It all started with a letter, addressed to a 20-year-old Koula, from a businessman by the name of George Bitsis.

Owner of a store on Melbourne’s Russell and Lonsdale Streets, selling everything from electrical appliances to Greek records, books and magazines, Mr

Bitsis was also the head of radio program 3CS Colac.

However, when he propositioned Koula about taking over the program she recalls straight out refusing.

“I wasn’t interested at all! I wanted to go and study at university,” she says.

Yet her dream to pursue studies in child psychology would never eventuate. Instead, she gave in to his offer, which would see her enjoy a long, rich and at times turbulent career on the Australian ethnic radio circuit.

Commencing in June 1958, every Sunday Koula and George, whom she eventually married, would travel to Colac and back, soon adding 3KZ and 3XY to their list of stations.

“I was very busy with the radio programs,” she explains. “And people were surprised. They used to say, ‘What do you do? How do you travel from one station to the other?’ See in those days they didn’t know anything about tape recording,” she says with a laugh.

Rather than study child psychology, Koula still went on to fulfil her dream of attending university but instead to further her studies in business, with a focus on accounting, economics and commercial law.

Although radio was never on her list of career options, she was instantly a hit with listeners; a natural, with a sincere approach that resonated with the Greek Australian people, who would often reach out to her through phone calls and letters.

“I had listeners from all over the country. In those days there were a lot of cafés, milk bars in the country towns, so they were listening to the programs and sending me letters and so forth,” she tells Neos Kosmos.

“One time a woman with a black head scarf came from a village to Odeon Music House, and she said: ‘Koula, stop with the advertisements for the washing machine! I bought the washing machine the other day, what else do you want? Put a song on for us to hear.’ And the manager of the shop says to me, ‘you know, that was the best compliment you’ve had, because she thinks you’re talking directly to her.’ We laughed so much.”

She recalls one man who lived in country Victoria who wrote to thank her, as hers was the only Greek voice he heard where he lived, far from the urban centres.

This is one of many touching stories the 79-year-old holds dear from her time on air.

Being a fan of Greek radio herself, she realised how significant the medium of radio was to the Greek Australian community and respected this fact.

“As a listener of the Stanley Young program (Yiannopoulos) I realised how important it was for the migrants because we were new in the country. I thought it was a great responsibility,” Koula tells.

Although today there are various forums through which we can reach out to the general public, radio at the time was one of the main platforms to communicate with the community.

The power and influence Koula held as a presenter was truly realised when one week into an initially unsuccessful fundraising appeal, she was asked to assist the plight of the young widow and child left behind by a Greek Australian man who was murdered in Prahran.

“It was tremendous, the response of our listeners. We were promised by our listeners 750 pounds, which was a lot of money in those days! There were several articles written about that,” she recalls.

“These were the first steps for the government and Australian society to realise that there is a need for radio programs in different languages.”

Radio segments in the 1950s and ’60s, Koula explains, were funded by sponsors, such as Odeon Music House, who would buy the radio time. With the cost considered expensive but of great value, the sponsor would establish the format of how they wanted the program to run and what the focus would be.
While such programs were open to direct community engagement and funding, when Gough Whitlam decided to extend the licence of 3EA and 2EA with the introduction of SBS – an autonomous radio station and independent body – the Greek community was slightly confused.

“The Greek community was not prepared at the time; they didn’t know SBS radio was not a community radio,” she explains.

“So you only took orders from the board of SBS and not from any other committee. It took them some time to realise, but unfortunately I was the victim of that.”

And the victim of that she was. Shortly into her term of working for the broadcaster, a sector of people from the Greek community banded together and presented a petition for the dismissal of Koula from her position as coordinator of the program.

Unwilling to bow down to their demands, the broadcaster lost her job and after that decided it was time to move onto something new, which would lead to a short career in stockbroking.

The only woman at the firm, she agreed to train herself and with determination was very successful for her two-and-a-half-year stint.

“I wanted to have a career from a very young age. I didn’t want to be a housewife and depend on my husband. I wasn’t like that at all,” she reflects.

Born in a village outside Ioannina, her father, fed up with his experiences of war in the region, decided to relocate the family to Australia, where her mother’s sister lived. Arriving in October 1956, she recalls it was just days before the Melbourne Olympic Games.

When I ask about her husband and his passing, the glimmer in her eye conveys the deep love she still has for him 39 years after his death, recalling the time they had as a married couple down to the day: “Ten years, three months and nine days,” she says with a smile.

“I respected him and he respected me. That’s very important; a part of love should be respect and friendship. That’s what lasts.”
But as she says, “life teaches you these things, it’s not that I was born wise”.

With the crash in the stock market and her falling ill, she began devoting her time to voluntary services with the Arthritis Foundation and the EEETH.

Although it’s been many years since she stopped working as a broadcaster, she will forever feel a part of it.

“I’m still involved,” she says. “But by listening now.”

Koula has witnessed Australian media change and develop through some of the most significant decades in the country’s history.

With the access that the internet has granted people to connect directly to radio and television stations abroad, there are more options than could ever have been imagined. So where does that leave ethnic community radio in Australia? According to Koula, SBS radio still has a place, and always will. Though she is adamant that one thing is missing: the music.

“Apart from current affairs and news, music is important for the continuation as well. The young people will listen if they know there will be music, because they want to know the latest release of records and songs. They should look into it, because otherwise we might lose it,” she says.

“The goal of each radio program is not only to inform and educate, but to entertain as well. They are presenting current affairs and that’s fine, they’re [SBS radio] doing very well with that. But the format should include a bit of Greek music, because to Greeks the music is in their DNA, isn’t it?”

Organising a time to meet with Koula was not an easy task – despite being in her 70s she continues to maintain a busy schedule.

With very little online presence, venturing to her home one finds themselves unsure of what to expect.

Yet upon meeting her it takes no time at all to realise that when it comes to Koula Bitsis there is no place for social stereotypes.

Although she presents as a well-groomed, elderly Greek woman, her insight, energy and views on life are not too dissimilar to that of a young, modern-day woman – though much wiser.

A true pioneer in her line of work, a devoted mother and wife, women like Koula are nothing short of an inspiration.