Status conference set for WQZS

By Ken Hawk, PBRTV Media Correspondent

The fate of WQZS (93.3 Myersdale) will become a little clearer one week from Thursday.

According to the broadcasting trade website www.rbr.com, that’s when a status conference will be held between attorneys for the FCC and Roger Wahl, owner of the Meyersdale, Pennsylvania-based classic hits station.  Wahl, 71, faces the loss of his right to hold the station’s license due to sex-related charges he pleaded guilty to in 2020.  He has attempted to transfer the station’s license to his daughter, which is still awaiting action by the FCC.

Wahl has not been entirely without support.  The station’s Facebook page (and its sole online presence) boasts many posts from local listeners who support him, despite the seriousness of the charges that had been leveled against him.
WQZS’s history dates back to 1988, when the FCC first dropped in the frequency to Meyersdale.  He was granted the construction permit to build the station almost three years later, finally going on the air in October 1992.  Wahl has hosted the morning show since then, going by the moniker “The Commander”.  Few outside of its listening area were familiar with the station until Wahl’s legal troubles began in 2019.