Outcry as Centenary announces sale of radio station

A musical era is ending in northwest New Jersey as the license for WNTI, the listener-supported public FM radio station out of Centenary College in Hackettstown, is being sold and the station is going off the air.

The announcement was made on WNTI's Twitter feed overnight Tuesday.

"Thank you all for listening and for your support. Centenary College sold out license. WNTI is over," it said.

The station on Tuesday was still on the air, playing "recorded material," according to school officials. Music programming also was playing Tuesday on the Internet site, but it was unclear if that programming was live or recorded.

"I did my last show over the weekend without knowing it was my last show," said former WNTI community DJ Ken Collins of Andover, an eight-year member of the station's broadcast staff who also is the Green Party candidate for the New Jersey Assembly in the 24th District.

The "WNTI Public Radio from Centenary College" Facebook page posted additional details Tuesday afternoon.

"The broadcast license of WNTI 91.9 FM is in the process of being sold," the post stated. "More detailed information will be released as soon as it is available. THANK YOU for all your support, kind words, donations over the years, wonderful friendships and music. We will be back as wnti.org internet only radio in the VERY near future. Please join us on this new adventure. We are a family, the WNTI family and we are strong!"

Asked for addition details of the station's sale and status, a spokesperson for the college told the Daily Record "Centenary College has been exploring new directions for WNTI — ones that will ensure that the station's listeners will continue to enjoy the music they love. The college will release more information once it becomes available in the near future."

WNTI was established in 1958. The station most recently served several roles as a music station featuring both college and community disc jockeys along with Centenary College sports and some National Public Radio programming.

At least some of those roles are expected to continue on the WNTI Internet site.

"We've been told the students will get first shot at airtime (online)," Collins said. "And any time slotted to community DJs will not be guaranteed, so I don't know how many of the community hosts will continue, especially if they are given new time slots."

Collins said Centenary College is making a "short-sighted" decision regarding a station that he says has served both students and the public.

"The public has poured its blood, sweat and tears — and money — into this station by the thousands," Collins said. "Centenary has to be made aware of this error in judgment."

Collins said some staffers are planning to make their feelings known on Friday by sending "flowers of mourning" to the station, which broadcasts out of the school's Lackland Center, and he is encouraging the public to join them.

A Facebook page created to "Protest Centenary's WNTI Takeover" was quickly established and attracted more than 250 followers in its first hours of existence, filling with angry comments."

"WNTI has (or had) 26,000 loyal listeners," Richard Oberuc wrote in an open letter to Centenary President Barbara-Joyce Lewthwaite that was copied to the Facebook protest page. "I am looking forward to your public explanation to them for what you have done."

Oberuc said he has made annual donations of $250 over he past six years in exchange for the privilege of serving as a guest cohost.

"I was a WNTI listener back when the station had a crappy horizontal antenna and broadcast out of closet in the back of the Sayer Admin building back in 1991," he wrote. "I have made donations to the station for over 20 years. Donations that helped pay for the vertical antenna."

The protests, however, cannot stop the sale, according to Collins.

"The FCC has been notified," Oberuc said. "So there's no going back. It will be Internet-only."

"WNTI may do well as an Internet-only station. But its departure from the airwaves leaves a void in the community that I don't see will be replaced," said Bill Nutt, a former WNTI community DJ who still writes for the station's Contours magazine as well as writing freelance performing-arts articles for the Daily Record. "WNTI, as a terrestrial radio station, has been a platform for musicians —  local, national, and international — to develop a following they might not otherwise have. WNTI has brought together lovers of music that is just slightly off the mainstream, and its listeners have cherished it for its independence and its immediacy. It has been the audio equivalent of the country store where locals could hang out, swap stories, and develop friendships. It has been the focus of a community in the fullest sense of the word."

Staff Writer William Westhoven: 973-428-6627; wwesthoven@GannettNJ.com.