WCAP (defunct)

WCAP was a short-lived radio station that originated in Washington, DC during the early-to-mid 1920s. It was owned by AT&T, and its call letters allegedly dervied from the Chesapeake and Potomac Telephone Company, the local telephone company controlled by AT&T which, based on available reports from the Department of Commerce, seems to have been the owner of record.

During its existence, from roughly June 1923 to July 1926, it shared a frequency (640 AM) with WRC, the radio station owned by RCA [ [http://earlyradiohistory.us/hist-dc.htm Early Washington Radio] ] , and through an agreement with RCA, broadcast on certain nights of the week.

In May 1926, as indicated in press reports [ Iowa City Press-Citizen, May 15, 1926 ] , AT&T transferred its radio broadcasting assets from its radio department to the Broadcasting Company of America, and by contract dated July 1, 1926 [ Contained in the NBC History Files at the Library of Congress, Folder 129 ] it sold the assets of BCA to RCA for $1 million. The Washington Post, in a front page story on July 28, 1926, announced that RCA was going to shut down WCAP, and WRC would operate on the frequency it had hitherto shared with WCAP.

This station has no connection with the currently existing WCAP (AM) in Lowell, Massachusetts.

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