runway ewr

So I currently live in morris county NJ and i want to receive all frequencies coming from Newark Liberty International Airport, which is a county over from me (19 miles from me). It's frequencies should be available under essex county on the RR database. I have an sds100 programmed and...

Last night listening to Newark Tower a Continental flight was cleared to land on 22R; co-pilot? says " Is 22L or 29 available?" Tower asks why. Co-pilot says "My partner requests it". They were cleared to land 29. Can someone explain why they asked for another runway and does it happen often? Tnx.