Michael Wagner

Michael Wagner was born in Pittsburgh, PA. He graduated with a BA in English from La Salle College in Philadelphia in 1979 and obtained a law degree and an MA in Mass Communication Studies from The Ohio State University in 1983. Michael began working at the FCC in the Audio Services Division of the Mass Media Bureau in September of 1983. After two years there, he moved to the Bureau’s Enforcement Division in the Fairness and Political Programming Branch under Milt Gross. After the frenzied Congressional election of 1986 and the Commission’s abolition of the Fairness Doctrine, Michael felt compelled to leave the Fairness/Political Branch and chose to return home to the Audio Services Division.

He became a Supervisory Attorney there in 1987 and was appointed to Assistant Division Chief of the reorganized Audio Division in 2002. In these capacities, he has authored or reviewed innumerable staff and Commission-level decisions concerning the entire spectrum of issues involving the Division, from alien ownership to the effects of zoning determinations.

Michael lives in Takoma Park, Maryland, with his wife Jennifer, a retired broadcast law attorney, and his three children, Alex, Ceilidh, and Jack.

Michael has proved to be an invaluable and supportive resource to all involved in Catholic radio through the years and will once again avail himself to Catholic Radio Conference attendees for the fifth consecutive year.