Edmonton Radio: 'Power' Branding Suit Headed To Court

Radio listeners who lived in Edmonton in the 1990s and early 2000s likely remember top 40s radio station POWER 92. While the station has since been rebranded, it’s now at the centre of a copyright lawsuit.

"Corus alleges that CJNW has rebranded itself as POWER 107 and stolen the well known 'phrase that pays,'" according to CTV News citing a claim filed by Corus last month in a Calgary court.

From 1991 to 2004, CKNG-FM Edmonton was known as POWER 92. It was bought by Corus Communications in 1999. Its distinctive black and white branding and phrase that pays, "POWER 92 plays today’s best music, now show me my money" were central to the station’s marketing.

Flash forward to August of 2019. Harvard Broadcasting Inc.'s CJNW FM flipped formats, changing its name from Hot 107 to POWER 107, and the branding was strangely familiar, from the bold black and white logo splashed across buses and billboards all over Edmonton, to the phrase that pays, "POWER 107 plays Edmonton’s best music, now show me my money." The rebranded station even plays 90s/2000s music.

Corus says it’s more than a coincidence.

"Harvard Broadcasting Inc. ("Harvard"), owner of CJNWFM 107 has brazenly copied the brand, marks, slogans, advertising materials and other identifiable attributes of Corus Radio Inc.'s successful POWER 92 radio station in Edmonton. It has done so in an attempt to increase listenership and advertising revenues for its struggling CJNW-FM 107 radio station in Edmonton," reads the Corus statement of claim filed on Sept. 12.

The Corus injunction seeks to ban Harvard from using the POWER 107 name or any name that includes POWER.


Corus is also demanding Harvard cancel or cease the use of the domain name www.power107.ca

The case will be heard in Calgary Court of Queen’s Bench on Nov. 8.