All year, we’ve been giving our music analysts a lot of well-deserved love on this blog but, to celebrate our close relationship with holiday music, we wanted to instead highlight the masterminds behind Pandora’s famous holiday genre stations.
In addition to seeking out new music to add to Pandora, this group of music experts comes to work everyday to organize Pandora’s catalog of more than a million tracks into nuggets of curated musical greatness, usually based on a specific genre (Classic Rock), time period (2000s Hip Hop), mood (Relaxation) or event (Country BBQ or Christmas). Find our full selection of genre stations here.
Our holiday genre station collection offers a wide variety of holiday listening options, from Gospel Christmas to Rockin’ Holidays and everything in between. Here are some fun factoids about the actual people that work very hard to create the stations that fuel your holiday cheer this season:
Ron NenniChristmas, Country Christmas, R&B and Pop Holidays, Soulful Holidays, Gospel Christmas
- Years at Pandora: 2.5 years
- Favorite music discovery at Pandora: Music from Australia and New Zealand
- Favorite holiday song: Bruce Springsteen‘s “Santa Claus Is Coming To Town“
- What’s playing on Pandora now: The Gary Clark Jr. station for a mix of Blues, Hendrix, Black Keys
Mike FinkIndie Holidays, Hanukkah, R&B and Pop Holidays
- Years at Pandora: 2 years
- Favorite music discovery at Pandora: Big Deal, they are a lo-fi dream pop duo from London
- Favorite holiday song: Sufjan Stevens, his new Christmas box set is amazing!
- What’s playing on Pandora now: San Cisco, an indie rock band from Australia
Jasmyn WongSwingin’ Christmas, Jazz Holidays, Folk Holidays
- Years at Pandora: 6 years
- Favorite music discovery at Pandora: Several great 60s underground folk psych bands and also fun electro house artists
- Favorite holiday song: Dave Brubeck‘s “Santa Claus Is Coming To Town“
- What’s playing on Pandora now: Good old folk tunes from my Richard and Mimi Farina station
Michelle SolomonRockin’ Holidays, Today’s Christmas,Family Christmas, Tropical Holidays
- Years at Pandora: 7 years
- Favorite music discovery at Pandora: Allah-Las
- Favorite holiday song: The Ronettes “Slegh Ride” off the album: A Christmas Gift For You From Phil Spector
- What’s playing on Pandora now: My own seeded station called: “Rockin’ Kraut, Psych & Space Metal“
Marcos JuarezNavidad Latina, Navidad Tropical, Navidad Mexicana
- Years at Pandora: 7 months
- Favorite music discovery at Pandora: La Yegros and Ultraísta
- Favorite holiday album: Willie Colón‘s “Asalto Navideño.” They took the classic Puerto Rican plena and Aguinaldo tranditions and updated them with a 1970s sound
- What’s playing on Pandora now: The Navidad Tropical genre station, of course!
Michelle Alexander
Classical Christmas
- Years at Pandora: 12 years
- Favorite music discovery at Pandora: All obscure psych rock, can’t pick just one!
- Favorite holiday song: The Rondo Brothers‘ remix of “Frosty The Snowman” off Verve Remixed – Christmas
- What’s playing on Pandora now: Don Pullen