Joe Mathieu is program director and anchorman at POTUS ?08, the XM Radio channel that covers the campaign for the next president of the United States.
When did the station launch?
We officially launched September 24th. I just hired our last anchor last week, so we are definitely full time. And our launch party is October 16th.
Explain your interest in White House coverage.
I?ve always been fascinated by presidential politics. This is the biggest story of the year, and I?m a news guy, so this is really what I love to be covering.
What makes this presidential cycle so compelling?
We?ve got a war going on and a lot of conversations happening that I don?t think would typically happen ? or at least not in my lifetime ? during a political campaign. Plus, the White House has no dog in the race, so it?s wide open. It?s something that has been getting so much talk by not just political junkies, but regular people, very early in the process.
What?s it like being able to do radio without commercials?
We live in a 60-second world, and it?s been quite liberating to sit down with [experts] and have a 20-minute conversation about something of importance. It?s really cool not having to break every 10 minutes for traffic and weather.
How do you sustain a channel devoted exclusively to the presidential race?
You?re dealing with satellite and talking about real niche programming. I mean, let?s be honest, this is probably not something that you could put on commercial radio because it?s so narrowly focused. But that?s really what XM is all about. … So the people who are listening to our channel are listening because they are genuinely interested and, in many cases, fanatical about it.
What happens after election?
POTUS ?08 is going to be on the air through the inauguration. After the inauguration, it will morph into something else. … We?d love to have an all-news channel that is politically focused.
