Your Election Soundtrack: McCain and Obama Online Radio Channels

Fight disinformation: Sign up for the free Mother Jones Daily newsletter and follow the news that matters.


mojo-photo-slacker.jpgWe here on the Riff have tried to keep track of the musical metanarratives floating along beside the presidential candidates’ campaigns, but mostly, that’s consisted of tallying up musicians endorsing Obama and threatening to sue McCain. At points, though, both candidates have expressed their own personal tastes in music, perhaps McCain most infamously. Well, the smart kids over at online radio company Slacker have sifted through the interviews and events of the last 22 months and compiled songs the candidates have said they like and music played at their rallies, creating two new stations: Obama and McCain Radio. Full disclosure: I’ve done some audio production work for these guys, so I suppose this is logrolling, but the LA Times beat me to the story anyway. Programmer Scott Riggs told me he controlled his snarkier instincts, resisting the urge to include songs that could be interpreted as being about the candidates. I suggested Neil Young’s “Old Man” and maybe something from Dumbo (cause of the big ears, see) but the channels play it straight: Obama Radio features Bob Dylan, Stevie Wonder, Earth Wind & Fire and Sheryl Crow, while McCain Radio features the aforelinked ABBA, Elvis, The Beach Boys (har) and of course, John Rich’s “Raisin’ McCain.” Which station is better? Well, I have to admit, the ornery old McCain channel’s got a certain, um, erratic charm, while Obama’s looks a lot like middle-of-the-road AAA radio. But Obama’s got Kanye, so I think he wins.

Listen for free under “Slacker Spotlight” at Slacker.com.

THE FACTS SPEAK FOR THEMSELVES.

At least we hope they will, because that’s our approach to raising the $350,000 in online donations we need right now—during our high-stakes December fundraising push.

It’s the most important month of the year for our fundraising, with upward of 15 percent of our annual online total coming in during the final week—and there’s a lot to say about why Mother Jones’ journalism, and thus hitting that big number, matters tremendously right now.

But you told us fundraising is annoying—with the gimmicks, overwrought tone, manipulative language, and sheer volume of urgent URGENT URGENT!!! content we’re all bombarded with. It sure can be.

So we’re going to try making this as un-annoying as possible. In “Let the Facts Speak for Themselves” we give it our best shot, answering three questions that most any fundraising should try to speak to: Why us, why now, why does it matter?

The upshot? Mother Jones does journalism you don’t find elsewhere: in-depth, time-intensive, ahead-of-the-curve reporting on underreported beats. We operate on razor-thin margins in an unfathomably hard news business, and can’t afford to come up short on these online goals. And given everything, reporting like ours is vital right now.

If you can afford to part with a few bucks, please support the reporting you get from Mother Jones with a much-needed year-end donation. And please do it now, while you’re thinking about it—with fewer people paying attention to the news like you are, we need everyone with us to get there.

payment methods

THE FACTS SPEAK FOR THEMSELVES.

At least we hope they will, because that’s our approach to raising the $350,000 in online donations we need right now—during our high-stakes December fundraising push.

It’s the most important month of the year for our fundraising, with upward of 15 percent of our annual online total coming in during the final week—and there’s a lot to say about why Mother Jones’ journalism, and thus hitting that big number, matters tremendously right now.

But you told us fundraising is annoying—with the gimmicks, overwrought tone, manipulative language, and sheer volume of urgent URGENT URGENT!!! content we’re all bombarded with. It sure can be.

So we’re going to try making this as un-annoying as possible. In “Let the Facts Speak for Themselves” we give it our best shot, answering three questions that most any fundraising should try to speak to: Why us, why now, why does it matter?

The upshot? Mother Jones does journalism you don’t find elsewhere: in-depth, time-intensive, ahead-of-the-curve reporting on underreported beats. We operate on razor-thin margins in an unfathomably hard news business, and can’t afford to come up short on these online goals. And given everything, reporting like ours is vital right now.

If you can afford to part with a few bucks, please support the reporting you get from Mother Jones with a much-needed year-end donation. And please do it now, while you’re thinking about it—with fewer people paying attention to the news like you are, we need everyone with us to get there.

payment methods

We Recommend

Latest

Sign up for our free newsletter

Subscribe to the Mother Jones Daily to have our top stories delivered directly to your inbox.

Get our award-winning magazine

Save big on a full year of investigations, ideas, and insights.

Subscribe

Support our journalism

Help Mother Jones' reporters dig deep with a tax-deductible donation.

Donate