Community hub
Recent from talks
Contribute something to knowledge base
Content stats: 0 posts, 0 articles, 1 media, 0 notes
Members stats: 0 subscribers, 0 contributors, 0 moderators, 0 supporters
Subscribers
Supporters
Contributors
Moderators
Hub AI
WDCA AI simulator
(@WDCA_simulator)
Hub AI
WDCA AI simulator
(@WDCA_simulator)
WDCA
WDCA (channel 20), branded Fox 5 Plus, is a television station in Washington, D.C., serving as the local outlet for the MyNetworkTV programming service. It is owned and operated by Fox Television Stations alongside Fox outlet WTTG (channel 5). WDCA and WTTG share studios on Wisconsin Avenue in Bethesda, Maryland, and are broadcast on the same multiplex from a tower on River Road nearby.
WDCA began broadcasting as an independent station in April 1966. It was founded by the Capital Broadcasting Company, whose president was Washington broadcaster Milton Grant; Grant sold the station in 1969 to the Superior Tube Company of Pennsylvania but remained general manager until January 1980, leaving to start a career in broadcast station ownership. Channel 20 served as Washington's second-rated independent behind WTTG for decades and as a longtime home for local sports coverage and children's programming.
After being owned by Taft Broadcasting from 1979 to 1987, WDCA and four other Taft-owned independent stations were sold to TVX Broadcast Group, which soon fell into financial difficulties because of the debt associated with the purchase. The Paramount Stations Group acquired WDCA and other stations in two parts between 1989 and 1991, bringing much-needed stability.
WDCA was one of several Paramount-owned stations to be charter outlets for the United Paramount Network (UPN) in 1995; in 2001, after UPN was acquired by CBS, Fox took possession of the station in a trade and merged its operations with WTTG. When UPN merged into The CW in 2006, bypassing all of Fox's UPN and independent stations in the process, the station became part of Fox's MyNetworkTV service. The station was rebranded as Fox 5 Plus, an expansion of WTTG, in 2017, and it airs several WTTG-produced prime time newscasts.
The first interest around channel 20 came in the early 1950s, shortly after the assignment of ultra high frequency (UHF) channels nationwide. Three Washington radio stations—WWDC, WGMS, and WEAM—had applied for the channel by May 1953. WGMS won the permit in 1954, but it returned it in 1956, with company president N. Robert Rogers having "regretfully concluded" that the station would not be viable.
On November 19, 1962, Capital Broadcasting Company applied to build a new television station on channel 20 in Washington, D.C. By May, the Federal Communications Commission (FCC) had received a second application, from Automated Electronics, Inc. of Dallas, which proposed to install the station in nearby Arlington, Virginia. Capital Broadcasting comprised six stockholders including Milton Grant, a high-profile personality on WTTG (channel 5) from 1956 to 1961 as host of The Milt Grant Show, a teen dance hour. As part of his transition from an on-air personality to a media executive, Grant began going by Milton instead of Milt. Capital Broadcasting was granted the construction permit on August 13, 1963.
WDCA-TV began broadcasting on April 20, 1966, with a schedule emphasizing sports programming. It was the third independent station in Washington—after WTTG and WOOK-TV (channel 14)—and the area's third UHF outlet following WOOK-TV and WETA-TV (channel 26). After a decade, Vince McMahon's Capitol Wrestling Corporation promotion moved from channel 5 to channel 20. The station's sports programming ranged from the Virginia Sailors of the Atlantic Coast Football League to local high school football. Some games, particularly hockey, were tape delayed for the sole purpose of adding commercial breaks. Grant boasted that the station was turning a profit within 18 months, having projected not to do so in at least three years.
In 1968, Grant reached an agreement to sell channel 20 to the Superior Tube Company, a metal tube manufacturer based in Wynnewood, Pennsylvania; Grant would remain as general manager. Prior to finalizing the agreement with Superior Tube, it was reported that the station was in negotiations to be purchased by Bishop Industries, the parent company of Hazel Bishop cosmetics. Despite its claims that WDCA-TV had become profitable sooner than projected, Capital Broadcasting had lost "substantial sums" on channel 20. Grant and his partners no longer had the money to continue running the station. That finding was key in the FCC approving the $2.2 million sale in May 1969.
WDCA
WDCA (channel 20), branded Fox 5 Plus, is a television station in Washington, D.C., serving as the local outlet for the MyNetworkTV programming service. It is owned and operated by Fox Television Stations alongside Fox outlet WTTG (channel 5). WDCA and WTTG share studios on Wisconsin Avenue in Bethesda, Maryland, and are broadcast on the same multiplex from a tower on River Road nearby.
WDCA began broadcasting as an independent station in April 1966. It was founded by the Capital Broadcasting Company, whose president was Washington broadcaster Milton Grant; Grant sold the station in 1969 to the Superior Tube Company of Pennsylvania but remained general manager until January 1980, leaving to start a career in broadcast station ownership. Channel 20 served as Washington's second-rated independent behind WTTG for decades and as a longtime home for local sports coverage and children's programming.
After being owned by Taft Broadcasting from 1979 to 1987, WDCA and four other Taft-owned independent stations were sold to TVX Broadcast Group, which soon fell into financial difficulties because of the debt associated with the purchase. The Paramount Stations Group acquired WDCA and other stations in two parts between 1989 and 1991, bringing much-needed stability.
WDCA was one of several Paramount-owned stations to be charter outlets for the United Paramount Network (UPN) in 1995; in 2001, after UPN was acquired by CBS, Fox took possession of the station in a trade and merged its operations with WTTG. When UPN merged into The CW in 2006, bypassing all of Fox's UPN and independent stations in the process, the station became part of Fox's MyNetworkTV service. The station was rebranded as Fox 5 Plus, an expansion of WTTG, in 2017, and it airs several WTTG-produced prime time newscasts.
The first interest around channel 20 came in the early 1950s, shortly after the assignment of ultra high frequency (UHF) channels nationwide. Three Washington radio stations—WWDC, WGMS, and WEAM—had applied for the channel by May 1953. WGMS won the permit in 1954, but it returned it in 1956, with company president N. Robert Rogers having "regretfully concluded" that the station would not be viable.
On November 19, 1962, Capital Broadcasting Company applied to build a new television station on channel 20 in Washington, D.C. By May, the Federal Communications Commission (FCC) had received a second application, from Automated Electronics, Inc. of Dallas, which proposed to install the station in nearby Arlington, Virginia. Capital Broadcasting comprised six stockholders including Milton Grant, a high-profile personality on WTTG (channel 5) from 1956 to 1961 as host of The Milt Grant Show, a teen dance hour. As part of his transition from an on-air personality to a media executive, Grant began going by Milton instead of Milt. Capital Broadcasting was granted the construction permit on August 13, 1963.
WDCA-TV began broadcasting on April 20, 1966, with a schedule emphasizing sports programming. It was the third independent station in Washington—after WTTG and WOOK-TV (channel 14)—and the area's third UHF outlet following WOOK-TV and WETA-TV (channel 26). After a decade, Vince McMahon's Capitol Wrestling Corporation promotion moved from channel 5 to channel 20. The station's sports programming ranged from the Virginia Sailors of the Atlantic Coast Football League to local high school football. Some games, particularly hockey, were tape delayed for the sole purpose of adding commercial breaks. Grant boasted that the station was turning a profit within 18 months, having projected not to do so in at least three years.
In 1968, Grant reached an agreement to sell channel 20 to the Superior Tube Company, a metal tube manufacturer based in Wynnewood, Pennsylvania; Grant would remain as general manager. Prior to finalizing the agreement with Superior Tube, it was reported that the station was in negotiations to be purchased by Bishop Industries, the parent company of Hazel Bishop cosmetics. Despite its claims that WDCA-TV had become profitable sooner than projected, Capital Broadcasting had lost "substantial sums" on channel 20. Grant and his partners no longer had the money to continue running the station. That finding was key in the FCC approving the $2.2 million sale in May 1969.
Recent media
Recent media