By Emmanuel Bekoe

For a long while, the Ghanaian airwaves missed a familiar sound.

Not because the audience forgot it, but because life, in its quiet cruelty, demanded a pause.

That voice belongs to Kofi Asare Brako, affectionately known as Abatay, a veteran sports journalist whose words once animated studios, stirred debates and shaped the rhythm of sports discourse in Ghana. Then came a season of absence. Not by choice, but by circumstance.

Illness forced Abatay away from the microphone, away from the work he loved, and into a long, private battle for survival and strength. For years, his voice, once firm and fearless, was replaced by silence.

But silence, it turns out, was only an interlude.

Today, Abatay has returned.

Not just to broadcasting, but to purpose.

His comeback at Atinka FM and Atinka TV marks a deeply moving chapter in Ghana’s media story, one of endurance, faith and renewal.

“There were moments I truly believed I was done with broadcasting,” Abatay reflects. “I did not know if I would ever sit behind the microphone again.”

A severe stroke altered the course of his life, forcing him to relearn basic routines and confront the fragility of human strength. Yet through the pain and uncertainty, he held on to faith.

“God kept me alive for a reason,” he says. “I went through the storm, but grace carried me through.”

His return to Atinka Media Village, where he previously served in senior leadership roles including General Manager, feels less like a new beginning and more like a homecoming.

“Atinka is home,” Abatay says simply. “This is a place that understands loyalty, experience and second chances.”

Over the decades, Abatay’s career has spanned some of Ghana’s most influential radio platforms, including Peace FM, Adom FM and Asempa FM. He became known for his uncompromising analysis, his deep love for the game, and his willingness to ask hard questions in the public interest.

Yet the man who has returned is not the same man who left.

“The microphone is important,” he admits, “but life is bigger than broadcasting. This experience humbled me.”

Now back on air, Abatay says his mission has expanded beyond sports commentary.

“I want to mentor the younger journalists, to remind them that integrity matters, and that no matter how life knocks you down, you can rise again,” he says.

Abatay’s comeback is not loud.

It is not rushed.

It carries no triumphal noise.

It arrives gently, like morning after a long night.

And as his voice once again travels through the frequencies of Atinka FM and Atinka TV, it carries more than sports analysis. It carries wisdom earned through pain, faith refined by trial, and a quiet message to all who are listening.

A voice tested by time can still be restored by grace.