Militia Files Opposition to WQZS Application for Review
May 23, 2023
American Militia Association President Robert G. Kluver, Jr.
A competing non-commercial competitor to Meyersdale-based WQZS has filed an opposition to WQZS’ Application for Review.
American Militia President Robert G. Kluver Jr. said in the 24-page filing of May 19th that the application fails to “meet any of the legal burdens necessary to review the Revocation Order and the multiple legal violations we have identified by our objection as the application fails to make any stated claim in regards to the revocation order in any of its pages.”
WQZS owner and founder Roger Wahl had filed the Application for Review through Washington attorney Dan Alpert last week, in which he apologized for his procedural delays with the FCC, and just days before the FCC’s Enforcement Bureau would have made his revocation order final.
The American Militia Association is the licensee of WHYU (89.1 FM), also licensed to Meyersdale. The station first went on the air under a low powered FM license back in 2017, but converted to a non-commercial educational frequency late last year, which meant a substantial power increase and increased coverage. Kluver said in his filing that Wahl’s criminal actions alone should speak as to whether he is fit to hold a broadcast license.
“The local and national exposure of these events have tarnished the image of broadcasters nationwide where the majority of the public presumed convicted felons who have committed such acts surely could not be permitted to retain a broadcast license,” wrote Kluver. “Those sticking with Roger admit they are doing so because he did what is generally expected of all broadcasters, he provided and hosted local news programming including area events and local sports. It is also true that Roger Wahl had been previously elevated in high regard as a public figure, a host at special events, a master of ceremonies and even former local township supervisor. These of course are things all in the past, before his crimes became public knowledge.”
Kluver went on to downplay Wahl’s role in providing coverage of events such as the 1998 tornado that struck Salisbury, United Flight 93, and Quecreek.
“As all local media outlets of any genuine worth do, WQZS reported newsworthy events relative to its community of license,” wrote Kluver, who also implored the FCC to look within Wahl’s history of last-minute filings to delay enforcements that could negatively impact his license.
“We had looked for any such filings by Wahl since the revocation order was issued and as each day passed it further confirmed our suspicion that Roger would delay any action until the last possible moment, just as he did in the renewal filing for the license last year, where Roger had waited until after 4:30 PM on the final day to file it. Yes, it was Roger who filed that using a computer online and submitted to the FCC, after declaring an inability to do such things,” wrote Kluver in reference to Wahl’s earlier excuse for not properly uploading documents requested by the FCC, claiming to not be computer literate.
“A simple look at the metadata of the PDF document uploaded to the Commission, we found it had only been created (initially saved) at 11:13:59 PM on May 12th, 2023 and then modified (saved again) at 11:14:29 PM on May 12th, 2023 with Dan J. Alpert indicated as the author. Despite the date indicated on the submitted document being that of May 12th, 2023, the ECFS system shows that the Application for Review was marked as received two days later on May 14th, 2023, and 32 days after public notice of the Revocation Order and as such, it is therefore untimely filed in accordance with 47 CFR § 1.4(f) and § 1.7 and must be returned without any consideration whatsoever,” wrote Kluver.
“The document in its entirety is merely an attempt to pause the clock on termination of the license or otherwise convince the Commission to restart the entire process over again from the beginning as if it would have some magical propensity to alter the outcome completely void of any relevant specific claim or evidence to support such a request,” concluded Kluver in his testimony.
The FCC has yet to take action on Wahl’s Application for Review, and is expected to do so within the next 30 days.
One is a noncommercial station, the other commercial. One is basically a talk format, the other primarily music. Other than they share coverage area there is very little competition or overlap between the two. I’m not entirely sure why they felt compelled to involve themselves. The obvious angle of taking out a commercial competitor doesn’t even exist.
Our opposition has simply been on behalf of the public interest which includes those in our community who otherwise would have had no voice, including the forgotten and ignored additional owners of the radio station, and the loved ones of those who died, that Roger had swindled over the past three decades. We recognized we were the only organization with legal standing and efficient knowledge of the FCC rules and procedures to file an opposition and as such had a duty to act.