Second time lucky

Louis Ramos nearly moved to Inverell in his early 20s, but it took him half a lifetime to finally get here. Now that he’s here, he isn’t leaving.

The valued news presenter at Inverell Community Radio Station STA FM followed his teacher wife to Inverell, who came here for the job opportunity. After stints in Tumut, Wagga Wagga, and Griffith, the family sought a fresh start, and looked north, Ideally around Coffs Harbour or further north, and on the coast.

“Griffith had become a bit toxic for us,” Ramos said.

“It wasn’t the place we wanted to be anymore. We wanted to stay in New South Wales but needed a fresh start.”

Ramos’s wife, Julie, put in her preferences and had two jobs come up that she was suitable for—one in Tormina and one in Inverell. Louis had already applied for roles in Coffs Harbour and had begun the process of moving there, but they discussed it, and she decided to apply for both.

Julie didn’t hear back from Tormina, but Inverell called her within half an hour.

“I asked Julie, ‘Are they going to arrange for an interview?’,” Louis said.

“And she goes, ‘I think we skipped that part! They want me there as soon as possible'”

Family split with the unexpected redirection

Julie and the kids moved to Inverell in November of 2022, and she began work as a casual teacher straight away.

Meanwhile Louis faced the challenge of juggling multiple jobs while being physically separated from his family.

For months, he worked at a plumbing store and as a professional cleaner in Coffs Harbour, driving to Inverell every second weekend. He kept an eye out for work in Inverell, with a varied background in music, teaching, media and other roles giving him some options, and stumbled upon an opportunity he had long desired: working as a bus driver.

“Driving a bus was always on my bucket list,” he admits.

Despite having no prior experience driving a bus, he applied and, just like Julie, got a call back within 30 minutes of submitting his application.

They warned him that this wasn’t just driving a bus, it was driving a school bus, but having been a teacher he was warried by that, so they gave him the job, and he moved to join his family in Inverell.

Doctor shortage and fate intervene

Before Louis could begin his job driving the bus, he had to get all his tickets and approvals sorted, including a health check.

“I thought my Working with Children and police checks would be the biggest hurdle, but it was actually the health check.”

“Being new into town, no one would accept you as a new patient – they weren’t taking anyone because of the lack of doctors in town.”

“It took quite a bit of waiting, and my new boss would check in every week asking ‘how did you go’, but each time I had to tell him I hadn’t heard anything.

“Eventually he said, ‘let me see if I can pull a few strings and get you in’.”

His new boss spoke to a local doctor and got Louis in to get his health check. He still had a two week wait for the appointment.

While he was waiting to get his health check done, he went for a walk around town just to see what’s what. He passed the radio station STA FM and paused for a moment to remember the life that might have been.

“As history would have it, I already knew about Inverell because I actually applied for a job at Gem FM in 1997.”

“I turned it down because I decided I didn’t want to be that far away from family – I was just 19 turning 20.”

“I saw STA FM and thought that 2ST must have changed it’s name,” Louis said.

“But then I saw 2ST and Gem FM a bit further down the road, and thought, ok, this must be another station.”

“So I walked in into STA FM and I saw one of the reception ladies there, and I said, are you guys looking for any presenters? I used to be a presenter a while ago.”

Ramos’ snap decision to wander into STA FM that day led to a meeting with Kerry White, a committee member, who overheard him talking to the reception staff. Louis ran through his background, 25 years or so behind a mic in some form, MC’ing and DJ’ing, and experience across most aspects of radio earlier in his working life.

Kerry excused himself to make a phone call, and the staff gave Louis a membership form to fill out. While he was completing the paperwork, Louis heard Kerry say “we’ve got one, come on in'” to whomever was on the phone.

Mal Really, the station’s president, walked in the door less than 10 minutes later. The got Louis in the next day to talk to programming, and got him on air as soon as they could as a volunteer presenter.

When dreams fall in your lap

Despite initial challenges with adjusting to digital technology—Ramos had worked with analog systems in the past—he adapted quickly and was enjoying his role in the station, branching out into helping with things like producing station ID sweepers.

What Louis didn’t know, is that the STA FM Team, with the help of local grant wizards Ladybug Projects, were working on a grant to employ a news presenter. So, just a few weeks after he started volunteering, Ramos was offered a paid position. The role was part-time but allowed him to blend his passion for radio with a steady income.

He asked his wife what he should do.

“She said ‘isn’t this what you’ve always wanted to do? It’s literally landed in your lap, go for it.’”

“It was something I wanted to do for a long time, but I just never thought it would never happen,” Louis said.

Happy family, happy home

The transition to Inverell has been overwhelmingly positive for Ramos and his family. The passion and commitment of the community he has found particularly striking.

“What surprised me the most was the profound generosity of the community,” he said.

“Just how close knit this community is – and not in a cliquey way.”

“I’ve been in regional communities for a long, long time, and most are the same old country towns that all have their own cliques.”

“Inverell is no exception, but they also have this strong community feeling.

“I’ve never come across a town that was so engaged in community activities. And I’m a big community person!”

The kids have settled well and are thriving too, with the youngest a school leader in primary school, his middle child on SRC in high school for the second year, and his eldest now studying at UNE.

“They’re all reaching for the stars, but they don’t get it from me!”

The only negative Ramos could come up with when prompted was the crime.

“No matter where you are, there’s crime.”

Louis says they have no further plans to move, with a genuine feeling that they are wanted needed here in Inverell.

“This is home.”

“With the welcome we have received from everyone, with everyone saying they appreciate our contribution to the community, and just the town in general – we just love it.”