Key Points
- FCC Chairman Brendan Carr is urging broadcasters to air patriotic programming through a voluntary “Pledge America Campaign” tied to the nation’s 250th anniversary.
- The initiative suggests PSAs, historical segments and daily patriotic features, though it creates no new mandates amid heightened FCC oversight of station licenses.
- Commissioner Anna Gomez criticized the effort as government overreach, while the NAB plans related spots as it pursues pending regulatory changes before the FCC.
Federal Communications Commission (FCC) Chairman Brendan Carr is urging broadcasters to air “patriotic, pro-America programming” as part of a voluntary initiative tied to the nation’s 250th anniversary.
In a statement this week, Carr invited radio and television stations to join the agency’s “Pledge America Campaign,” which aligns with a broader White House effort to mark the semiquincentennial during the upcoming Fourth of July holiday and beyond. President Donald Trump has taken a personal interest in the anniversary observance, and his administration has reviewed Smithsonian exhibits to ensure they reflect a directive celebrating American exceptionalism.
Carr said broadcasters are “uniquely positioned” to promote civic education, national pride and shared history, arguing that civics education is in decline and noting that “classic programming such as ‘Schoolhouse Rock!’ is now only found in online archives.”
The FCC outlined examples of how stations could participate, including airing public service announcements or specials devoted to American history, incorporating historical segments into local news coverage and highlighting nearby National Park Service sites. Other suggestions include beginning each broadcast day with the “Star Spangled Banner” or the Pledge of Allegiance, running daily “Today in American History” features and airing music by composers such as John Philip Sousa, Aaron Copland, Duke Ellington and George Gershwin.
The initiative does not create new regulatory mandates. However, Carr referenced broadcasters “taking the pledge” and “fulfilling their public interest mandate” in the same context, language that has drawn attention given the FCC’s oversight of station licenses.
Several large broadcast groups have merger applications and other regulatory matters pending before the commission, a factor that could influence how the industry responds. One of those broadcasters, Sinclair, has already committed to producing “America 250” programming on its local TV stations and national outlets.
The announcement also comes amid friction between Carr and some broadcasters. This week, CBS late-night host Stephen Colbert accused corporate lawyers at his network of overly accommodating new equal time guidance from the chairman by sidelining an interview with Democratic Senate candidate James Talarico. CBS denied the allegation and Carr dismissed the criticism, saying Colbert had other options to air the interview.
Commissioner Anna Gomez, the FCC’s lone Democrat, criticized the campaign in a social media post.
“Nothing is more American than defending our constitutional rights against those who would erode our civil liberties,” Gomez wrote. “If broadcasters choose to participate in this FCC campaign, they can do so by defending their First Amendment rights and refusing government interference.”
The National Association of Broadcasters (NAB), the commercial broadcasting industry’s main lobbying organization, says it will debut new television and radio spots and associated production tools at an upcoming conference for stations that choose to participate in the America 250 effort as urged by Carr.
The NAB currently has a handful of business-related proposals pending before the FCC, including a demand that the agency force broadcasters to switch off their current digital signals in favor of NextGen TV transmissions by 2030 and lift arguably-onerous media ownership rules that would allow radio and TV station owners to acquire more stations and consolidate their operations.
Curtis LeGeyt, the CEO of NAB, previously said he felt the Trump administration would act favorably when it comes to the organization’s regulatory wish list.
