I believe you can do that in Adobe Imageready.
I would just make my icon, then go into photoshop, do the text and background [on 2 separate layers] then go back to Imageready, select all frames in the animation then click the text and background layer on in the Layers palette. They should then apply to all the frames in your animation.
Aaaaand I just read that you needed a
free program.
If you get your hands on the program, *then* use the above method.