tempo, and one vocal) as a template. The new call sign was to be KABL, as in San Francisco's legendary cable cars. In early May 1959, KROW began "stunting" with a continuous loop of a song called "Gila Monster," the theme song from a horror film that Gordon McLendon had co-produced that year. Based on this stunt, it was assumed by the general public — and by the competition — that KROW was to become a Top 40 station along the lines of McLendon's KLIF in Dallas, WAKY in Louisville or KILT in Houston. But the station took everyone by surprise by debuting KABL as a beautiful music station. KABL quickly captured a more mature listening audience that disliked rock and roll. KABL soon became the number one radio station in San Francisco, and would remain at or near the top of the ratings for years afterward. KABL's format As KABL, the station combined a mixture of easy listening string and orchestra music with light classics and an occasional Latin cocktail hour tune. KABL was known for presenting poetic vignettes about San Francisco life, a harp interlude between songs, and a cable car bell to announce the news. Licensed to Oakland, with a transmitter near the east end of the San Francisco–Oakland Bay Bridge, KABL often skirted the Federal Communications Commission (FCC) rules on station identification and city of license. While KABL could have legally identified as "Oakland/San Francisco," it instead deliberately tried to identify with San Francisco rather than Oakland. It was notorious for using slogans such as "KABL Oakland, serving San Francisco on your San Francisco radio dial, in the air, everywhere over San Francisco". This raised the ire of FCC officials, resulting in a fine and an admonishment to all broadcasters that they were licensed to serve a particular community, not surrounding ones. The final years In 1997, the station switched to an adult standards format of traditional pop and big band music. At one point, presumably inspired by the "swing dancing/zoot suits" craze of the late 1990s, KABL added a nightly "swing/dance" show several hours in length, which played music by the retro swing groups of the period such as Brian Setzer's and the Cherry Poppin' Daddies, as well as standard material such as Glenn Miller's "In The Mood". This program didn't last very long. KABL also carried the syndicated When Radio Was Old-Time Radio anthology