WNTI Sold To Philadelphia-Based WXPN

Centenary College has sold WNTI 91.9 to WXPN 88.5, which is owned by the University of Pennsylvania. The two parties announced the sales agreement in a statement Monday.

WXPN’s programming will be broadcast on WNTI starting at noon on this Thursday, October 15.

“We are pleased to reach this agreement with WXPN, which preserves a strong voice for great music in our region and opens new horizons for the WNTI community and for Centenary College,” said Dr. Barbara-Jayne Lewthwaite, President of Centenary College. “WXPN brings exceptional resources and expertise in public radio and a deep commitment to serving the needs of listeners and supporting local artists. Centenary will continue to operate its own Internet radio station at WNTI.org to enhance our curriculum and involve students and community volunteers in programming. Centenary students will be afforded opportunities to intern at WXPN at the University of Pennsylvania. We intend to reinvest the proceeds from the license sale in building Centenary’s academic offerings, to support student recruitment and retention, and fuel Centenary’s role as an economic engine in Warren County, New Jersey.”

Roger LaMay, WXPN General Manager, said, “WXPN was approached with notification of the proposed sale of WNTI. Although we were not looking to purchase another radio station, we quickly realized that WXPN was the best option to preserve WNTI’s long tradition of musical discovery for listeners in Northern New Jersey and Northeastern Pennsylvania. We will extend WXPN’s demonstrated commitment to local artists, music and events in the communities we currently serve to the WNTI community, and will apply our deep experience in public music radio management to strengthen its overall operations. In the long term, we expect this transaction to benefit our artists and audiences, and strengthen WXPN’s financial sustainability.”

WXPN produces NPR’s most popular program of popular music, World Cafe, which was heard on WNTI twice daily and will remain part of its music programming.

WNTI reached an area in northwestern New Jersey and northeastern Pennsylvania consisting of approximately 1 million people and was launched on Dec. 8, 1958. The studio was located on the first floor of the David and Carol Lackland Center on Centenary’s campus in Hackettstown.

The station was a 24-hours per day operation, supported financially by mostly private sources.

It was known by its listeners to include specialty music, arts, and entertainment programs on weeknights and weekdays, also providing NPR news on the hour and local news produced by Centenary’s journalism department.