Station Settles Suit Brought by Manilow Representatives : Radio: KBIG-FM agrees to drop a promo that an entertainment firm alleges is using the singer’s name in a disparaging manner.

A Los Angeles radio station quickly settled a lawsuit Thursday brought by representatives of Barry Manilow, who alleged that the station disparaged the entertainer and used his name unlawfully in an advertisement.

KBIG-FM (104.3), which began running the 30-second ad last week, agreed to drop the promo and replace it with another advertisement, said Kari Johnson Winston, the station’s general manager and vice president.

Hastings, Clayton & Tucker, a Nevada-based entertainment firm that owns the promotional and marketing rights to Manilow’s name, had filed suit Tuesday in Orange County Superior Court against Utah-based Bonneville International Corp., which owns KBIG, asking for an estimated $28 million in damages.

The legal action was dropped after KBIG agreed to withdraw the promotional spot.

Neither Manilow nor his Los Angeles manager, Gary Keith, could be reached for comment, but representatives for the singer said he was knew the suit had been filed on his behalf.

KBIG officials said the ad was an attempt to differentiate the station from its main competitor in the soft rock arena, KOST-FM (103.5). The spot named artists that KBIG plays--such as Mariah Carey, Genesis, Rod Stewart and Sting--and noted that KOST plays the likes of Manilow and the Carpenters.

“We’re replacing that commercial that Mr. Manilow objected to with another commercial,” Winston said. “We’re doing this completely to avoid any continued upset on Barry’s part. It was never our intention to upset Barry Manilow at all. It was just our intention to point out the differences. I frankly thought that, since we were saying where he is played, that that would be a positive, but he was unhappy about it.”

According to the suit, the KBIG ad was “falsely disparaging.” And it contended that the station was not authorized to commercially use the singer’s name, which “has become, through widespread and favorable public acceptance, a distinctive designation . . . and is an asset of incalculable value.”

Winston said the station was not aware that it needed to seek permission to use the singer’s name.

“We learned from his lawyer that his name is service-marked,” Winston said. “We didn’t know that. We’ve made dozens of commercials listing names of artists for years and we’ve never asked for permission in the past. That’s how most stations promote themselves.”

Legal experts said it is highly unusual for a major entertainer to sell the rights to his name. Rather, most celebrities license it to merchandising corporations to exploit it for commercial purposes. The firm that owns Manilow’s name is a Nevada corporation based in Los Angeles. Some music industry insiders suggested that Manilow may be a silent partner in the company, but his representatives denied that.

Meanwhile, another Los Angeles radio station, KRTH-FM (101.1), was having fun with the lawsuit. Morning personality Robert W. Morgan planned today to offer $5,000 to a listener willing to sit through an entire Manilow song.

“I didn’t want to be sued by Barry so I decided I’d better play a Barry Manilow record,” Morgan told The Times.

Times staff writer Mait Lait and free-lance writer Chuck Philips contributed to this story.