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 is best 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..."
This verse was voiced-over a sound/music bed of echoeing footsteps and church bells from a track titled "Momento" by The Art of Noise. Although the vocal introduction by Mojo rarely changed through the years, particularly "turn your porch light on" and "honk your horn," phrases like the alliterate "Triple Whammy Whoa" came and went with Mojo's mood. The quotation above (transcribed from audio tape) also mentions the word "Technicolor." This is a reference added in 1985 after Juan Atkin's pseudonymn Model 500 hit Detroit clubs with "Technicolor," a track Mojo played nightly for many months.
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;" a handkerchief-sized piece of material emblazoned with his name and the logo of the radio station. The artist Big Black had a Whammy Cloth on the back cover of their album Atomizer.
