NJ Radio: Reporter Sues NJ101.5 Over Age, Race

Rosetta Key

A veteran award-winning radio reporter is suing the company that owns WKXW New Jersey 101.5 FM claiming she was pushed aside for a younger white woman.

Rosetta A. Key, who began working in 2004 for the network of New Jersey radio stations that were then known as the Millennium Radio Group, says she was fired in March after at least three other employees who were over 50 also had been terminated.

According to mycentraljersey.com, Key’s career included seven years as a reporter and anchor for Star 99.1 in the Zarephath section of Franklin. She then worked for WOBM-FM 92.7,  WOBM-AM 1160 and 1310, 94.3 The Point, SOJO 1049 and the group's flagship 101.5 FM, which is known for its monthly "Ask the Governor with Chris Christie" show.

Key said her salary had been frozen at $35,000 since 2007 “despite her stellar performance and industry awards.” Her replacement, a younger white woman, was hired as a part-timer in 2013 and quickly rose through the ranks, getting various on-air duties and a salary that surpassed Key’s and the anchor whom she had replaced.

Key makes the allegations in a federal age-and-racial discrimination lawsuit against Townsquare Media Group, which took over Millennium in 2009 and owns 310 radio stations across the country.

In a response filed in federal court, lawyers for Townsquare deny the allegations.

The lawsuit says the stations are driven by programming “to a core demographic of whites (primarily female) in the age range of 25-45.”

In July, the company posted a job ad "looking for the next generation of journalists," Key's lawsuit points out.