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
The Chesapeake and Potomac Telephone Company, usually known as C&P Telephone, is a former d/b/a name for four Bell Operating Companies providing service to Washington, D.C., Maryland, West Virginia, and Virginia.
Today, three of the companies ...
(C&P), and its call letters were chosen to reflect the station owner. C&P was controlled by the
American Telephone & Telegraph Company
AT&T Corporation, originally the American Telephone and Telegraph Company, is the subsidiary of AT&T Inc. that provides voice, video, data, and Internet telecommunications and professional services to businesses, consumers, and government agen ...
(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
The RCA Corporation was a major American electronics company, which was founded as the Radio Corporation of America in 1919. It was initially a patent pool, patent trust owned by General Electric (GE), Westinghouse Electric Corporation, Westin ...
(RCA).
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. 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.
''Big Business and Radio''
by Gleason Archer, L.L.D., 1939, page 279.
References
{{Washington Radio
WCAP
CAP (BCA)
Former AT&T subsidiaries
Radio_stations_established_in_1923
Radio stations disestablished in 1926
1923 establishments in Washington, D.C.
1926_disestablishments_in_Washington,_D.C.
CAP (BCA)