FCC losing patience: Clock ticking for WQZS and its 'commander'

Roger Wahl may almost be out of time to save his station.

The Federal Communications Commission has given Meyersdale-based WQZS (FM) radio station owner and on-air personality Wahl several breaks in a procedure exploring whether to pull his license. But no more.

The fate of WQZS hangs in the balance with Wahl's compliance or non-compliance with two FCC deadlines this month. WQZS, an oldies and rock station, is the last independently owned radio station in Somerset County and one of just a few in the entire region.

The FCC's ongoing investigation with Wahl began when he acquired a criminal record in 2020.

An FCC order issued Friday addressed two separate motions filed by the commission's enforcement bureau to compel Wahl to send information needed for its proceedings.

Other:Last chance for WQZS? Hearing set for Roger Wahl to save, or lose, his radio station.

According to an FCC order dated March 8, Administrative Law Judge Jane Hinckley Halprin was concerned that Wahl wasn't treating the proceeding with "appropriate seriousness" during the initial status conference. Parties are expected to abide by the FCC's rules, she said.

"No fewer than five times has the presiding judge made this clear during the brief lifespan of this proceeding," Hinckley Halprin wrote.

Wahl faces the potential revocation of his FCC license. This is "the most severe penalty that the commission imposes on a licensee. Yet when ordered by the presiding judge to do something as simple as forward an email that he had already sent, he did nothing," the judge wrote in the discovery order.

"This proceeding will not continue on this trajectory," Hinckley Halprin wrote. "(Any) additional failure to satisfy a deadline or follow an order of the president judge could provide a basis for dismissal of this proceeding, which, in turn, will lead to revocation of his FCC license."

Then, she provided him with one more opportunity to comply with the FCC orders.

Why did the FCC get involved in WQZS?

In September 2019, Wahl was arrested and accused of creating a fake dating profile. He used it to solicit men to rape a woman known to him, and was accused of placing a trail camera in the woman's bathroom without her knowledge or consent.

In March 2020, Wahl filed an application to transfer control of WQZS to his daughter, Wendy Sipple, for $10. The FCC approved the transfer on June 1, 2020.

Wahl pleaded guilty on July 8, 2020, to a felony charge of criminal use of a communications facility, and misdemeanor charges of reckless endangerment, unlawful dissemination of an intimate image, tampering with evidence and identity theft. The FCC reversed its decision in a July 13, 2020, order, returning the application to pending status.

Past:Radio personality receives restricted probation in sex case

Wahl was sentenced on Nov. 17, 2020. He was placed on probation for three years, with four months of electronic monitoring. He was also forbidden from being on the air during the electronic monitoring.

On October 19, 2021, the FCC issued a hearing designation order beginning a proceeding to revoke WQZS's license as a result of his crime. The application to transfer WQZS to Sipple was put in abeyance.

The battle for air time goes on

Wahl has until Friday to file information that was first due in March and then extended until Friday. He has until May 25 to fulfill the FCC's request for response to questions and additional documents.

On March 14 of this year, the enforcement bureau served Wahl with its first request for production of documents and other records. The commission's rules state that a response is due within 10 calendar days.

On March 26, in response to an email sent to him by the bureau after the due date, Wahl said that he had emailed the documents requested, but that he received an error message when he tried to upload the documents into the commission's electronic comment filing system, a requirement for the documents to be considered filed.

More:Meyersdale's radio station owner fails to respond to FCC order

The presiding judge accepted a corrected motion and extended the due day until April 14. Additionally, Wahl's emails of documents to the bureau also needed to be uploaded and emailed to Hinckley Halprin or her special counsel no later than April 8. The FCC gave Wahl — who has said he's not computer savvy — the additional time in part because he is representing himself, which is allowed in this matter, according to the order.

"To date, Mr. Wahl has not responded to the EB corrected motion to compel documents, nor has he uploaded previously-provided documents or emailed them to the presiding judge or her special counsel as directed," Hinckley Halprin wrote.

Also on March 14, the enforcement bureau served interrogatories, a list of 38 questions, for Wahl to answer. On March 26 he filed a response in the commission's electronic filing system.

In response, the bureau officials sent him a detailed email identifying gaps in 12 of the questions in his submission and then moved to compel those answers by April 11. He never responded, according to the order.

He has until May 25 to send the requested documents, the judge wrote.

Follow Judy D.J. Ellich on Twitter at @dajudye.

This article originally appeared on The Daily American: FCC questions Wahl over WQZS radio station in Meyersdale, PA