In September 2019, RBR+TVBR noted the arrest of a local radio personality and station owner known in a small Western Pennsylvania burgh as “The Commander” on suspicion of rape solicitation, identity theft and invasion of privacy.
Now, the attorney representing the woman that’s at the center of the investigation tells RBR+TVBR this radio figure is scheduled to plead guilty to a felony on Wednesday (7/8).
What about that radio station? The unexpected quietly transpired a month ago: A Form 314 filing with the FCC shows he’s seeking consent to transfer Class A Classic Hits WQZS-FM 93.3 in Meyersdale, Pa., to his daughter.
On June 1, Roger Wahl submitted the request with the Commission. With no written agreement and without legal counsel, Wahl proposes an inter-family transfer of WQZS to Wendy Sipple.
That’s his adult daughter, and evidently resides at the same address as Wahl.
A token payment of $10 was drawn up, and would effectively hand control of WQZS to Sipple.
WQZS covers such towns as Somerset, Berlin, Confluence and parts of Fayette County, due south of Pittsburgh. It also reaches into Hancock County, Md., and the city of Cumberland.
Is the transfer of control of WQZS permissible?
Now-retired Garvey Schubert Barer of counsel Erwin Krasnow said in September that handing the station’s license to a family member was highly unlikely. That’s because WQZS is licensed to Wahl himself and not to Target Broadcasting, the company that manages and operates the station.
“If he were to try to assign the license to a family member, it would be with a long-form application, and the FCC won’t act on that application until they make a decision on what to do regarding a license revocation proceeding,” Krasnow said. “He can’t just get out it by just changing the licensee, assigning his interest to a family.”
Yet, that’s precisely what Wahl has attempted in his June 2020 Form 314 filing.
With Wahl reportedly preparing a guilty plea, the FCC will most certainly be interest in what transpires in Somerset County Court on July 8. With a conviction, a license revocation hearing would undoubtedly begin, Krasnow predicted in September.
If he had been proven innocent, his reputation would be smeared, but he’d be allowed to proceed in the transfer of WQZS. It now appears this won’t be happening.
Krasnow and Jacksonville-based attorney John Wells King have been prolific contributors to RBR+TVBR over the years on ways a licensee could lose their license.
Krasnow and King identified eight ways for a broadcast station to lose its license.
To recap, they are as follows:
- molestation of children
- drug trafficking
- lying and cheating
- stealing
- racist actions
- lack of integrity
- not minding the store
- being oblivious to FCC deadlines
As Krasnow and King discussed in 2019, obstruction of justice and lack of candor are also taken into account. Those allegations are tied to a June 2019 FCC Hearing Designation Order involving Entertainment Media Trust (EMT).
As RBR+TVBR reported, the Media Bureau believes EMT is guilty of misrepresentation and fraud. That case involves St. Louis-based KZQZ-AM 1430, KQQZ-AM 1190 in Fairview Heights, Ill.; daytime-only WQQW-AM 1510 in Highland, Ill.; and KFTK-AM 1490.
The matter was so serious that the Media Bureau designated EMT for a hearing in front of an Administrative Law Judge to determine whether it committed “serious violations” of the Communications Act and the Commission’s rules by lying about its true owner. It found to have committed these serious violations; EMT’s licenses were cancelled.
What’s Wahl accused of? He is accused of attempting to solicit men to engage in unwanted sexual acts with a woman he reportedly impersonated through the creation of a phony online dating profile.
It began, according to Pennsylvania State Police, with Wahl hiding a trail camera inside the 62-year-old woman’s house several years ago. Images from the camera were allegedly used by Wahl to lure men into her home, with Wahl making the arrangements.
In a release distributed to local media by Trooper John Wogan, Wahl encountered a man who traveled to the woman’s home on August 30, and solicited him to rape the woman. “(Wahl) indicated that other individuals would potentially be solicited to do the same acts with him,” Wogan said. “The victim was unaware of these activities and had no involvement in this scheme.”
The charges brought against him include “criminal use of a communication facility,” as Wahl’s home and radio station address shown on official police records as identical. Troopers said Wahl, from this address, used a computer to conduct the illicit online communications via the dating website.
To exacerbate matters, Wahl is also being charged with tampering with physical evidence. Trooper Wogan says pictures were deleted from Wahl’s phone as were text communication from the dating site, apparently after Wahl discovered State Police were investigating.
Wahl on Sept. 9 was being held at Somerset County, Pa., jail on $25,000 bond, which was unpaid at the time. On November 6, 2019, he waived his right to a preliminary hearing, which had been delayed from Sept. 12.
