R.I.P. NJ Broadcaster, Mentor Tom Niven

Tom Niven

"Don't annoy the audience" was Tom Niven's credo.

Mr. Niven, for 50 years the heart and soul of Pompton Lakes radio station WGHT 1500 AM  - has died from lung cancer in Florida, four months into retirement. He was 78, according to the Bergen Record.

"Tom was representative of what small communities are all about," said Bloomingdale Police Chief Joseph Borell, whom Mr. Niven mentored in the Big Brothers program. "A lot of people relied on him not only for the information he shared, but for his calmness and his personality."

WGHT is a 1,000-watt, daytime oldies station heard in Pompton Lakes, Pequannock, Bloomingdale, West Milford, Wayne and environs. Mr. Niven, a Long Island native, came aboard in 1964 when the station was WKER. Those call letters were a play on the name of the couple who established the station, Bob Kerr and Joan Brooks Kerr.

Mr. Niven started as an announcer on WKER's first day and performed every role since, including afternoon disc jockey, morning anchor, copywriter and engineer. He owned the station from 1982 to 1993, when it was acquired by the current owner, John Silliman, and rechristened as WGHT. At his retirement in January, he was operations manager.