G'day Gurney,

For some inexplicable reason, my two previous attempts to post a reply simply vanished ... ?!?

Anyway, your story reminds me of a bit of an old yarn in Australia. Back before and after WW II, the big radio stations recorded their broadcasts on 16" acetete-on-aluminium discs - and circulated these to their bush (rural) networked stations. Every playing lost quality ... and, by the time they got to the little stations way outback, sound was pretty dire.

Late one night, a presenter popped on the big disc, got it broadcasting and headed off to the 'fridge for a medicinal beer. He must have been getting pretty tired, because he spilt some of the beer - onto the record surface. The sound quality, over the monitor speakers, immediately improved!

For years after (probably until tape replaced the acetate discs) small stations swore by a modicum of beer to suppress the dust and scratch noises.

Regards,

Bob Bolton