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Volume Control
In the early days of the Geelong radio
station 3GL - the 1930s - a strange
problem occurred at about the same time
every Saturday night.
The station’s signal would become
distorted, lights in the radio station would
vary in intensity and on occasion, a fuse or
two would blow.
After much head scratching by the
engineering staff, and discussions with the
electric supply people, the cause was
discovered.
On Saturday nights, every available
tram in Geelong would line up at the
intersection of Moorabool and Ryrie
Streets - in readiness for the ‘picture
crowd’ from the four main theatres. At
around 11.00 pm, with the crowd aboard,
the trams would set off in different
directions.
It seems that the shortest earth return
circuit from the tram lines back to the local
generator plant was right under the nearby
3GL studios, and the high start current
created by all those trams caused all of the
problems.

- Related by the late Jack Matthews,
former chief engineer at 3GL, to Mike
Trickett.

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