EXCLUSIVE 

Reclusive radio tycoon Bill Caralis put a succession plan in place for his multimillion-dollar family business before suffering a fatal heart attack three days before his wife’s death.

The couple’s two youngest children, Despina Priala and George Caralis, immediately became joint managing directors of the Super Radio Network when their father died aged 82 on July 19. 

Mr Caralis’s wife of 60 years, Pam, died of a long-term chronic illness aged 85 on July 22 in the same private hospital on Queensland‘s Gold Coast as her husband.

The sudden double-blow was a shock to remaining family members, who have faced personal tragedy in the past.  

The eldest Caralis child, John, is profoundly and permanently disabled and has long required full-time care as a result of catastrophic injuries inflicted in car accident. 

A radio insider who once worked for Mr Caralis said that before John became incapacitated he would have been the most likely child to take over the family business. 

‘I used to feel bad for Bill,’ the insider said. ‘It’s a real Greek tragedy in many respects.

‘Bill was a genuinely self-made man and his eldest son was the light of his life. But the company is in good condition to be able to run itself.’

Ms Priala initially told Daily Mail Australia she would need to consult her brother George before making any statement about the siblings taking over the company but insisted  ‘we are united’.

She later declined to speak about the succession and when asked about her brother John’s circumstances said, ‘These are all private matters and there’s no comment there.’ 

Mr Caralis, who was 16 when his grocer father George was killed in an accident, built the Super Radio Network of 42 stations across NSW and Queensland.

Attempts to value the Super Radio Network over the decades have ranged from $30million to $200million.

The group includes the once-dominant 2SM in Sydney, as well as 2HD and NEWFM in Newcastle, and is the largest privately-owned radio network in the country. 

Mr Caralis, who was born in Greece and left school in his early teens, was as famed for his reclusive nature as he was for building a media empire from scratch. 

The man who lured talkback king John Laws back to radio at 2SM in 2011 rarely gave interviews, was notoriously camera-shy and did not flaunt his personal wealth.

A onetime president of the Newtown rugby league club, he was known for wearing tracksuits when he came into the office and for being reluctant to spend money on equipment or wages.

A note to Super Radio Network staff announcing Mr Caralis’s death and the business’s new structure was released on behalf of his three children and wife shortly before she died.

The note advised ‘with great sadness and pain that their beloved husband, dad, leader and lifelong inspiration passed away at Pindara Hospital’.

‘Whilst unexpected and a shock to us all, and although we are suffering great pain and grief, the reality is this sad eventuality is one the family has prepared for over the years and had a succession plan in place for,’ staff were told. 

‘In terms of that plan, Despina Priala (nee Caralis) and George Caralis will immediately assume the role of joint managing directors of all companies and entities within the Super Radio Network group.’

Ms Priala, the middle Caralis child, is a 52-year-old lawyer who runs her own company providing boutique services to property developers in the south-east Queensland market. 

She has practised as a solicitor on the Gold Coast for more than 25 years and presents the weekly Talking Law program on the local family-owned Radio 97.

The radio insider described Ms Priala as ‘the bright one of the family’ and ‘a really decent woman’. 

The mother-of-two lives with husband Roly in a $3million house at Runaway Bay, while her 48-year-old brother George and his wife Jaimee share a home at Benowa worth about the same amount.

Bill and Pam Caralis owned a five-bedroom, three-bathroom property with a tennis court at Broadbeach Waters bought for $2.3million in 2010. 

ASIC records show Ms Priala and George Caralis were appointed directors of Broadcast Operations Pty Ltd, which controls the Super Radio Network, on July 22, the day their mother died.

Three days later they were also made joint secretaries of Broadcast Operations, while their parents were still listed as equal shareholders of the company.

In the note to Super Radio Network staff, employees were assured it would be ‘business as usual’ under the next generation. 

‘Due to Bill’s incredible business acumen, foresight, and careful forward planning he left the Super Radio Network in a formidable financial position, highly profitable, well capitalised, and debt free,’ the note said. 

‘The Caralis family is committed to a “business as usual” approach for the Super Radio Network, with no plans to change anything operationally and in particular day-to-day operations… no different to how they have in the past.

‘Despite Bill C being no longer with us in your day-to-day business activities and tasks you should barely notice any changes.’

Robyn Maclean – described as Mr Caralis’s ‘right-hand person in the boardroom’ – was the entrepreneur’s personal assistant for 31 years and would continue in a similar role without her old boss.

‘As per usual access to key decision makers, ownership, and the managing directors will be exclusively through Robyn,’ the staff to noted stated. 

‘For those of you who knew Bill C you would know all that he would want now is for the business to continue as per normal and for everyone to get on with doing their jobs as well as they can and with a minimum of fuss. 

‘That is what the family asks of you now.’

The note asked for ‘time and space to attend to family matters, so for the moment we ask for our privacy’ until what was originally intended to be one funeral.

It concluded: ‘In the meantime, please let’s all honour dad’s legacy by getting back to business as usual.’

A funeral for Mr and Mrs Caralis was held at the Sacred Heart Catholic Church at Clear Island Waters on the Gold Coast on Friday afternoon.

Among the mourners were 89-year-old Laws and rugby league great Graeme Hughes, one of the hosts of 2SM’s long-running drive show Talkin’ Sport.