WGPR & the William V. Banks Broadcast Museum

Before techno had labels or clubs, it had a voice on the radio. Charles “The Electrifying Mojo” Johnson hosted the Midnight Funk Association, a freeform late-night show that aired on WGPR among other Detroit stations, spinning Kraftwerk, Parliament, Prince, and Yellow Magic Orchestra to a city full of listening teenagers — including three kids out in Belleville. Every member of the Belleville Three credits Mojo as a spark.

WGPR is historic in its own right: WGPR-TV, launched here in 1975, was the first Black-owned and -operated television station in the country, and its dance shows aired house and techno years before the mainstream caught on. Today the original studios at 3146 E Jefferson are the William V. Banks Broadcast Museum — a free, under-the-radar gem about Black broadcasting and, quietly, about the airwaves that helped light the fuse.