Car show a success for college radio station

Hackettstown — Centenary University’s student-run radio station, WNTI.org, held its first-ever car show on Saturday, July 15, in the parking lot outside the Lackland Center. The show featured modern, custom and classic automobiles – all in great condition and some dating back to the 1920s. The owners and car clubs from the Hackettstown area put their vehicles on display for those in attendance, including other car aficionados, the general public and Centenary’s summer students and staff.
The show was a fundraiser for WNTI.org and brought in $405 to support programming and activities on WNTI, the internet radio station heard worldwide on WNTI.org. Students, faculty and community volunteers are collaborating on music, news and sports programs under the station’s motto, “The Sound of Centenary.”
At the conclusion of the show, the judges announced the winners, including Vince Seneri, who took the trophy for best modern car for his Dodge Challenger Scat Pack.
In addition to the cars on display, the show featured auto-related vendors, a 50-50 raffle, WNTI t-shirts and memorabilia, jewelry and even a tarot card reader!
After overnight rain, the weather cooperated so that car owners and patrons enjoyed mostly sunny skies with music from WNTI and Pandora on the outdoor speakers.
The WNTI Car Show was organized by the station’s student promotions director, Justin Dalcourt, with help from programming director Katie Peters. Both their families provided essential support and literally did much of the heavy lifting.
WNTI General Manager Richard Hinchliffe and Operations Director John Del Re helped with planning, set-up and staffing.
Dalcourt said “the first annual WNTI Car Show was definitely a success,” noting that the debut show was organized by just two students and their families, with no budget, and it raised more than $400. “That’s pretty good!” he boasted.
Dalcourt said the months of planning were worth it to spend the day interacting with people “bonding over their same love of cars.”
As she was packing up WNTI t-shirts with her mother, Peters talked about what she enjoyed the most.
“I liked seeing how much the families helped us,” she said, adding that the family atmosphere is something familiar at a small school like Centenary. “We had one student involved at the radio station last fall,” Peters said. By the end of the academic year, that number had grown to more than forty. Peters and Dalcourt will continue as leaders on WNTI’s student management team this fall, and will likely team up again on the radio station’s second annual car show in the months ahead.