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WQZS

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WQZS
Broadcast areaSomerset County (limited)
Frequency93.3 MHz
BrandingQZ-93
Programming
Language(s)English
FormatDefunct (was Oldies/Classic rock)
Ownership
Owner
  • Roger Wahl
  • (Roger Wahl)
History
First air date
October 26, 1992; 32 years ago (1992-10-26)
Last air date
April 4, 2024; 8 months ago (2024-04-04)
Technical information[1]
Licensing authority
FCC
Facility ID57424
ClassA
ERP630 watts
HAAT294 meters (965 ft)
Transmitter coordinates
39°47′49″N 79°10′4″W / 39.79694°N 79.16778°W / 39.79694; -79.16778
Links
Public license information

WQZS (93.3 FM) – branded QZ-93 – was a commercial oldies and classic rock radio station licensed to serve Meyersdale, Pennsylvania. Locally owned by Roger Wahl, the station served Somerset County, along with nearby Cumberland, Frostburg, and Oakland, Maryland, and was the regional affiliate for CBS News Radio. The founder of WQZS, Wahl also acted as both the station's operations manager and morning host, billed on-air as "The Commander".[2]

The station only operated via an analog transmission, with a Facebook page being its lone online presence.

History

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Beginnings

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The station was founded by Roger Wahl, a Somerset County native who worked in the Altoona radio market during the early and mid-1970s. He gave up working in radio to care for an ailing family member in the late 1970s, and returned to the Meyersdale area as a result. He was working as a regional sales manager for a Maryland beer distributor when he began planning WQZS. One of Wahl's customers on his account list owned a radio station, and the two men struck up a friendship which frequently included radio shop talk. One day, the conversation led to Wahl's client informing him of a window of new FM applications, including a drop-in frequency at 93.3 MHz in Meyersdale.[3]

Wahl applied for a construction permit on August 8, 1988, but it was not until July 1990 that the FCC granted the application, turning away another applicant for the frequency.[4] From a transmitter on Mount Davis, the state's highest point,[5] WQZS began broadcasting on October 26, 1992,[6] with an oldies format. The station operated with a staff of nine: three sales consultants, a receptionist, a news director, three announcers, and Wahl, taking the title of Station Director. WQZS has changed little since going on the air, having the same owner, format, and studio location at 128 Hunsrick Road in Summit Township, about 5 miles (8.0 km) south of Meyersdale and in the foothills of the Meyersdale Wind Energy Center.

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Wahl was arrested in September 2019 amid accusations that he created a false dating profile for an 61 year-old woman known to him and wrote the profile to solicit men to sexually assault that subject, and of also placing a trail camera in the woman's bathroom without her knowledge or consent.[7] The victim also obtained a protection from abuse order against Wahl.[8] Wahl waived his right to a preliminary hearing in November 2019 and negotiated a guilty plea in Somerset County Court in June 2020.[9]

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; after the guilty plea, it reversed its decision in a July 13 order, returning the application to pending status.[10] Wahl was sentenced November 17, 2020, on felony charges of criminal use of a communications facility, misdemeanor charges of reckless endangerment, unlawful dissemination of an intimate image, tampering with evidence, and identity theft. He was sentenced to three years of restricted probation, with four months of electronic monitoring rather than incarceration due to the COVID-19 pandemic, and forbidden from broadcasting during his sentence.[11]

On October 19, 2021, the FCC issued a hearing designation order beginning a proceeding to revoke WQZS's license as a result of his multiple misdemeanors; it also held the application to transfer WQZS to Sipple in abeyance.[12] On August 2, 2022, the Administrative Law Judge overseeing the case terminated hearing proceedings deciding that Roger Wahl had failed to participate as required and effectively waived his right to a hearing. The license for WQZS expired on August 1, 2022, with its renewal application pending. A 180-page "Petition to Deny" the renewal was filed by another Meyersdale radio station, WHYU-FM, which would be rendered moot once the revocation and denial of transfer became final.

On April 12, 2023, the FCC's enforcement chief ordered WQZS’s license revocation. [13] On April 14, 2023 an application for review was filed by Roger Wahl and his new attorney. WHYU-FM filed an opposition to that appeal.

On April 4, 2024, Wahl's AFR was formally denied, upholding the initial revocation order. WQZS was ordered to cease broadcasting immediately or risk forfeiture. The station ceased broadcasting later that same day.

References

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  1. ^ "Facility Technical Data for WQZS". Licensing and Management System. Federal Communications Commission.
  2. ^ Murray, Ashley (November 24, 2018). "Meyersdale: Ready and eager for small-town tourism". Pittsburgh Post-Gazette. Archived from the original on March 1, 2021. Retrieved October 19, 2021.
  3. ^ Hackleman, Kathy (December 2013). "On the air: Local radio keeps rural communities connected" (PDF). Penn Lines. Archived from the original (PDF) on June 24, 2016. Retrieved October 19, 2021.
  4. ^ "New Stations" (PDF). Broadcasting. July 30, 1990. p. 78. Archived (PDF) from the original on 2021-03-08. Retrieved 2021-10-19.
  5. ^ "Somerset County Radio". Somerset Daily American. April 17, 1995. p. Bicentennial 35. Archived from the original on October 19, 2021. Retrieved October 19, 2021.
  6. ^ "Broadcasting begins". Maple Valley News. October 28, 1992. p. Shopper 4. Archived from the original on October 19, 2021. Retrieved October 19, 2021.
  7. ^ "Police: Meyersdale man created dating profile to get strangers to rape his friend". WJAC-TV. September 9, 2019. Archived from the original on March 15, 2020. Retrieved May 8, 2020.
  8. ^ Buchnowski, Patrick (September 21, 2019). "PFA issued against Somerset County radio station owner". The Tribune-Democrat. Archived from the original on September 23, 2019. Retrieved May 8, 2020.
  9. ^ Venta, Lance (July 8, 2020). "WQZS Owner Pleads Guilty To Multiple Charges Of Trying To Solicit Strangers To Rape Friend". RadioInsight. Archived from the original on August 20, 2020. Retrieved October 19, 2021.
  10. ^ Venta, Lance (July 19, 2020). "FCC Report 7/19: Guilty Plea To Rape Charges Leads To Rescinding Of Sale Approval". RadioInsight. Archived from the original on October 19, 2021. Retrieved October 19, 2021.
  11. ^ Buchnowski, Patrick (November 17, 2020). "Meyersdale radio station owner sentenced in sex case". The Tribune-Democrat. Archived from the original on May 9, 2021. Retrieved May 9, 2021.
  12. ^ Carey, Michelle M. (October 19, 2021). "Hearing Designation Order, Order to Show Cause, and Notice of Opportunity for Hearing (DA 21-1305)" (PDF). Federal Communications Commission. Archived (PDF) from the original on October 19, 2021. Retrieved October 19, 2021.
  13. ^ Radio Insight; April 12, 2023, “FCC REVOKES ROGER WAHL’S LICENSE FOR WQZS MEYERSDALE PA”; retrieved April 12, 2023.
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