before backing out all the channel names for the purpose of the post it, the var was written correctly. But that being said, I changed the list to just one channel just for the purpose of getting it working first.
So far I have been able to get around using jquery so working through this project has made me use it and I only used the getJSON because it was something I relatively understood and found enough material to work from. I am sure the project is riddled with some bad practices and ways that could be done so much better but its only from what I know, so if it works I am good! However with that being said, I am open to changing anything.