Bill Caralis: Reclusive Aussie radio 2SM tycoon’s wife passes away just three days after the multi-millionaire’s death

EXCLUSIVE 

The wife of a reclusive radio tycoon once estimated to be worth $200million has died just three days after he passed away.

Bill Caralis died aged 82 on July 19 in Pindara Private Hospital at Benowa on Queensland’s Gold Coast, according to a funeral notice published on the weekend. 

Pam Caralis, joint proprietor of Australia’s largest privately-owned radio network, died aged 85 in the same hospital on July 22, the day her husband’s death was publicly revealed.

Daily Mail Australia understands Mr Caralis suffered a heart attack sometime after visiting his wife who had been suffering a long-term chronic illness. 

‘Bill and Pam left an indelible mark on many people’s lives,’ their joint funeral notice stated. 

‘Their generosity to their staff and colleagues in the radio industry will never be forgotten.

‘They were together for 60 years of marriage, inseparable in life and death.’

Mr Caralis was as famed for his reclusive nature as for creating a media empire which became the Super Radio Network of 42 stations across NSW and Queensland. 

He rarely gave interviews and was notoriously reluctant to be photographed.

Mr Caralis made a rare exception to his obsession with privacy in March 2014 by taking out a newspaper ad to celebrate his golden wedding anniversary.

An accompanying black and white photograph of the couple was described by one radio industry website as the first verified picture of Mr Caralis to have been published for 50 years. 

The Super Radio Network includes 2SM, which dominated Sydney’s commercial ratings in the 1970s as a music station and now employs former talkback king John Laws.

Mr Caralis, whose wealth was estimated to be at least $200million in a 2005 profile in the Australian Financial Review, did not flaunt his personal fortune. 

He was known for wearing tracksuits when he came into the office and for being reluctant to spend money on equipment, infrastructure or wages.

One former employee who worked at 2SM when Mr Caralis lived above the Pyrmont studio early this century remembered staff bringing in their own toilet paper.  

Mr Caralis died aged 82 on July 19 at Benowa on Queensland’s Gold Coast. He is pictured with local Radio 97 breakfast host Brooke Marsden on his 80th birthday

In April 2003, Mr Caralis saved himself tens of thousands of dollars a year when he withdrew 2SM from the Sydney radio ratings system, citing a lack of faith in the accuracy of listener surveys.

The station’s last survey result before that decision was just 0.6 per cent of the available audience. 

A radio industry veteran told Daily Mail Australia he expected Broadcast Operations Group, which trades as Super Radio Network, to be worth somewhere between $30million and $70million. 

Mr Caralis was born in Greece and moved to Australia in 1945 at the end of World War II.

He left school in his early teens and worked for his father’s grocer shop in Sydney’s Queen Victoria Building before moving into property development. 

After building a shopping centre at Marrickville in the city’s inner west Mr Caralis had a stint in liquor retailing, establishing Camperdown Cellars. 

He was president of the Newtown rugby league club from 1979 to 1982 before the Jets were kicked out of the first-grade competition.

In the early 1980s, Mr Caralis moved to Tweed Heads on the NSW north coast and began buying up regional broadcasters, starting in 1987 with 2RG in Griffith.

He would add stations in Dubbo, Parkes, Mudgee, Lismore, Murwillumbah, Taree, Tamworth, Armidale, Grafton, Orange, Gunnedah, Port Macquarie, Toowoomba and Gympie.

Mr Caralis was as famed for his reclusive nature as for creating a media empire which became the Super Radio Network of 42 stations across NSW and Queensland

Mr Caralis purchased 2SM from INXS manager Chris Murphy for $8.25million in 1999 and expanded his network the next year to include 2HD and NEWFM in Newcastle.

His death led to glowing tributes from many of the stations he owned. 

‘Mr Caralis maintained a close connection with his staff and was deeply invested in his stations and the people that worked for him,’ Toowoomba’s 4WK station posted on social media.

‘His love and passion for radio was inspirational and all of us here at 4WK will miss him greatly.’

Brooke Marsden, breakfast host on Radio 97 which broadcasts on the Gold Coast and into the Tweed and Northern Rivers of NSW, also expressed her condolences. 

‘It was an honour to know Bill Caralis, a true legend and one of a kind human being,’ she wrote.

‘Thank you for everything Billy, may your big beautiful heart Rest in Peace.’

Radio 2VM in Moree posted: ‘We have been assured that it will be business as usual with all staff urged to continue in his loving memory. Rest easy Boss.’

Mr and Mrs Caralis are survived by their sons John and George, daughter Despina and six grandchildren.

A funeral for the couple will be held at the Sacred Heart Catholic Church at Clear Island Waters on the Gold Coast on Friday.