Series: "Radio with a Conscience: Community Radio in the Late 90s."
This series of articles is dedicated to the exploration of the state and growth of Community Radio in the late 90s.

Article 3: Mbanna Kantako and Human Rights Radio

Originally published in the March/April 1998 WEFT Revue

By Paul Riismandel

In the first article in this series I introduced the micropower radio movement as the newest frontier in grassroots community media. However most people, both in the movement and outside it, are unaware that micropower radio had its humble beginnings in central Illinois. Back in 1987 in the public housing projects of Springfield, IL, Mbanna Kantako brought to the capital city airwaves a new voice. Broadcasting at less than one watt of power Kantako sent information and news to the radios of his fellow residents as the voice of WTRA—the radio station of the Tentants Rights Association. Without any intention of doing so, this self-educated blind man would spark a movement and media revolution of sorts with the first micropower radio station in the U.S. A few years later this small, but pioneering effort of Kantako’s would inspire Stephen Dunifer to go on air with Free Radio Berkeley and Napoleon Williams to bring Black Liberation Radio to Decatur, IL; just two stations in a movement that many estimate to number over a thousand nationwide.

Nearly four-thousand nights later, Kantako is still on the air in Springfield, now with the voice of Human Rights Radio, broadcasting with a full fifteen watts of power at 106.5 FM. I had the great pleasure of hearing Kantako tell his own story recently at a Micropower Radio Teach-In held at the University of Illinois at Springfield the week of February 16, 1998. This teach-in was one of several held in cities across the U.S. that week. Kantako spoke at a session held in conjunction with Prof. Ron Sakolsky’s Alternative Radio class on February 19. Kantako’s story is less that of a radio station than it is one of a man’s path to educate himself and his community about themselves and their rights in pursuit of their natural human rights.

When Kantako first went on the air with WTRA, his primary goal was to educate and organize the residents of Springfield’s public housing in dealing with the Public Housing Authority. In hoping to advocate for himself and his fellow residents, Kantako read the entirety of the state’s public housing codes and regulations. But by the time he had completed this daunting task it was a new year, and when he went to challenge the Housing Authority on several issues they told him that much of what he knew was out of date, and that there was a whole new set of codes and regulations to know. Seeing that this was a battle he would not be able to fight alone, Kantako realized that he needed to educate and organize the residents of Springfield’s public housing.

Looking for a way to facilitate organization Kantako considered a number of different methods. He attempted to hold public meetings in the meeting spaces available at the housing complex, but was denied because he was told his group, the Tenants Rights Association (TRA), was not an "approved" organization. When they attempted to use available common areas Housing Authority staff would play games in the room—telling them that they had as much right to use common areas as anyone else—which disrupted the TRA’s meetings.

Kantako also considered using newsletters or flyers to communicate with his fellow residents. But looking around he realized that many people had poor reading skills, or were functionally illiterate, although these people were the most in need of the information Kantako had to share.

Then Kantako remembered his earlier days as a DJ, when he and his friends thought about starting their own radio station. Radio, he thought, was "the perfect meeting room" which would allow anyone who cared to tune into WTRA’s information without leaving her apartment, without anyone else know she was listening and without fear of being associated with an "unauthorized" or "radical" group. When Kantako looked into the FCC’s regulations he found that they did not issue licenses for stations broadcasting at less than 100 watts, so he figured that if he broadcasted with less than a watt there should be no trouble.

With WTRA on the air Kantako continued his path of self-education and began to realize that the problems facing the residents of public housing were far greater than just the Public Housing Authority. Understanding how hundreds of years of racial inequality were responsible for many problems of African-Americans, Kantako changed his station from WTRA to Black Liberation Radio. Yet in his reading of history, he began to learn and recognize that Springfield’s and America’s problems were much wider than that:

"I read the Emancipation Proclamation, it don’t say black in there one time. I read the Fugitive Slave Law, it don’t say black in there one time. Isn’t that devastating? Do you know what that means? It wasn’t just a black thing. On the side of the slave holder or the slave. We’ve all been purposely miseducated."

More and more Kantako was finding that problems of inequality were not confined to African-Americans, that these problems affected most people, white or black.

"When you starting talking about the top 1% has got more wealth than the bottom 95%, you’re talking about a whole bunch of white folks. You’re talking about almost three times as many white folks living in poverty in this country as you’re talking about black folks in this country."

So then Kantako realized that he really was concerned about all people, thus was born the name Human Rights Radio.

"We thought that by changing the name to Human Rights Radio that every time we would say these words we would challenge people to think better of themselves. Kind of hard to do in a system that was designed to beat you down everyday, all day."

Despite a visit from the FCC in 1989 and hassles with the Public Housing Authority last year, Human Rights Radio continues to broadcast 24 hours a day a mix of information and education unlike anything else on the radio dial. From lectures by prominent intellectuals and leaders from many walks to the articulate yet easily-accessible talks by Mbanna himself, Human Rights Radio brings a message of education, self-valuation and empowerment to the people of Springfield.

"The thing that’s kept us going is that we were seeking the truth. We were seeking to find out what the real deal was."

Another Item of Interest:

• You can read articles by Mbanna Kantako and other individuals active in community and micropower radio in the new book Seizing the Airwaves: A Free Radio Handbook, edited by Ron Sakolsky (of UI-S), and Stephen Dunifer (of Free Radio Berkeley), and published by A.K. Press.

©1998, 1999 Paul Riismandel, all rights reserved.

Please contact the author for permission to republish at another site or in another form.