IRVING, Texas—Nexstar television stations are bringing back an old tradition with a new twist this Labor Day, daily broadcasts of “The Star Spangled Banner.” Nexstar is the second station group that will be including these daily broadcasts of the national anthem—Gray TV announced it was doing so back in June—but it will have emerging singer/songwriters record their own versions.

In a partnership with Broadcast Music Inc. and Belmont Unviersity’s Curb College of Entertainment and Music Business, performers will record their own version of a music video for “The Star Spangled Banner” that will be produced at Belmont’s Ocean Way Studios. Nexstar will broadcast these renditions at the beginning and end of the day across 171 stations in 100 markets, reaching an estimated 43 million homes.

“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,” said Tim Busch. President of Nexstar Broadcasting. “We look forward to returning the time-honored tradition of including the National Anthem in our stations’ broadcasts with this new partnership.”

ALTANTA—Gray Television is reclaiming a TV tradition dating back to the days when television stations signed off air in the wee hours of the morning by playing the National Anthem against a montage of landscapes, skylines, national landmarks, ordinary people, waving flags and other patriotic imagery (as seen here).

Valley News Live (KVLY-TV, the Gray-owned NBC affiliate serving Fargo, N.D.,) is reporting that Gray Media Group Executive Chairman and CEO Hilton Howell announced the decision to begin airing the anthem daily in 94 local markets around the country during last week’s annual meeting of Gray Television news directors.

The tradition of airing the anthem at the close and at the beginning of each broadcast day gradually faded away as television stations launched 24-hour operations in the 1980s and ‘90s.

An article by the station on its website quotes Valley News Live GM/News Director Ike Walker as saying: “We love this country and being able to work with our sister stations across the United States to bring this tradition back to the local airwaves is something we are extremely proud of.”

This week the station began airing a rendition of the National Anthem every morning during its Valley News Live. Nine-year-old Reina Ozbay, a classically trained soprano from South Florida, performs the anthem.