WCAP (Washington, D.C.)

(Redirected from WCAP (defunct))

WCAP was a short-lived radio station located in Washington, D.C. during the mid-1920s. It was initially licensed in mid-1923 to the Chesapeake and Potomac Telephone Company (C&P),[1] and its call letters were chosen to reflect the station owner. C&P was controlled by the American Telephone & Telegraph Company (AT&T), and the station was the second of two, following WEAF (now WFAN) in New York City, that would be established by AT&T. WCAP was high-powered "Class B" station, and it shared time on the 640 AM frequency with WRC (now WTEM), owned by the Radio Corporation of America (RCA).

Viola Hudson broadcasts Valentine greetings over WCAP in February 1924

On May 11, 1926, AT&T announced that a subsidiary, the Broadcasting Company of America (BCA), had been formed to take over its radio broadcasting assets, including WCAP.[2] Two months later AT&T signed an agreement to sell its BCA subsidiary to RCA for $1 million. Because there was no need for RCA to continue operation of two Washington stations, WCAP ceased broadcasting on July 31, 1926, with its hours ceded to WRC.[3]

References

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  1. ^ "New Stations: Broadcasting Stations", Radio Service Bulletin, July 2, 1923, page 3.
  2. ^ Commercial Broadcasting Pioneer: The WEAF Experiment by William Peck Banning, 1946, page 288.
  3. ^ Big Business and Radio by Gleason Archer, L.L.D., 1939, page 279.