His history of unlicensed broadcasting in the service of social and racial justice has made him "an early hero of the micro-broadcasting movement.
With the help of Mike Townsend, a professor of social work at a small college in Springfield, Mbanna Kantako obtained a 1 watt transmitter kit from a mail order catalog.
Having constructed the transmitter, Mbanna used to communicate with other Black residents in the housing project under the call letters WTRA ("Tenants Rights Association"), of which he was a member.
Mbanna Kantako found himself under investigation by the FCC when his microwatt transmissions expanded in both duration and content by featuring youths who were in trouble with the Housing Project police.
Kantako claimed that he could not get a court-appointed lawyer and so he refused to go to court and as a result a default judgment was entered against him.