WCAP was a short-lived radio station located in

Washington, D.C. Washington, D.C., formally the District of Columbia and commonly known as Washington or D.C., is the capital city and federal district of the United States. The city is on the Potomac River, across from Virginia, and shares land borders with ...

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, an abbreviation for its former name, the American Telephone and Telegraph Company, was an American telecommunications company that provided voice, video, data, and Internet telecommunications and professional services to busi ...

(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 WRC may refer to: Broadcasting stations * WRC-TV, a television station (virtual channel 4, digital channel 34) licensed to Washington, D.C., United States * Several radio stations in the Washington, D.C. area: ** WWRC, a radio station (570 AM) l ...

(now WTEM), owned by the

Radio Corporation of America RCA Corporation was a major American electronics company, which was founded in 1919 as the Radio Corporation of America. It was initially a patent pool, patent trust owned by General Electric (GE), Westinghouse Electric Corporation, Westinghou ...

(RCA). On May 11, 1926, AT&T announced that a subsidiary, the

Broadcasting Company of America The Broadcasting Company of America (BCA) was a short-lived subsidiary of the American Telephone & Telegraph Company (AT&T). It was formed in May 1926 in order to consolidate AT&T's radio station and network operations into a single organization. ...

(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)