Midnight Funk Association

**Ltdave** · October-13-09, 08:54 PM

i know that this subject has been brought up before but i was reading the Wiki on the MFA and Charles Johnson [[again!) and it said he was a PD for several detroit radio stations...

it also said he was working on an XM satellite gig but that was supposed to be for 2006...

does anyone here know anything about either of these? i would spend a lot of money getting satellite set up to listen to him again...

if you are in bed it is permissible to dance on your back!
flash your lights! honk your horn!
Long Live the Midnight Funk Association!

**pffft** · October-13-09, 09:12 PM

My porch light is on, and the mothership is landing...

**EastsideAl** · October-13-09, 09:30 PM

Don't say "damn," say "whoa"...

**DetroitFats** · October-13-09, 09:42 PM

If you're at the end of your rope, tie a knot. Don't let go!

Sludgedaddy · October-13-09, 09:47 PM

...that's a Double Whammy Whoa !!!! Those times was Electrifyin'

**Lowell** · October-13-09, 09:48 PM

... the Electrifyin' Mojo.

blksoul_x · October-13-09, 11:41 PM

Do you solemnly swear to acquiesce to the prerequisite to the membership of the Midnight Funk Association at this time, say I DO......Let it be known to earth, that you are now a member of the Midnight Funk Association.....

I'll let his Honor do the rest....enjoy!

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=qXu3Alw0

blksoul_atcha!
The BJL, we a movement by ourselves!

**Detroitej72** · October-14-09, 12:52 AM

Long live the MFA....

Mojo could fuse artists from Prince to the B-52's, Beasties to Run DMC and beyond...

Gosh, how I long for radio's last days of free-form airwaves...

**mallory** · October-14-09, 08:42 AM

This has been the million dollar question on this forum for several years now - whatever happened to Charles "Electrifying Mojo" Johnson. I did a few mixes for him back in the day, and worked at GPR a couple of years after he left. I still listen to some of the old tapes that I recorded of his shows. His RUN DMC mix is still one of the best of all time.

I don't think he was ever PD of any station in Detroit, but it sure would be nice to hear him again, or at least know whatever happened to him.

Radio NEEDS the Mothership!

**humanmachinery** · October-14-09, 11:09 AM

Originally Posted by Ltdave

if you are in bed it is permissible to dance on your back!
flash your lights! honk your horn!

if you are in water, make waves

Long Live the Midnight Funk Association!

Damn straight, skippy. Kids today need more funk in their diets.

**DetroitPlanner** · October-14-09, 03:35 PM

Originally Posted by EastsideAl

Don't say "damn," say "whoa"...

don't say whoa, say whammy whoa!

sorry sludge, I should have read further!

**hubbardfarmer** · October-14-09, 05:22 PM

I remember hearing him play a Beethoven symphony and then segway into what I think was a Michael Jackson or Prince tune. It worked! It was fabulous. He was the bomb.

**Hamtragedy** · October-15-09, 12:18 AM

And that eventually resulted in GPR releasing him. A young middle school student called him one day asking him if he knew of any black classical composers. Not knowing any, he researched them, found a few and put what little he could find on GPR saturdays at noon, the beginning of his show in the early 90's. He would then slip in some Billie Holiday and Sarah Vaughn at the 1:00 hour, play some ellington, some miles, recite from his book "The Mental Machine" [[available at the Shrine of the Black Madonna), and would eventually drop the P-Funk bomb a litttle after 2:00.

Vev Tripp Insurance continued to underwrite him, but the powers at GPR didn't want to be known as a Classical station, and finally released him.

**smogboy** · October-15-09, 02:34 AM

Honestly I would have to say that The Electrifying Mojo for me would've been the last of the Detroit area deejays I would've [[and did) follow from one radio station to another. I can't speak for any other radio listeners out there but I flocked to him because he knowledgeable. He knew what to play and what sounded good together- not just individual songs nor was his play list based upon a particular genre. So much of the commercial drudgery we hear on the radio today is so regimented now. The MFA was just the "gimmick" to really deliver some new and innovative artists to the airwaves. If it wasn't for him playing things like Kraftwerk, Prince, the B-52's and some of those other acts of the day, we probably wouldn't have techno where it is now. There wasn't any other commercial radio station willing to play those artists whereas with Mojo, it was in his regular rotation. He didn't stick to those few artists either. I remember listening in nearly every night never knowing what he'd play- there was an anticipation to his show [[beyond waiting for the Mothership to land). I don't know if I can say that about any of the deejays in town now; they're almost all interchangeable.

Mojo was more than just music. He was knowledge. He took us to places we had never been before musically and like so many other people who've posted on this thread, he was someone we followed and miss now. We really could use more free form radio back on the airwaves again [[the few scant hours that Ann Delisi's on the WDET weekends isn't enough for me). The Electrifying Mojo fused so many genres of great music for us to listen to back then. Ahh, the memories.

**vetalalumni** · October-15-09, 09:51 PM

The Electrifying Mojo, as we knew him, can't be touched. He was never scared to innovate his presentation. We fans have been praising his radio memories for years now. Can't bring him back, nostalgia and all aside. About time for a new radio leader who ain't "scurred" or ashamed. And he [[or she!) will need to be on the internet so listeners outside of Michigan can listen. Supreme confidence, without arrogance, is required.

**mallory** · October-16-09, 08:38 AM

Originally Posted by Hamtragedy

And that eventually resulted in GPR releasing him. A young middle school student called him one day asking him if he knew of any black classical composers. Not knowing any, he researched them, found a few and put what little he could find on GPR saturdays at noon, the beginning of his show in the early 90's. He would then slip in some Billie Holiday and Sarah Vaughn at the 1:00 hour, play some ellington, some miles, recite from his book "The Mental Machine" [[available at the Shrine of the Black Madonna), and would eventually drop the P-Funk bomb a litttle after 2:00.

Vev Tripp Insurance continued to underwrite him, but the powers at GPR didn't want to be known as a Classical station, and finally released him.

You could not be more incorrect. Mojo was the ONLY ratings that GPR could ever attract. Everyone listened to Mojo. Then along came the switch in format at the old WMZK to WJLB. They knew that to gain instant street cred, they'd have to get Mojo. They gave him super bank money, he left GPR and with Mojo on WJLB, the station was unstoppable. A couple of years later, when WJLB was the number one station in Detroit, they didn't need Mojo anymore and let him go. Use him and lose him. I heard this story from the then JLB General Manager [[her name escapes me) in the mid 80's.

The worst day in GPR history was when Mojo left for JLB. The second worst being when the idiots in charge got rid of Nat Morris, but that is another story for another thread.

**rjlj** · October-16-09, 09:10 AM

I have also heard in Mojo interviews or read stories where format changes to gangster rap also lead to him leaving the airwaves. From what I recall he would not play gangster rap.

Detroit has a great radio history. Today, our stations are not that bad when compared to other markets and considering how we now have internet radio and satellite radio.

**Downriviera** · October-20-09, 02:27 PM

Where's your guts
And will to survive
And don't you wanna
Keep rock n roll music alive
Mr. Programmer
I got my hammer
and I'm gonna
Smash my
Smash my
Radio

We want the airwaves
We want the airwaves, baby
If rock is gonna stay alive

Joey Ramone