WDCA

WDCA

Washington, D.C. United States
Channels	Digital: 36 (UHF), shared with WTTG Virtual: 20
Branding	Fox 5 Plus; Fox 5 News on the Plus
Programming
Affiliations	20.1: MyNetworkTV for others, see § Subchannels
Ownership
Owner	Fox Television Stations, LLC
Sister stations	WTTG
History
First air date	April 20, 1966 (58 years ago) (1966-04-20)
Former channel number(s)	Analog: 20 (UHF, 1966–2009) Digital: 35 (UHF, 2000–2018)
Former affiliations	Independent (1966–1995) UPN (1995–2006)
Call sign meaning	"Washington, District of Columbia Area"; also airport code for Ronald Reagan Washington National Airport
Technical information[1]
Licensing authority	FCC
Facility ID	51567
ERP	1,000 kW
HAAT	235 m (771 ft)
Transmitter coordinates	38°57′49.9″N 77°6′17.2″W / 38.963861°N 77.104778°W / 38.963861; -77.104778
Links
Public license information	Public file LMS
Website	www.fox5dc.com/fox5plus

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 in that city.

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.