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Radio Giant Sues Another Over The Use Of Its Branding
There's a station group in Kansas which started calling several of its FM outlets "The Rock of Kansas."
Seems harmless enough, until giant owner Audacy found out about it. They have the trademark on the phrase and they insisted the other guys couldn't use it under threat of a lawsuit. So now five Kansas-area FMs have been forced to pull back all of their much promoted branding.
Not sure if I've ever seen this happen before, but Audacy insists it's within its right to demand exclusivity on the words - even on places that are not in the same market.
An odd story. Has it ever happened before? I can't remember anything similar, but with broadcasting often being the copycat business it is, it would not surprise me.
Audacy Forces Murfin Media’s “The Rock of Kansas” Format Name Change
- ckg927
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Re: Radio Giant Sues Another Over The Use Of Its Branding
This brings to mind "The Battle of The Edge" between WEDG and CFNY back in the 1990s. In 1995, 103.3 switched from album rock 103.3 the Fox to alternative 103.3 the Edge. Around the same time, CFNY started to refer to themselves as 102.1 the Edge. Naturally, there was a bit of a dustup between the 2 stations over who could call themselves "the Edge". Jacobs Media had the US rights to use the Edge name...but that didn't extend to Canada. So CFNY could still use it.
However, that did not stop CFNY from having some fun with it. They produced an ad that aired on WUTV(ch.29), which is on virtually all cable systems in the Golden Horseshoe....which showed the Edge part of the logo covered up with a CENSORED patch....and whoever voiced the ad ended by saying "102.1 the (BLEEP)." To this day, it STILL amuses me that that ad got made.
Last edited by ckg927 (August 24, 2026 4:21 pm)
- bmaudioworks
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Re: Radio Giant Sues Another Over The Use Of Its Branding
There was also that time in the '90s when 94.9 Oshawa went from CKQT to CKGE "The Edge" with a hot AC format under Power Broadcasting ownership. Used to tune in to that Edge as a kid growing up in Omemee.