CLOCK TICKING FOR WQZS: Wahl Fails to Respond to FCC Order

By Ken Hawk, PBRTV Media Correspondent

The window allotted for WQZS’s embattled owner to fight to keep his radio station’s license is now closed.

Roger Wahl, the owner and founder of the Meyersdale-based classic hits station, was issued an eight-page Order to Show Cause, Hearing Designation Order, and Notice for Opportunity of Hearing, dated October 19th.  The order was mailed that same day, giving Wahl 20 days to file a written appearance in response to the order.  The order was extended on November 8th after the initial mailing was discovered to have an incorrect ZIP code for Wahl’s mailing address, which coincidentally is the mailing address and studio location for the station.  The extension gave Wahl until November 29, 2021 to respond.

In a two-page termination order dated December 1, 2021, administrative law judge Jane Halprin wrote that “because Mr. Wahl has not filed the required notice of appearance or other permissible pleading, his right to a hearing in this matter has been deemed waived.”

Halprin’s order further declared the hearing terminated and the case “certified to the commission.”  

Wahl’s daughter, Wendy Sipple, whom Wahl attempted to sell the station to in a token $10 transaction, filed a Motion to Intervene on the deadline date.  That motion was dismissed as moot by Halprin.

WQZS, which had existed quietly and under the radar since its inception in October 1992, made headlines after Wahl was charged in 2019 with secretly planting a camera in a former girlfriend’s residence and then creating a fake online dating profile where he solicited men to sexually assault the woman.  Wahl pleaded guilty last year to charges that kept him out of jail but confined to electronic-monitored house arrest and probation.  Wahl was forbidden to go on the air during his time on house arrest.

Wahl has hosted the morning show on WQZS for many years as “The Commander”.  The station has no online presence other than a Facebook page, with mixed posts from listeners and others pertaining to Wahl’s legal troubles.
“We all make mistakes,” wrote Sam Coughenour, who hosted a Sunday morning gospel program on WQZS for more than 25 years.  “Let him who is without sin cast the first stone.” 

Others were less sympathetic.

“Unless you are exonerated, this is where we part company,” posted another.