools used in professional productions.
The workflow also includes the Amitrace VidPOD – a complete podcast production station with four cameras, custom-branded mic flags, professional headphones, and a purpose-built podcast table. Students can now produce interview content, school news segments, and even sports coverage, all from within the same facility.
Training That Sticks
What separates a successful media program from expensive equipment gathering dust is what happens after installation. Amitrace provided three consecutive days of hands-on, onsite training for Richmond Hill’s team and the results were immediate. By the end of training, students were producing content independently, with their teachers Stefanie Whiten, Gianna Perani, and Kennedie Thomas guiding them through real productions rather than theoretical exercises.
Building Skills That Last Beyond Graduation
The students running this studio are building résumé-ready skills in broadcast journalism, live production, audio engineering, and content creation. For a school in a growing community like Richmond Hill, a program like this doesn’t just enrich the classroom – it opens doors to careers in media, communications, and technology that students might never have imagined accessible to them.
At Amitrace, this is exactly the kind of partnership we exist to build. Not just delivering equipment, but equipping schools with the tools, training, and ongoing support to build programs that sustain themselves – and that change students’ trajectories.
If your district is ready to explore what a professional media program could look like for your students, we’d love to start that conversation.