Slattsnews

Sandy Gray’s wonderful site pays homage to the golden days of radio with a plethora of pix, memorabilia and reminiscenses from our old local AM station 3GL.
Sandy’s father, Reg, ran the station for decades before his death in 1980 and 3GL and staff became as much a part of the city’s fabric as Corio Bay and the You Yangs ranges.
Geelong lost an institution when the station closed in 1990 and FM outfit K-ROCK started up, sounding like every other try-hard, soulless, rumble-voiced pop station on the globe.
At the station’s peak before television in the 50s it was said that if something in Geelong wasn’t broadcast on 3GL it didn’t happen. On the site you can even listen to a Sabre jet breaking the sound barrier at Avalon Airfield.

This shows the setup used for describing sporting events such as the Melbourne To Warrnambool cycling event. It was pioneered by Jack Matthews using ex world war two transceivers to broadcast live whilst travelling beside the sportsmen. Two cars were typically used one with the lead bunch and one with the scratchmen. Besides providing exciting up to the second description to listeners, the cars and their crews often provided accuracte and vital information to the contestants. Information not available prior to the technology being introduced by 3GL. A similar technique was used for the famous Head of the River race whan it was on the Barwon River. (In fact a key reason for holding the Head of the River permanently in on the Barwon was an assurance hat it would be described live to air by 3GL)