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The Electrifying MojoCharles "The Electrifying Mojo" Johnson, was a Detroit, USA radio disk jockey from the 1970s through the 1990s, whose on-air journey of musical and social development shaped a generation of Detroit music-lovers, and was of paramount importance to the development of Techno. His seminal radio show, The Midnight Funk Association, ran from 1977 through the mid-1980s, and while broadcast on stations marketed at the African-American market, his programming was an inspired blend of the best soul, funk, new wave, and rock that defies common radio industry classifications. He is recognized for having "broken" many artists in the Detroit radio market, including Prince, the B-52s, and Kraftwerk, and was occasionally thanked on-air by the artists for his support of their work. Because his habit was to play entire recordings without interruption, regular listeners became deeply familiar with each recording. The MFA moved from the smaller WGPR to WJLB in its prime years, then on to WDRQ as its star passed. The nineties found Mojo back at WGPR, again challenging ideas about the role of a broadcast DJ. His show, a weekend mid-day slot, consisted of a broad range of content, tied to a common thread of social and cultural awareness of the African-American community. Musically, this included shows focused on single themes, such as symphonic music by black composers, a survey of the jazz and symphonic music of Duke Ellington, and one alternating the music of Billie Holiday with spoken excerpts from her autobiography. He, as before, frequently played recordings in their entirety. He also dedicated airtime to reading excerpts from his 500-plus page book, The Mental Machine. A work of poetry and prose preaching community and lamenting societal ills, The Mental Machine did not avoid the traps of cliche and triteness common to this type of writing, but was frequently compelling nonetheless--particularly when read aloud by the author. Both his on-air persona and his writing seemed to put a Christian spirituality more centerstage than his previous shows. But his sense of humor and creativity shone even as he paid the bills. His two primary sponsors at the time were a deli and an insurance agency, and together had the lion's share of the commercial time on his show. The spots for them produced by Mojo were loose and low-production, with plenty of booming reverb on Mojo's admonishment to "save on auto insurance!" The late 1990s brought Mojo to WCHB-FM for a stretch in 1998.
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