Racine station causes waves as Scripps asserts ‘The Lake’ copyright

The Lake is causing waves.

E. W. Scripps Company has contacted a Racine station that branded itself as The Lake to assert its copyright related to the nickname.

Scripps station WLWK-FM abandoned the slogan and changed formats last week.

lakeThe Racine station WMKQ-FM (92.1) confirmed that it had been contacted by Scripps about using The Lake and that “lawyers are involved.

Steve Wexler, vice president of radio for Scripps, had no comment. He previously said no lawsuit had been filed.

WLWK changed its call letters to WKTI-FM (94.5) and switched from adult pop music to country music last Friday.

WMKQ changed its format to adult pop and adopted the slogan hours later. WMKQ, owned by Magnum Media, had previously been a country music station.

 

 

AKTIlakeWMKQ also adopted The Lake logo and the slogan “It’s All About the Variety,” both of which are registered copyrights of Scripps.

As of Tuesday night the station’s and its website still made use of the branding. (It was previously reported the Facebook link was down.)

Scripps plans to continue to program the Lake’s adult variety format on 94.5 WLWK-FM HD3.

 

Tags: , , , , Posted by Duane Dudek
  • Jeremy Andrews

    There’s no HD-3 on 94.5 and WLKG has been Lake 96.1 for 21 years now. WROE/WRQE used “It’s All About The Variety” from 2008-2010. If anybody should be sued for infringement, it’s Scripps.

  • Jeremy Andrews

    There is no 94.5 HD-3. I never heard any 94.5 HD-3. This can and should be settled out of court. Scripps should be more than happy 92.1 dropped Country, they don’t own any trademark for “Lake” in Wisconsin (Ask WLKG and WLKN) “It’s All About The Variety” was used by Midwest Communications in Green Bay/Appleton from 2008-2010 on WROE. They should sit down, and settle this out of court. Maybe some free commercial time for Channel 4 on 92.1, or a banner ad for the Journal Sentinel on the website (There already is one) The article it links to not only tells people that 92.1 is now “The Lake” but that 94.5 is now Country, which should be a good thing for Scripps, because that directs former 92.1 listeners to 94.5, alerts them that it exists. They shouldn’t waste time in court. They should put their energy on making KTI Country a success and let Magnum deal with what they got rid of (Adult Hits, The Lake)

    • Kenosha Radio Head

      Jeremy,

      The logo is owned by Scripps. Scripps pays Midwest who owns and licenses the “Lake” name to Scripps. Check the state registry for “It’s All About The Variety.”

      This is probably about Scripps protecting assets. Do you have possessions in your home that you’re not currently using?

      If someone stole them or didn’t ask about them, what would you do?

      THAT is the issue. The rest is meaningless. Check your facts.

      • Jeremy Andrews

        They never registered a trademark for the logo design or the term “Lake”, just “It’s All About The Variety” and “What Will We Play Next” Magnum DID register a trademark for the logo design on May 29th, as well as “92.1 The Lake” Journal failed to trademark the logo design and the “Lake” branding. Check it again. It’s quite interesting.

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