Broadcaster's Foundation To Honor FCC's Ajit Pai

Ajit Pai

The Broadcasters Foundation of America has announced Federal Communications Commission Chairman (FCC) Ajit Pai as the recipient of this year’s Lowry Mays Excellence in Broadcasting Award.

The Award is bestowed annually on an individual in broadcasting whose work exemplifies innovation, community service, advocacy, and entrepreneurship. Chairman Pai will be presented with the Award at the Broadcasters Foundation Annual Breakfast, 7:00AM, Wednesday, April 22 in the Brahms Room of the Encore Hotel in Las Vegas, during the National Association of Broadcasters (NAB) Show.

Chairman Pai is known and respected for his regulatory philosophy, which is influenced by a few simple principles: more innovation, more investment, better products and services, lower prices, more job creation, and faster economic growth. Some selected issues that Chairman Pai has invested in are ATSC 3.0, media ownership regulation and modernization, First Amendment freedoms, and Public Safety.

He was designated Chairman of the FCC by President Donald J. Trump in January 2017. Prior to that, he served as Commissioner at the FCC, appointed by then-President Barack Obama and confirmed unanimously by the United States Senate in May 2012. In addition to his work with the FCC, Chairman Pai worked as Chief Counsel for the U.S. Senate Judiciary Committee’s Subcommittee on the Constitution, Civil Rights and Property Rights, under Chairman Sam Brownback; as Senior Counsel for the Office of Legal Policy at the U.S. Department of Justice; as Deputy Chief Counsel for the U.S. Senate Judiciary Committee’s Subcommittee on Administrative Oversight and the Court, under Chairman Jeff Sessions; as a Trial Attorney for the U.S. Department of Justice, Antitrust Division, Telecommunications Task Force; and as a Law Clerk for the Hon. Martin L.C. Feldman, U.S. District Court for the Eastern District of Louisiana.

The Lowry Mays Excellence in Broadcasting Award salutes its namesake and is underwritten by The Mays Family Foundation. Past recipients include Bill Clark, Eddie Fritts, Cathy Hughes, Mel Karmazin, Jeff Smulyan, Dick Wiley, and others. As previously announced, the Broadcasters Foundation will present the Leadership in Broadcasting Awards during the Breakfast.

Thanks to the generosity of its sponsors, the Breakfast is complimentary to all in broadcasting, although pre-registration is required. This year’s sponsors are: AccuRadio, National Association of Broadcasters (NAB), National Association of Media Brokers (NAMB), Nielsen, Radio Advertising Bureau (RAB), Television Bureau of Advertising (TVB), USTrust, and vCreative.

To register for the Broadcasters Foundation Breakfast, broadcasters can click here. To register via phone or email, and to obtain information on reserving a page in the Program Guide, please contact the Broadcasters Foundation at 212-373-8250 or info@thebfoa.org.