Midnight Funk Association
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The Midnight Funk Association (MFA) was an eclectic late-night segment of a radio program hosted by "The Electrifying Mojo" on various Detroit, Michigan radio stations including WGPR, WJLB and WHYT from 1977 through the mid-1980s. It was a common mistake for people to refer to Mojo's entire show as the MFA but at midnight, each night, Mojo would call the MFA to order. Mojo's spoken intro for the MFA rarely changed through the years and is most remembered as:
Will the members of the Midnight Funk Association please rise. Please go to your porch light and turn it on for the next hour to show us your solidarity. If you're in your car please honk your horn and flash your lights, wherever you are. If you're in bed, get ready to dance on your back, in Technicolor. And get ready for the MFA. The word is... Don't say no, say triple-whammy-whoa. Hold on tight, don't let go. Whenever you feel like you're nearing the end of your rope, don't slide off. Tie a knot. Keep hanging, keep remembering, that it ain't nobody bad like you. This session of the International Midnight Funk Association is being called to order. Electrifying Mojo presiding. May the Funk be with you. Always...
Phrases like the alliterate "Triple Whammy Whoa" came and went over the years as Mojo would add words here and there. Although the main parts of "turn your porch light on" and "honk your horn" always remained, every few months Mojo would add an extra phrase or command to spice things up. The transcribed from audio cassette example above mentions both "Triple Whammy Whoa" and "Technicolor." The Technicolor reference was added in 1985 after Juan Atkin's label name of Model 500 hit Detroit clubs with "Technicolor." Mojo played it nightly for months, along with Atkins' "Cosmic Cars" and other burgeoning "Detroit Techno" tracks.
The MFA is credited by "The Belleville Three" (Juan Atkins, Kevin Saunderson and Derrick May) as being a key inspiration to the development of Detroit Techno music. Mojo and his eclectic, unique and genre-bending style of radio hosting are credited with helping such diverse musical groups as the B-52s, Prince, and Kraftwerk gain unprecedented exposure in the Detroit radio market.
Listeners were allowed to join the MFA too; if you joined you got a letter, an ID card and a "Whammy Cloth". Which was basically this handkerchief-sized piece of cloth emblazoned with his name and the logo of the radio station. The artist Big Black had one on the back cover of Atomizer.
