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WCAI

Woods Hole, Massachusetts
Broadcast area	Hyannis, Massachusetts Cape Cod
Frequency	90.1 MHz (HD Radio)
Branding	CAI
Programming
Format	Non-commercial; National Public Radio
Subchannels	HD2: WCRB simulcast
Ownership
Owner	WGBH Educational Foundation
Sister stations	Radio: WCRB WGBH TV: WFXZ-CD WGBH-TV WGBX-TV WGBY-TV
History
First air date	September 25, 2000
Call sign meaning	"Cape and Islands"
Technical information
Licensing authority	FCC
Facility ID	8566
Class	B1
ERP	12,500 watts
HAAT	73.5 meters (241 ft)
Transmitter coordinates	41°26′16″N 70°36′50″W / 41.43778°N 70.61389°W / 41.43778; -70.61389 (WCAI)
Repeater(s)	89.7 WGBH-HD3 (Boston) See also § Simulcasts
Links
Public license information	Public file LMS
Webcast	Listen Live
Website	www.capeandislands.org

WCAI (90.1 FM) in Woods Hole, Massachusetts, WNAN (91.1 FM) in Nantucket, and WZAI (94.3 FM) in Brewster, are NPR member radio stations serving the Cape Cod and Islands area of southeast Massachusetts. They broadcast primarily news and information programming and are owned by the WGBH Educational Foundation in Boston. WCAI's studios are located at the Captain Davis House at 3 Water Street in Woods Hole (a census-designated place in Falmouth) and its transmission facilities are located in Tisbury, Massachusetts. In October 2024, WGBH announced it was selling the Davis House as part of ongoing budget cuts.

The station, which first went on the air in 2000, was founded by independent radio producer Jay Allison and his organization, Atlantic Public Media, with construction and operation duties assigned to WGBH. Atlantic Public Media has also produced local programming for the station. WNAN went on the air on March 15, 2000. In 2005 the third signal, WZAI, went on the air, to improve broadcast coverage for the Cape and Islands. An online stream of the station is also available.

In 2007, the station won the prestigious Alfred I. duPont-Columbia Award, often called the Pulitzer Prize of broadcast journalism, for a 20-part series called "Two Cape Cods: Hidden Poverty on the Cape and Islands". The series was produced and reported by Sean Corcoran, and it highlighted numerous poverty issues in a region that often is thought of as playground for the rich. WCAI was the only radio station to win the award that year.

In 2020, the station rebranded as CAI, as part of a larger rebranding underwent by WGBH (which similarly dropped "W" from its branding organization-wide).

Apart from being owned by WGBH, there is no connection between the Cape and Islands NPR stations and WNCK in Nantucket, which formerly simulcast WGBH's primary radio service and later WCRB, a classical music station owned by WGBH. WCAI itself carries WCRB's programming on its second HD Radio channel, which was added in late 2013 after WCAI boosted its power.

Simulcasts

References

1. Fybush, Scott (October 2, 2000). "Spinning the Dial in Connecticut". North East RadioWatch. Retrieved March 15, 2015.
2. "Facility Technical Data for WCAI". Licensing and Management System. Federal Communications Commission.
3. Aidan Ryan (October 31, 2024). "GBH is selling the longtime home of WCAI, its Cape and Islands radio station, to cut costs". The Boston Globe.
4. "A New Name and a New Look". WCAI. September 2, 2020. Retrieved September 2, 2020.
5. "WCAI Increases Transmitter Strength, Reaching more than 200k New Listeners". WCAI. January 28, 2014. Retrieved February 6, 2014.
6. Fybush, Scott (March 17, 2000). "Clear Channel Spins Again". North East RadioWatch. Retrieved March 15, 2015.
7. Fybush, Scott (June 13, 2005). "A Great Day in Alpine, N.J." North East RadioWatch. Retrieved March 15, 2015.

External links

• Website of WCAI and its sister stations
• Website of founding organization Atlantic Public Media
• Interview with Jay Allison on the podcast and public radio interview program ThoughtCast
• Facility details for Facility ID 8566 (WCAI) in the FCC Licensing and Management System
• WCAI in Nielsen Audio's FM station database

v t e GBH
Television stations	WFXZ-CD WGBH-TV WGBX-TV WGBY-TV
Radio stations	WCAI WCRB WGBH WNAN WZAI
Media accessibility| efforts	Media Access Group (closed captioning and audio description) Descriptive Video Service
Television productions	American Experience Antiques Roadshow Arthur Ask This Old House Basic Black Between the Lions Cook's Country Curious George Decoding COVID-19 Design Squad Fetch! with Ruff Ruffman Food Trip with Todd English French in Action Frontline Gourmet's Adventures with Ruth Gourmet's Diary of a Foodie Greater Boston High School Quiz Show Maria Hinojosa: One-on-One Martha Speaks Masterpiece Molly of Denali Nova Nova ScienceNow Peep and the Big Wide World Pinkalicious & Peterrific Postcards from Buster Religious America Rough Cut with Fine Woodworking Simply Ming The New Yankee Workshop The Victory Garden This Old House Time Warp Trio Work It Out Wombats! Zoom 1972–1978 1999–2005
Radio productions	Innovation Hub The World
Distributions	PBS Distribution Public Radio International
WFXZ-CD maintains a channel sharing agreement with WGBH-TV. Merged into Public Radio Exchange

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