Competitor Petitions FCC to Deny Renewal of WQZS License

A Second Amendment advocacy group holding an LPFM license is petitioning the FCC to deny the license renewal of an embattled FM station in southern Somerset County.

Rob Kluver is the president of Meyersdale-based American Militia Association.
The association is the licensee of WHYU, which operates at 102.3 FM and is in the process of commencing a same-named station on the non-commercial band with a stronger signal at 89.1. WHYU programs a format of country music and conservative talk.

In the 180-page petition, Kluver alleges that WQZS’s license should not be renewed due to owner Roger Wahl’s “severe lack of candor and character since the beginning of his involvement with the commission more than 30 years ago.”

Wahl founded the station, which first went on the air in September 1992. He has been fighting to keep the license in his control since a sexual assault case brought against him in 2019 resulted in a guilty plea. Because Wahl pleaded guilty to a felony charge, he faces the loss of his license under the FCC’s character issues. Wahl has also run afoul of the presiding judge assigned to his case due to repeated procedural missteps in his upcoming hearing where WQZS’s ultimate fate will be decided.

Kluver further alleges that Wahl has scoffed at other FCC rules and regulations, including failing to disclose other parties with vested interests in the station, and an unfenced transmitter facility, violating ownership rules and restricted access, respectively.

“Roger Wahl lacks the character and candor to be a licensee specifically based on his record and other facts shown in this Petition to Deny,” Kluver writes. “Roger’s acts have diminished the reputation of all licensed radio station operators, especially in the licensed community of Meyersdale where the petitioner operates its licensed facility and is actively working on its granted construction permit.”

Kluver also claims that Wahl did not air FCC-mandated over-the-air license renewal announcements, has not properly maintained a public inspection file, reneged on a partnership with an individual who was instrumental in getting the station on the air, and had been embroiled in various lawsuits regarding the station’s ownership status since its inception.

Wahl continues to operate WQZS while the station’s fate is being debated.