Cox Flips The Athens Dial To “Obama Radio”: Well, It’s Better Than “The Pole”

noah | October 1, 2009 5:00 pm

So a station in Athens, Ga., has celebrated “April Fool Plus Six Months Day” by switching from its classic-rock format to “Obama 100.1 Athens Government Controlled Radio,” in a bit of jokey-not-funny programming that’s reminiscent of that awful “Stripper Radio” switch that took place in Denver a few months ago. As you can tell by the picture taken from the site at left, which refers to Obama as Keith Urban, this little prank was not very well-thought-out, and as such is probably temporary. Which is kind of a shame, because the playlist—which they’re mixing with speeches by President Barack Obama and segments that are allegedly simulcast from the Cox-owned Hawaiian station KCCN—is pretty awesome, even if it was probably concocted by a bunch of snickering frat boys who think “Disco sucks” is still a good comedy line. A radio-info listener posted this playlist from earlier today:

“Boogie Shoes” KC & The Sunshine Band “You Ain’t Seen Nothing Yet” Bachman Turner Overdrive “You’re The First, My Last, My Everything” Barry White “Dancing Queen” ABBA “You Keep Me Hanging On” Kim Wilde “Steppin’ Out” Joe Jackson “Off The Wall” Michael Jackson “I Wanna Dance With Somebody” Whitney Houston Back to simulcast of KCCN Mercury Poisoning PSA Junior Achievement PSA Back to KCCN simulcast “Living In America” James Brown “Rumors” Timex Social Club “Easy Lover” Phillip Bailey/Phil Collins “Cassanova” Levert New WPUP ID w/Obama Speech “Conga” Miami Sound Machine “Like A Virgin” Madonna “Shake Your Groove Thing” Peaches & Herb “I Just Want To Celebrate” Rare Earth “Ice Ice Baby” Vanilla Ice Back To KCCN simulcast “Dance, Dance, Dance” Chic “Macho Man” Village People “Groove Is In The Heart” Dee-Lite “Do You Love Me” The Contours “Feels Good” Tony! Toni! Tone! New WPUP ID w/Obama Speech “Jump Jive & Wail” Brian Setzer Orchestra “Soul Man” The Blues Brothers “Never Gonna Give You Up” Rick Astley “Let It Whip” Dazz Band “Ring My Bell” Anita Ward “Born To Be Alive” Patrick Hernandez Back to KCCN simulcast “Supafly” Curtis Mayfield “Theme From Shaft” Issac Hayes

LOL, a Rickroll and the theme from Shaft! Get it? (It’s because the President’s black.) Anyway, minus the very lame bumpers about “government controlled radio” and the snipped-up speeches that are obviously designed to rile up anyone with even a cursory interest in politics, I would totally listen to this! “Casanova”? “Easy Lover”? “Born To Be Alive”???? C’mon. I spoke with Idolator pal Lucas Jensen about the format switch, and he agreed with me on hoping that whatever format switch resulted would at least be sorta similar to this playlist, but was wistful about what the Athens music scene might lose:

Lucas Jensen: too bad about the pup Lucas Jensen: they were really supportive of local bands Lucas Jensen: it’s funny Lucas Jensen: the bumper music at sports events here in town Lucas Jensen: is often Lucas Jensen: Elf Power Lucas Jensen: Neutral Milk Hotel Lucas Jensen: REM Lucas Jensen: The Glands Lucas Jensen: it’s kind of nice

Obama Radio in Athens [Radio-Info] Earlier: “Stripper Radio” May Be A Stunt, But It’s Still A Pretty Depressingly Plausible Format [HT: The Daily Swarm]

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