Springfield pirate radio station operator Mbanna Kantako has returned to the airwaves with his Human Rights Radio station, defying a federal court order that prohibits him from broadcasting without a license.
Kantako's station, at 106.5 FM, returned to the air Friday afternoon. Its broadcasts on Monday included audio recordings of the Sept. 29 confiscation of his radio equipment by U.S. marshals.
Kantako, who has operated his unlicensed station from his residences since 1987, was silenced after air traffic controllers from Capital Airport complained to the Federal Communications Commission that the station had interfered with communication between pilots and controllers.
So far, Kantako's renewed broadcasts have not disrupted pilot-tower communications, said Bret Thomas, a Federal Aviation Administration system specialist who testified in Kantako's Oct. 4 hearing.