171 TV stations across America have decided to bring the national anthem back to the public airwaves.
At a time when most of Americans appear to have abandoned patriotism, Nexstar Media Group have decided to step in and do their part in reminding viewers why being American is good.
Westernjournal.com reports: When television first began to spread across the country, stations regularly closed the broadcast day by airing test patterns and “The Star-Spangled Banner.”
BYPASS THE CENSORS
Sign up to get unfiltered news delivered straight to your inbox.
You can unsubscribe any time. By subscribing you agree to our Terms of Use
As 24-hour programming grew in popularity, the opportunity to close out the broadcast day shrunk, and eventually the idea of the national anthem being played on TV “just because” was lost entirely.
I had to explain this to my own children not very long ago.
I’m not sure which baffled them more — a seemingly random playing of a song at the same time every day or the idea that things didn’t air on TV 24 hours a day, seven days a week. (By the end of our conversation, they knew that the song and the playing of it was not random.)
Beginning on Sept. 2, Nexstar stations will begin playing the anthem again, but this time at the beginning of the day.
Nexstar has also added a brilliant twist to the revived tradition. Each morning, a unique version of “The Star-Spangled Banner” will play, performed by up-and-coming musicians, according to KSN News in Oklahoma.
“Nexstar’s core mission is to provide exceptional service to the local communities where we operate across America through our organization-wide commitment to localism, unbiased local broadcast journalism and telling the local stories that matter to our viewers and their families,” Tim Busch, president of Nexstar Broadcasting, Inc., said in a news release, according to The Hill.
“Nexstar’s local teams take great pride in their ability to bring the local communities they serve together and that is why we are excited to partner with BMI and Belmont University to broadcast this new daily series featuring the Star-Spangled Banner that will air 365 days of each year,” Busch said.
“This unique collaboration supports higher education in business for the music and entertainment industry, while providing aspiring professional artists and songwriters a national distribution platform to showcase their respective talents.”
The collaboration between the network and musicians will not only bring back a patriotic tradition, but it will also provide a chance for aspiring artists to get national exposure.
As globalism and attacks on America’s history and founding (like The New York Times’ “1619 Project”) increase, patriotism will decrease even faster than it has been.
One remedy for that, however, is to bring patriotism back to the forefront of the entertainment industry. Showing pride in this country and our traditions will help reinvigorate that lost patriotic spirit.
Returning the national anthem to TV daily can help make that happen.
