Episode 64 - Next Radio DJ Up with Ron Sykstus featuring 104.3 WZYP's Mojo

Next Lawyer Up Podcast with Attorney Ron Sykstus

If you have lived in North Alabama for any length of time, you certainly know the name “Mojo!” Mojo is an institution in our community and he has done the 104.3 WZYP morning show with Ricky and Dee Dee for almost 20 years. Mojo does a lot of work for our community on the side as well. For instance, he will soon do his 100 hours plus charity event, Bikes or Bust, part of the Marine Corps’ Toys for Tots, on South Parkway the week before Thanksgiving. During the event, Mojo is outside hoisted up on a scissor lift. And when I say “100 hours,” I mean 100 straight hours! Last year, he remained on the lift for some five days. "The first night he was up there, I went up in the morning, probably around 5:30 a.m. I looked over at where he was sleeping. It was just full of ice. I think it was 27 degrees that day," U.S. Marine Corps Staff Sgt. Robert Ruiz said. On average, this charity provides 1500 or so new bikes each year to children in our community who wouldn’t have much of a Christmas otherwise. As Mojo mentions on this podcast, 100 plus hours fifty feet in the air is guaranteed to make him sick at some point! And, having started in 2003, this will be the seventeenth straight year that he has done this event! Mojo has had an interesting and varied career prior to his arrival in North Alabama. He grew up in Detroit and then served as a mechanic in the U.S. Army, followed by an abbreviated country music career before he found himself on the radio. I have always been fascinated by radio, as all kids my age were who grew up in Chicago and listened to WLUP. Mojo has been kind enough to have me on his show on Friday mornings to talk about consumer law and help for people with their financial issues so I was happy to turn the tables on him and learn about his history. I hope you enjoy his story as much as I did.