# The Maltese Falcon Question-Radio Station KLVW? **URL:** \ **Category:** Cafe Society\ **Created:** [July 27, 2010, 8:22pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-maltese-falcon-question-radio-station-klvw/548224 "2010-07-27T20:22:54Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 11\ **Page:** 1
**Author:** ![ralph124c](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/r/8797f3/32.png) [@ralph124c](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/ralph124c)\ **Post date:** [July 27, 2010, 8:22pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-maltese-falcon-question-radio-station-klvw/548224/1 "2010-07-27T20:22:54Z")
In the opening scene, Sam Spade is in his office (near the docks of San Francisco)-looking out the window, you see the call letters of a local radio station (KLVW). In checking these letters, I saw that KLVW is actually a christian rock station in Odessa, Texas. Was there a station WLVW in 1940’s San Francisco? ---
**Author:** ![Biffy\_the\_Elephant\_Shrew](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/b/e47c2d/32.png) [@Biffy\_the\_Elephant\_Shrew](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Biffy_the_Elephant_Shrew)\ **Post date:** [July 27, 2010, 8:27pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-maltese-falcon-question-radio-station-klvw/548224/2 "2010-07-27T20:27:41Z")
> [@ralph124c](#): > > In the opening scene, Sam Spade is in his office (near the docks of San Francisco)-looking out the window, you see the call letters of a local radio station (KLVW). > In checking these letters, I saw that KLVW is actually a christian rock station in Odessa, Texas. > Was there a station WLVW in 1940’s San Francisco? Nope, radio stations in the western US begin with K. ---
**Author:** ![In\_Winnipeg](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/i/a8b319/32.png) [@In\_Winnipeg](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/In_Winnipeg)\ **Post date:** [July 27, 2010, 8:42pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-maltese-falcon-question-radio-station-klvw/548224/3 "2010-07-27T20:42:31Z")
Call letters do get reassigned, especially when radio stations go out of business etc. As to whether there was a KLVW in San Francisco, I doubt that they would have changed what could be seen outside a window. ---
**Author:** ![Wendell\_Wagner](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/w/8491ac/32.png) [@Wendell\_Wagner](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Wendell_Wagner)\ **Post date:** [July 28, 2010, 12:08am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-maltese-falcon-question-radio-station-klvw/548224/4 "2010-07-28T00:08:37Z")
According to the discussion on this thread on some message board, it appears that there was never a KLVW in San Francisco: [http://www.hard-core-dx.com/archive/irca/msg48882.html](http://www.hard-core-dx.com/archive/irca/msg48882.html) ---
**Author:** ![ralph124c](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/r/8797f3/32.png) [@ralph124c](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/ralph124c)\ **Post date:** [July 28, 2010, 12:00pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-maltese-falcon-question-radio-station-klvw/548224/5 "2010-07-28T12:00:15Z")
> [@Wendell\_Wagner](#): > > According to the discussion on this thread on some message board, it appears that there was never a KLVW in San Francisco: > > [[IRCA] Movie question, but not OT](http://www.hard-core-dx.com/archive/irca/msg48882.html) yep, so why the screw up at Warner Brothers? Set designers are usually pretty good about accuracy-why didn’t somebody check it out and put the call letters of a known San Francisco station? By the way, I also noticed that Kaspaer Guttman (played by the immortal Sydney Greenstreet) is shown wearing a “morning suit”-complete with tails. Even in the formal 1940’s, would this have been common? ---
**Author:** ![DrFidelius](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/drfidelius/32/3447_2.png) [@DrFidelius](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/DrFidelius)\ **Post date:** [July 28, 2010, 12:04pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-maltese-falcon-question-radio-station-klvw/548224/6 "2010-07-28T12:04:49Z")
So as not to advertize a “real” radio station? Perhaps they were afraid that the owners of the station would take offense at being in a film with unsavoury characters (like that “gunsel.”) ---
**Author:** ![Jackmannii](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/jackmannii/32/311_2.png) [@Jackmannii](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Jackmannii)\ **Post date:** [July 28, 2010, 12:42pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-maltese-falcon-question-radio-station-klvw/548224/7 "2010-07-28T12:42:36Z")
At least Spade’s office phone number wasn’t 555-5555. ---
**Author:** ![RealityChuck](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/realitychuck/32/195_2.png) [@RealityChuck](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/RealityChuck)\ **Post date:** [July 28, 2010, 1:11pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-maltese-falcon-question-radio-station-klvw/548224/8 "2010-07-28T13:11:46Z")
> [@ralph124c](#): > > yep, so why the screw up at Warner Brothers? Set designers are usually pretty good about accuracy Once again presentism raises its head. You’re talking about modern set designers. Set designers in 1942 were more interested in what looked good on screen, or what was practical (note the streets that ended in a T intersections in films set in Manhattan in that era). The set designer chose whatever looked good and probably just picked call letters that were not being used at that time. If there had been a KLVW back then, they wouldn’t have used it. I mean, the film was set in San Francisco, yet there no sign of any hills. The city seems to be as flat as a movie backlot, for some reason. ---
**Author:** ![garygnu](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/garygnu/32/2924_2.png) [@garygnu](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/garygnu)\ **Post date:** [July 28, 2010, 2:53pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-maltese-falcon-question-radio-station-klvw/548224/9 "2010-07-28T14:53:45Z")
Hell, maybe “LVW” were the initials of a set decorator, or his daughter. ---
**Author:** ![In\_Winnipeg](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/i/a8b319/32.png) [@In\_Winnipeg](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/In_Winnipeg)\ **Post date:** [July 29, 2010, 1:27am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-maltese-falcon-question-radio-station-klvw/548224/10 "2010-07-29T01:27:56Z")
Upon further checking (San Francisco newspapers online between the 20s and the late 40s), I could not find a KLVW. The whole thing was a myth in _someone’s_ mind. I find it odd that someone went through so much trouble to use a fictitious radio station name in this way, but it makes logical sense not to “advertise” a real station free of charge in a movie in this way. ---
**Author:** ![RealityChuck](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/realitychuck/32/195_2.png) [@RealityChuck](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/RealityChuck)\ **Post date:** [July 29, 2010, 1:57am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-maltese-falcon-question-radio-station-klvw/548224/11 "2010-07-29T01:57:07Z")
Movies of the time avoided using actual brand names as much as possible. This was before anyone had the idea of product placement\* and thus used made-up names. When it was unavoidable (say, showing a car), the logo was removed. \*Probably the first example of it was in the Marx Brothers’s **Love Happy** in 1949, when it was done to raise money to finish the film; even then the practice was severely criticized.