Farewell to a radio legend and his ‘rose’

Super Radio Network chieftain and former Newtown Jets president Bill Caralis has been remembered as a loud, unpretentious, competitive, hard-working man who put his love for his devoted wife Pamela above all else.

Super Radio Network chieftain and former Newtown Jets president Bill Caralis has been remembered as a loud, unpretentious, competitive, hard- working man who put his love for his devoted wife Pamela above all else.

Two weeks after the couple died, a joint funeral celebrating “two lives well lived” was held for the Caralis’ on the Gold Coast.

Caralis, 82, died on July 19 following a heart attack.

His wife of 60 years, 85-year-old Pam, died three days later, five months after being hospitalised with a chronic illness from which she would never recover.

At a Catholic funeral service held at Sacred Heart Catholic Church at Clear Island Waters, the couple’s children Despina and George drew back the curtain on their Lithgow-born “English rose” mother and their father, who became known as Australia’s most reclusive media proprietor.

In attendance at the funeral was Caralis’s two highest profile radio employees, John Laws and Canterbury Bulldogs great Graeme Hughes.

A joint funeral was held for Bill and Pam Caralis.

Caralis’s children described their father as a “loving husband” who visited his wife daily during her five month ICU confinement, who often bellowed, loved noisy V8s, dogs and, though he cherished his family, was inclined to put work first.

“Mum always said about dad: ‘Business first, family second’. Whatever you may think about that, I understand that,” George Caralis said, adding: “It took me a long time to do so”.

Born in Greece, Caralis migrated to Australia at age four and by his teens was helping his father run the family’s Greek fruit and veg shop on George St Sydney.

When his father tragically died in an accident, 16-year-old Bill was thrust into the role of family provider. At 17 he joined the Masonic Club to make some contacts.

Former Newtown Jets president Bill Caralis. Picture: Fairfax Media Archives.

After meeting Pam at a dance studio, the couple embarked jointly on building a family business. What started with liquor shops (for which they imported and bottled their own Greek wine), soon grew into property development. George recalled his father visiting work sites and shouting “bludger – in Greek” at his workers.

The businessman’s love of sport would see him become president of the (now defunct) Newtown Jets from 1979 to 1982, a fact which brought Jets stars Tom Raudonikis, Steve “The Neck” Bowden, Phil Gould and John Sattler into the family home.

After briefly retiring and moving to Queensland, Caralis took a meeting in Sydney with members of the Fairfax media dynasty in 1984.

John Laws speaking at the funeral.

It fired his love for news and soon after he bought his first radio station, 2RG at Griffith.

His Super Radio Network today boasts 42 stations and was last valued, some 20 years ago, at $200 million.

The business will now pass to the couple’s three children, including a second son, John.

Despina acknowledged: “Mum and dad left us an enormous iconic legacy which George and I will do our very best to live up to.”

“He used to tell me he was the only Greek in the world who owned mainstream media,” revealed George.

Laws, who signed on to Caralis’s 2SM 14 years ago but met him decades earlier in Tamworth, added his voice to eulogies.

“I used to hear strange criticisms about him – that he was tough on money … but he was a pussycat, a lovely cuddly man. He was quite at ease spreading his success. I shall miss Bill Caralis. I shall miss him very much,” he said.