Thursday Could be “Judgement Day” for WQZS
September 28, 2022A Somerset County-based Classic Hits FM may have its fate decided in an FCC proceeding Thursday morning.
WQZS, licensed to Meyersdale, is facing the revocation of its license from longtime owner and founder Roger Wahl, amid his conviction on felony sex-related charges in 2020 that disqualify him from holding a radio station license.
The license for WQZS formally expired in August. As of September 2nd, the station is still on the air.
The FCC is holding its monthly open commission meeting Thursday morning at 10:30am. The meeting will be webstreamed live and can be viewed by going to fcc.gov/live.
The fate of the WQZS license has been in the hands of the FCC’s enforcement bureau after Administrative Law Judge Jane Halprin canceled a hearing in August. That hearing would have allowed Wahl one last chance to plead his case as to why he should remain in control of the license despite his criminal record.
Halprin canceled the hearing due to Wahl’s lack of substantive responses to a list of interrogatories put forth to him about the circumstances that led to his arrest in 2019.
If action is taken to revoke WQZS’ license, it would be the second station in southcentral Pennsylvania in less than three years to have had its license canceled by the FCC.
Bedford County-based WZSK, licensed to Everett, had its license canceled last year after the FCC received two written complaints that the 10,000 watt AM talk station — sister to country-formatted WSKE-FM — had been silent for an extended period of time.
In that case, FCC officials requested evidence that the station was operating since October 2019, including photographic evidence of the transmitter facility and antenna coordinates. An official from owner New Millennium Communications Group instead sent a letter explaining the station’s hardships, with none of the evidence requested. As a result, the FCC canceled WZSK’s license as of November 18, 2021.
As long as the FCC perpetuates the myth that radio stations operate “in the public interest”, shouldn’t they be aggressively seeking a means to keep the station broadcasting? Even if that means finding a caretaker management team to just keep the station operating until a permanent owner can be found, wouldn’t that be properly acting “in the public interest”?
I used to think revocation was a slam-dunk. But I have ties to that area and I’m hearing that the local people have rallied behind not Wahl but the station as an important local resource. I think it’s possible the Commission might split the baby by keeping the station alive but forcing a sale.