New online station NEWT Radio will feature former WNTI DJs

Melanie Thiel will be the station manager and morning show host at the online radio station, NEWT Radio.

A group of former disc jockeys at WNTI (91.9 FM) Hackettstown has found a new home on an online radio station, NEWT Radio, that will begin streaming at 7 a.m. Dec. 27. (12/26 UPDATE: The launch date has been moved back to the first week of 2017). The station is owned by the Newton Theatre in Newton, and can be found at thenewtontheatre.com. It will also be available on the free app, TuneIn.

In a press release, the music the station will be presenting was described as “a mix of new, up and coming artists, indie, smaller label and classic core artists, featuring those coming to The Newton Theatre. The station will also feature in-studio performances, interviews and local musicians.”

Former WNTI station manager and on-air personality Melanie Thiel, also known as the Dawn Bird, will serve as station manager as well as the host of station’s morning show, which will stream weekdays from 7 to 11 a.m.

Some of the other DJs will be Mike Watterston, Gary Alt, Trevor B. Power, Amy the Rock ‘n’ Roll Doctor, Katie O and Kenny Collins. There will also be some new DJs who were never on WNTI.

“Having all these former WNTI DJs is fantastic” for a new station, said Thiel, “because they have their built-in listeners. It’s a good base to start with.”

The station will broadcast from 135 Spring St. in Newton (the Newton Theatre is at 234 Spring St.). “The front is nothing but window — ceiling-to-floor window — so everybody will see everything. It’s great,” said Thiel.

The station’s request line will be (973) 940-NEWT.

In October 2015, it was announced that WNTI-FM’s owner, Centenary College, was selling its broadcast license to Pennsylvania public radio station WXPN. The station’s call letters are now WXPJ, and it runs WXPN programming.

Many of the old WNTI disc jockeys initially moved their shows to the online-only WNTI.org, but subsequently left.