It began on July 8, 2020 with a guilty plea from the owner of a 630-watt Class A FM serving Meyersdale, Pa., to the felony of criminal use of a communication facility as well as the related misdemeanors of recklessly endangering another person, unlawful dissemination of an intimate image, and tampering with evidence.
Now, the end is near for the station’s owner, Roger Wahl, who has received a Revocation Order from the Chief of the FCC’s Enforcement Bureau that effectively shuts down his station in 40 days — with one meagerly possible route for Wahl to avoid such an action.
The Order, released on Wednesday by Enforcement Bureau head Loyaan Egal, follows an Order from Administrative Law Judge Jane Hinckley Halprin terminating a hearing that examined Wahl’s qualifications to be a licensee.
That ended with Wahl effectively waiving his right to a hearing by failing to respond to discovery requests and failing to comply with other procedural obligations.
At issue — whether Wahl’s 2020 convictions for a felony and four misdemeanors, and the facts underlying those convictions, established that he lacks “the requisite character” to be a FCC licensee.
Egal’s answer? Yes, he lacks the requisite character and must wind down operations before May 22, 2023, unless Wahl is successful in the filing of a Petition for Reconsideration by the end of business on Friday, May 12.
That simple act is all that is needed by Wahl to suspend the effective date of the Revocation Order, pending a further order of the Commission.
Given Wahl’s response rate, there’s no guarantee a suspension will come to pass. On August 2, 2022, Wahl’s proceeding in front of the FCC’s ALJ was terminated, giving a victory to Egal and the Enforcement Bureau. On May 31, 2022, the Bureau filed a motion to dismiss the proceeding based on Wahl’s failure to participate in the hearing as ordered.
This lack of involvement, despite warnings from the ALJ’s office, preceded Wahl’s lack of response to outstanding discovery requests, leading the Bureau to file a Motion to Compel — essentially an “answer, or else” threat.
Halprin selected the “or else” option, effectively winding down a saga that has been well-documented by RBR+TVBR over nearly three years.
In the six-page Revocation Order, Egal summarized some of the details regarding Wahl’s conviction, echoing Halprin, who also had no qualms about sharing some of the lurid details. The basis for the criminal charges is that Wahl had surreptitiously taken nude photos of a woman (a former love interest of Wahl who has stated she was raped as a result of his actions), inside her home using a concealed camera he installed in her bathroom. Wahl also impersonated the woman on a dating website, sent the nude photos he had taken with the hidden camera to at least one man who he encountered through that website, and solicited that man to have sexual relations with the woman without her consent. Upon learning that the Pennsylvania State Police were investigating the incident, Wahl deleted the photos from his phone and removed the communications he had made via the online dating site. He was sentenced to probation and electronic monitoring, and was ordered to pay a $600 fine and the costs of his prosecution and supervision.
In the license revocation hearing, Wahl elected self-representation, and did not retain counsel despite his lack of a legal background. This resulted in stern warnings from Halprin that this was a serious legal proceeding, and fell short in various ways.
There’s more: A health scare saw Wahl in a local hospital and apparently “gravely ill,” only to return to his residence/radio station and appear on WQZS without notifying the Commission in any way.
With the cards stacked against Wahl and both the Enforcement Bureau Chief and the ALJ recommending a license revocation, the end of WQZS appears all but inevitable. When the end is — in 40 days or at a later date — now rests in Wahl’s hands.
For access to RBR+TVBR’s extensive coverage of this story, please visit our archives.
