Pastor Robert Singh of Gospel Light Prayer Church on Sanford Avenue, second from left, and his wife, Ameeka, second from right, stand with their deacon and senior pastor on Sunday, Dec. 3, after the regular service. The church is part owner of the rights to the 95.9 FM airwaves that the East Orange-based WZYE radio station uses. Local radio host Royston Allman has changed radio channels and stations by moving his ‘Changemakers Radio Show’ from the old RTH2000 station to the new 95.9 FM WZYE, where his first show is set to air on Saturday, Dec. 9.
IRVINGTON, NJ — Pastor Robert Singh of Gospel Light Prayer Church and his wife, Ameeka, are on a mission to spread the word of God to as many people as possible and their job just got a little easier, thanks to the acquisition of the rights to broadcast on 95.9 FM radio.
Currently, the Singhs share the FM frequency with Anselm LeBourne’s WZYE radio station, based in East Orange. LeBourne is an adjunct professor at Seton Hall University, where he teaches business but, thanks to the joint application he and Gospel Light Prayer Church filed with the Federal Communications Commission, they share the broadcast rights for the 95.9 FM radio waves.
Anyone who tunes in to WZYE when it is not broadcasting is likely to encounter “dead air,” because Gospel Light Prayer Church, which is located on Sanford Avenue, doesn’t currently have the antenna or equipment needed to broadcast its own content. But the Singhs said they are praying and working toward the day when they will have what they need.
“We’re on right now on 1640 AM. The FM station hasn’t been started yet, but we’re also on the internet at www.thenewjerusalemradio.org. We’re on iTunes. If you have a smartphone, you can just download the app,” said Ameeka Singh on Sunday, Dec. 3. “We’re running live each and every day. We have live programs on Saturdays and I come on every morning from 6 to 8 with ‘A New Day.’ So we’re here to encourage one another, we’re here to lift up one another, we’re here to build up one another. If we do that, there will be more love, there will be more compassion, there will be less crime, there will be less violence.”
She said Gospel Light Prayer Church’s mission is simple and the fact that she and her husband and their congregation managed to build the church in the backyard of their home on Sanford Avenue, despite all the naysayers and obstacles they had to overcome, is proof miracles can happen.
“There are people that are out there that are hurting and are in desperate need for some love and some encouragement and that’s what we want to share,” Ameeka Singh said.
Robert Singh said the church’s recent acquisition of the license to broadcast on 95.9 is really a case of same mission, same time, but on a different station, once Gospel Light Prayer Church manages to acquire the needed FM antenna.
“We’re on the radio station and we’re touching lives all over the world in the different nations. We get requests and emails from people whose lives have been touched … we want to impact people’s lives and seek change in people’s lives from the government to our local city. I believe that’s why God put us here for a reason and purpose,” the pastor said.
The Singhs share a mission to impact people’s lives for the better with LeBourne, just as they share the 95.9 FM airwaves with WZYE. A new show to be featured on the station, starting Saturday, Dec. 9, is Royston Allman and his “Changemakers Radio Show,” which has moved from its old radio station, RTH2000, to 95.9 FM WZYE on Evergreen Place in East Orange.
“We’re representing the first generation crew. We have changed location and we’re on with WZYE 95.9 FM, broadcasting right here in Essex County,” said Allman on Saturday, Dec. 2. “We’re starting on Saturday afternoon from 2 to 4 p.m. Dec. 9 is our first broadcast and we’ll be here each and every Saturday with myself, Eric Perryman, Rebecca St. Louis and a host of interesting guests that are about change in the community, that are positive role models and some of our leaders as well.”
Allman and company celebrated the two-year anniversary of broadcasting at RTH2000, shortly before the Nov. 7 elections that swept Mayor-elect Ted Green and the rest of his Team Green in 2017 into office. The Changemakers Radio Show played a role in the election race as far back as the Democratic Party primary on Tuesday, June 6, when Green and Board of Education President Bergson Leneus, who was running to succeed him as the 3rd Ward councilman, appeared on the program, along with Green’s opponent John Thompson. Kenwyn S. Williams, who also ran against Green in the primary election, never appeared on the Changemakers Radio Show, although he was invited.
To mark its second anniversary on Saturday, Oct. 28, RTH2000 hosted 3rd Ward City Council candidate Mayme Robinson, a registered Democrat and longtime East Orange Democratic Committee member running as an independent candidate against Leneus.
“It’s been two years. October of 2015 is when we began and we’ve just been keeping the ball rolling,” said Allman on Saturday, Oct. 28. “Facebook Live, you can catch us on the Changemakers group page every Saturday morning at 10 a.m. live and you also can catch us on repeats, because we’re also posted up after the show. We’ve had a gamut of guests. In two years, we’ve had everyone from autism advocates to rappers to national hookup of black women, we’ve had Joi’s Angels, we’ve had Sierra House and Chit-Chat was content partners with us for a while, but not anymore, even though they’re still out there, doing their thing.”
“We’re just tuning it up right now, because it’s time for an even more aggressive change and you know we’ll be putting forth a lot of solutions, as we always try to do,” said Allman, who ran for the 5th Ward City Council seat in 2013. “But our bandwidth is stronger now. We reach more folks. … I’m just appreciative of the new station and Anselm (LeBourne), the brother who got the license. It’s a really powerful team over here. This is the voice of the Caribbean, the community, the city of East Orange and positive change.”
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