--- a/autobot/config.py	Wed Dec 28 10:27:51 2011 -0800
+++ b/autobot/config.py	Wed Dec 28 11:07:38 2011 -0800
@@ -25,6 +25,11 @@
         self.master = self.section_dict(master)
         for port, default in ('slaveport', 9010), ('htmlport', 8010), ('publichtmlport', 8011):
             self.master[port] = int(self.master.get(port) or default)
+        channels = self.master.get('channels', '').strip()
+        if channels:
+            self.master['channels'] = channels.split()
+        else:
+            self.master['channels'] = []
 
         # get section information
         self.slaves = {}