A bad year for salaries
by Bob Papper
It was a bad year
for salaries in both television and radio news, but that’s been true for most
of the last half decade. After down
years during 2001 and 2002, salaries went well up in 2003. But last year, both radio and television
salaries came in just ahead of inflation, and, this year, inflation won by a
landslide. TV news salaries were
virtually unchanged from a year ago—up just two-tenths of a percent. With inflation at 3.4 percent for the year,
almost everyone had a loss in real wages--the pay increase minus the
devaluation caused by inflation. In this
case, real TV news wages fell 3.2 percent.
Only managing editors (up 9.1 percent),
news anchors (up 5.4 percent) and assistant news directors (up 4.2
percent) beat the inflation rate.
Assignment editors and news directors rose 2.7 – 3.1 percent;
weathercasters and sports anchors were unchanged, and most of the rest dropped
slightly. News reporters, news writers
and Internet specialists all dropped between 6.7 and 7.4 percent. Sports reporters fell by 10.7 percent.
Radio was
worse. Radio salaries varied more, but
overall pay in radio news dropped 4.4 percent from a year ago. That’s before inflation. News and sports anchors went up, but news
directors, news reporters and sports reporters all dropped.
Television News Salaries - 2006
|
|
Average |
Median |
Minimum |
Maximum |
|
News Director |
$86,000 |
$75,000 |
$25,000 |
$300,000 |
|
Assistant News Director |
67,500 |
62,500 |
30,000 |
150,000 |
|
Managing Editor |
63,300 |
60,000 |
30,000 |
125,000 |
|
Executive Producer |
52,600 |
49,500 |
22,000 |
125,000 |
|
News Anchor |
75,500 |
58,500 |
13,000 |
1,200,000 |
|
Weathercaster |
63,600 |
50,000 |
10,000 |
500,000 |
|
Sports Anchor |
52,900 |
40,000 |
5,000 |
400,000 |
|
News Reporter |
35,200 |
28,000 |
4,000 |
237,000 |
|
Sports Reporter |
32,100 |
25,000 |
8,000 |
100,000 |
|
Assignment Editor |
35,200 |
33,500 |
14,000 |
95,000 |
|
News Producer |
31,900 |
29,000 |
17,000 |
135,000 |
|
News Writer |
29,200 |
25,000 |
4,000 |
68,000 |
|
News Assistant |
26,700 |
24,500 |
10,000 |
50,000 |
|
Photographer |
29,200 |
27,000 |
10,000 |
80,000 |
|
Tape Editor |
27,100 |
24,500 |
6,000 |
65,000 |
|
Graphics Specialist |
30,000 |
30,800 |
15,000 |
60,000 |
|
Internet Specialist |
36,300 |
35,000 |
20,000 |
100,000 |
|
Art Director |
51,200 |
47,500 |
4,000 |
120,000 |
There were few differences
in salaries based on network affiliation, although Fox affiliates ran a little
higher than the others. News manager
median salaries at the four major affiliates were 20-25 percent higher than at
other commercial stations, but other positions were more variable, and the
differences were smaller. Overall,
salaries in the
Five and Ten Year Median Television News Salary Comparisons 2006
to 2001 to 1996
|
|
2006 |
2001 |
5-Year Percentage Change |
1996 |
10-Year Percentage Change |
|
INFLATION |
|
|
+13.1% |
|
+28.2% |
|
All TV news |
|
|
+7.7 |
|
+34.2 |
|
News Director |
$75,000 |
$65,000 |
+15.4 |
$48,000 |
+56.3 |
|
Assistant News Director |
62,500 |
54,500 |
+14.7 |
42,000 |
+48.8 |
|
Managing Editor |
60,000 |
50,000 |
+20.0 |
43,000 |
+39.5 |
|
Executive Producer |
49,500 |
48,500 |
+2.1 |
39,000 |
+26.9 |
|
News Anchor |
58,500 |
47,500 |
+23.2 |
43,000 |
+36.0 |
|
Weathercaster |
50,000 |
44,500 |
+12.4 |
36,000 |
+38.9 |
|
Sports Anchor |
40,000 |
35,000 |
+14.3 |
32,500 |
+23.1 |
|
News Reporter |
28,000 |
26,000 |
+7.7 |
23,000 |
+21.7 |
|
Sports Reporter |
25,000 |
24,000 |
+4.2 |
21,000 |
+19.0 |
|
Assignment Editor |
33,500 |
30,000 |
+11.7 |
28,000 |
+19.6 |
|
News Producer |
29,000 |
26,000 |
+11.5 |
22,000 |
+31.8 |
|
News Writer |
25,000 |
29,000 |
-13.8 |
* |
* |
|
News Assistant |
24,500 |
20,000 |
+22.5 |
* |
* |
|
Photographer |
27,000 |
24,000 |
+12.5 |
20,000 |
+35.0 |
|
Tape Editor |
24,500 |
22,000 |
+11.4 |
* |
* |
|
Graphics Specialist |
30,800 |
25,000 |
+23.2 |
26,500 |
+16.2 |
|
Internet Specialist |
35,000 |
35,000 |
NC |
* |
* |
This table gives the longer term picture,
comparing salaries with five years ago, ten years ago and with inflation over
those periods. Overall, in the last five
years, TV news salaries have grown at just over half the rate of inflation (7.7
percent versus 13.1 percent). The ten
year picture is better, with overall salary growth (34.2 percent) running ahead
of inflation (28.2 percent). The big
winners in the last five years are managing editor, news anchor, news assistant
and graphics specialist – all up between 20.0 and 23.2 percent). News writer, down 13.8 percent, was the
biggest loser and the only group to actually drop over the five year
period. Over the last 10 years, the
biggest winners were news managers—except executive producers—and news anchors
and weathercasters. Photographers and
producers also rose ahead of inflation.
No positions actually dropped in salary of the last 10 years, but
graphics specialists, sports reporters and assignment editors rose the least. In most tables, we use median—or
midpoint—salaries as the best general indicator of pay level. *Insufficient data.
Median TV
News Salaries by Market Size – 2006
|
|
1 – 25 |
26 – 50 |
51 – 100 |
101-150 |
150+ |
|
News Director |
$120,000 |
$130,000 |
$80,000 |
$65,000 |
$53,000 |
|
Assistant News Director |
110,000 |
80,000 |
55,000 |
47,000 |
36,500 |
|
Managing Editor |
80,800 |
60,000 |
49,000 |
45,000 |
41,500 |
|
Executive Producer |
71,300 |
62,400 |
45,000 |
36,500 |
30,000 |
|
News Anchor |
115,000 |
107,500 |
67,500 |
45,000 |
30,500 |
|
Weathercaster |
108,000 |
90,000 |
59,000 |
41,300 |
30,000 |
|
Sports Anchor |
89,800 |
80,000 |
45,000 |
33,000 |
26,000 |
|
News Reporter |
51,000 |
43,500 |
30,000 |
23,000 |
20,000 |
|
Sports Reporter |
62,500 |
38,000 |
30,000 |
22,000 |
20,000 |
|
Assignment Editor |
40,000 |
35,000 |
34,000 |
30,000 |
25,300 |
|
News Producer |
45,000 |
37,000 |
29,800 |
23,300 |
21,500 |
|
News Writer |
35,500 |
25,000 |
22,000 |
18,000 |
* |
|
News Assistant |
31,800 |
36,000 |
21,000 |
16,800 |
15,000 |
|
Photographer |
44,000 |
35,000 |
28,000 |
21,000 |
21,000 |
|
Tape Editor |
38,800 |
28,000 |
22,300 |
19,300 |
23,000 |
|
Graphics Specialist |
40,000 |
34,500 |
25,000 |
27,000 |
30,800 |
|
Internet Specialist |
47,000 |
40,000 |
36,300 |
25,000 |
35,000 |
|
Art Director |
56,500 |
45,000 |
35,000 |
* |
* |
As usual, the larger the market, the larger
the salary. There are exceptions, of
course, and the most common ones are in the largest markets. That’s because the biggest markets include
both the biggest and highest-paying stations–along with a disproportionately
high number of smaller, lower-paying independents. Compared to last year, markets 1-25 and
101-150 saw the most positions increase in salary. All the rest were about the same. *Insufficient
data.
Median TV
News Salaries by Staff Size –2006
|
|
51+ |
31-50 |
21-30 |
11-20 |
1-10 |
|
News Director |
$121,000 |
$85,000 |
$65,000 |
$53,000 |
$45,000 |
|
Assistant News Director |
80,000 |
55,000 |
36,500 |
30,000 |
48,000 |
|
Managing Editor |
70,000 |
47,000 |
54,500 |
37,500 |
44,000 |
|
Executive Producer |
65,000 |
45,000 |
34,500 |
32,000 |
44,000
|
|
News Anchor |
110,000 |
70,000 |
45,000 |
31,000 |
44,000
|
|
Weathercaster |
100,000 |
55,000 |
44,500 |
30,000 |
32,500
|
|
Sports Anchor |
82,500 |
45,000 |
33,000 |
25,500 |
25,000
|
|
News Reporter |
45,000 |
30,000 |
24,900 |
20,000 |
23,500
|
|
Sports Reporter |
40,000 |
28,000 |
21,800 |
19,500 |
24,300
|
|
Assignment Editor |
40,000 |
35,000 |
30,000 |
24,000 |
30,000 |
|
News Producer |
39,500 |
30,000 |
24,000 |
21,000 |
28,500 |
|
News Writer |
25,000 |
20,000 |
* |
15,000 |
* -* |
|
News Assistant |
35,000 |
20,000 |
17,000 |
18,000 |
28,000 |
|
Photographer |
37,200 |
28,700 |
22,400 |
20,000 |
25,000 |
|
Tape Editor |
30,000 |
23,000 |
20,000 |
20,000 |
17,000 |
|
Graphics Specialist |
35,000 |
26,000 |
25,000 |
18,500 |
11,000 |
|
Internet Specialist |
45,000 |
30,000 |
22,500 |
22,000 |
35,000 |
|
Art Director |
53,000 |
35,000 |
* |
33,000 |
40,000 |
In contrast to
market size, there are extremely few exceptions to the pattern that the stations
with the largest news staffs pay the most money. Here, the exceptions are most likely to be
among the smallest newsrooms because that’s where we find a disproportionately
high percentage of small size but large market independents. This year, the smallest news departments had
the most positions go up in salary. *Insufficient
data.
Radio News Salaries – 2006
|
|
Average |
Median |
Minimum |
Maximum |
|
News Director |
$31,900 |
$30,000 |
$8,000 |
$100,000 |
|
News Reporter |
22,200 |
25,000 |
4,000 |
50,000 |
|
News Anchor |
28,300 |
23,500 |
5,000 |
120,000 |
|
News Producer |
21,900 |
20,500 |
6,000 |
75,000 |
|
Sports Anchor |
34,800 |
32,500 |
4,000 |
100,000 |
|
Sports Reporter |
18,500 |
19,000 |
1,000 |
40,000 |
|
Other |
21,000 |
16,400 |
5,000 |
45,000 |
As usual, the trend
in radio salaries varied from position to position, with news reporters edging
up and the relatively few sports anchors increasing more. Sports reporters, news producers and news
directors all went down from a year ago.
Overall, radio salaries fell 4.4 percent. Tack on an inflation rate of 3.4 percent and
real wages in radio news dropped 7.8 percent in the last year.
Five and Ten Year Median Radio
News Salary Comparisons 2006 to 2001 to 1996
|
|
2006 |
2001 |
5-Year Percentage Change |
1996 |
10-Year Percentage Change |
|
INFLATION |
|
|
+13.1% |
|
+28.2% |
|
All radio news |
|
|
-4.5% |
|
+22.2% |
|
News Director |
$30,000 |
$31,000 |
-3.2 |
$21,000 |
+42.9 |
|
News Reporter |
25,000 |
25,750 |
-2.9 |
19,000 |
+31.6 |
|
News Anchor |
23,500 |
25,000 |
-6.0 |
21,000 |
+11.9 |
|
News Producer |
20,500 |
26,000 |
-21.2 |
20,000 |
+2.5 |
|
Sports Anchor |
32,500 |
30,000 |
+8.3 |
* |
* |
|
Sports Reporter |
19,000 |
* |
* |
* |
* |
Overall, salaries
in radio news have not kept pace with inflation over the last five or ten
years. This year’s losses wiped out all
the gains over the last five years, but, even so, wages were running well
behind inflation. Only sports anchors
are up over the last five years, and they’re up just 8.3 percent—still behind
inflation. The picture is more complex
over the past 10 years. News directors
are still up well beyond inflation (42.9 percent versus 28.2 percent),and news
reporters are up a little above inflation (at 31.6 percent), but both news
anchors and news producers are running well behind the inflation rate. *Insufficient
data.
Median Radio News Salaries by Market Size – 2006
|
|
Major |
Large |
Medium |
Small |
|
News Director |
$35,000 |
$44,000 |
$30,000 |
$25,000 |
|
News Reporter |
42,500 |
25,500 |
11,000 |
24,000 |
|
News Anchor |
83,500 |
23,000 |
32,000 |
22,800 |
|
News Producer |
40,000 |
29,500 |
21,800 |
20,000 |
|
Sports Anchor |
100,000 |
40,000 |
30,000 |
25,000 |
|
Sports Reporter |
* |
30,000 |
4,000 |
19,000 |
As usual, the
larger the market, generally, the higher the salary. There’s a fair amount of variability because
some of the specialized positions only appear in certain size markets or at
certain stations. More positions rose in
major and small markets than the two middle groups, but the differences were
small. Major markets are those with 1
million or more listeners. Large markets
are those from 250,000 to 1 million; medium markets are from 50,000 to 250,000;
and small markets have fewer than 50,000 listeners. *Insufficient data
Median Radio News Salaries by Full-Time Staff Size - 2006
|
|
One |
Two |
Three or 4 |
5 or more |
|
News Director |
$26,000 |
$30,500 |
$26,000 |
$37,000 |
|
News Reporter |
* |
* |
17,800 |
25,000 |
|
News Anchor |
* |
* |
22,500 |
30,000 |
|
News Producer |
20,000 |
21,300 |
20,000 |
22,300 |
|
Sports Anchor |
40,000 |
35,000 |
24,000 |
40,000 |
|
Sports Reporter |
25,000 |
40,000 |
11,000 |
19,000 |
The salaries by
staff size are highly variable until we get to five or more employees–at which
point all the salaries are higher except for sports reporters. That was the same pattern as last year. We, too, were puzzled by stations with one
news staff member who’s a sports reporter, sports anchor or news producer. *Insufficient data.
Median Radio News Salaries by Number of Stations News
Director Supervises - 2006
|
|
One |
2-3 -Two |
Four -Three or more |
5-6 |
7 or more |
|
News Director |
$35,000 |
$26,000 |
$35,000 |
$32,000 |
$33,000 |
|
News Reporter |
* |
4,000 |
26,000 |
24,000 |
27,800 |
|
News Anchor |
* |
16,600 |
38,000 |
23,500 |
30,000 |
|
News Producer |
* |
22,500 |
13,500 |
23,500 |
20,000 |
|
Sports Anchor |
* |
35,000 |
70,000 |
24,000 |
37,500 |
|
Sports Reporter |
* |
4,000 |
16,500 |
* |
30,000 |
As with last year, there is no consistent
pattern to salaries based on the number of stations a news director supervises.
*Insufficient data.
Median Radio News Salaries by Ownership - 2006
|
|
Group-Owned |
Independent |
|
News Director |
$30,000 |
$30,000 |
|
News Reporter |
25,000 |
18,500 |
|
News Anchor |
23,300 |
27,000 |
|
News Producer |
20,000 |
28,000 |
|
Sports Anchor |
35,000 |
24,000 |
|
Sports Reporter |
22,500 |
10,500 |
As with last year, there is no consistent
pattern to salaries based on ownership.
*Insufficient data.
Bob Papper is professor of
telecommunications at
About the Survey
The
RTNDA/Ball State University Survey was conducted in the fourth quarter of 2005
among all 1,617 operating, non-satellite television stations. Calls are still being made to all
Contracts
Percentage of TV News People Under Contract and Non-Competes
- 2005
|
|
Under Contract |
Under Non-Compete |
|
News Director |
39.8% |
80.2% |
|
Assistant News Director |
43.1 |
81.8 |
|
Managing Editor |
50.0 |
87.5 |
|
Executive Producer |
55.5 |
93.4 |
|
News Anchor |
92.1 |
83.7 |
|
Weathercaster |
89.6 |
84.1 |
|
Sports Anchor |
88.2 |
84.0 |
|
News Reporter |
79.7 |
86.7 |
|
Sports Reporter |
67.6 |
88.4 |
|
Assignment Editor |
32.0 |
88.9 |
|
News Producer |
56.9 |
83.6 |
|
News Writer |
18.8 |
50.0 |
|
News Assistant |
7.9 |
60.0 |
|
Photographer |
14.2 |
88.9 |
|
Tape Editor |
10.9 |
84.6 |
|
Graphics Specialist |
6.7 |
66.7 |
|
Internet Specialist |
27.1 |
89.5 |
|
Art Director |
17.9 |
80.0 |
Almost
all the percentages for contracts in TV news are up–with bigger jumps for
managing editor, assignment editor, news writer, Internet specialist and news
and sports reporters. Most employees who
are under contract have non-competes–except in the growing number of states
where non-competes have been eliminated.
Percentage of Radio
News People Under Contract or Non-Compete – 2006 -2005
|
|
Under Contract |
Under Non-Compete |
|
News Director |
34.8% |
74.4% |
|
News Reporter |
30.0 |
66.7 |
|
News Anchor |
30.0 |
83.3 |
|
News Producer |
25.0 |
90.0 |
|
Sports Anchor |
33.3 |
100.0 |
|
Sports Reporter |
50.0 |
83.3 |
The
differences this year versus last year are variable, but for the third straight
year, there is an overall increase in the percentage of radio news people under
contract. As with TV non-competes, most
contracts include that provision unless the state prohibits it.
TV news 2006 starting salaries for new employees with no
fulltime experience
|
Position |
Average |
Median |
Minimum |
Maximum |
|
All TV news |
$21,400 |
$20,000 |
$7,000 |
$77,000 |
|
Reporter |
21,100 |
20,000 |
8,500 |
77,000 |
|
Producer |
21,800 |
21,000 |
9,500 |
37,500 |
|
Photographer |
20,600 |
20,000 |
8,000 |
44,500 |
|
Tape editor |
20,500 |
20,600 |
7,000 |
37,500 |
|
Assignment editor |
26,300 |
25,000 |
19,300 |
35,000 |
|
News assistant |
23,000 |
23,700 |
16,600 |
31,200 |
|
Writer |
24,400 |
25,000 |
18,000 |
30,000 |
|
Anchor |
20,600 |
19,800 |
13,000 |
29,600 |
The positions are listed in order of how many starting hires
were made in 2006.
Radio news 2006 starting salaries for new employees with no
fulltime experience
|
Position |
Average |
Median |
Minimum |
Maximum |
|
All radio news |
$18,000 |
$18,000 |
$1,000 |
$32,000 |
|
Reporter |
19,400 |
19,500 |
10,000 |
30,000 |
|
Announcer |
17,000 |
16,000 |
1,000 |
32,000 |
|
Producer |
16,400 |
14,800 |
10,700 |
29,000 |
|
Board operator |
13,600 |
13,800 |
10,700 |
16,000 |
|
Anchor |
20,600 |
22,000 |
10,700 |
30,000 |
The positions are listed in order of how many starting hires
were made in 2006.
Pay on the TV Anchor Desk
Over the last 10 years, there’s been there’s
been a decided change in the salary relationship among the news, sports and
weather anchors. The order hasn’t
changed; news anchors were always first with weather second and sports
third. But the spread has changed.
The pivotal turning point appears to be
2000-2001. In the five years ending in
2000, news anchors made an average of 16.5 percent more than weathercasters and
31.9 percent more than sports anchors.
Weather outpaced sports by 16.4 percent.
In the five years since, the difference
between news and weather has grown to 24.7 percent, and the difference between
news and sports has moved up to 40.7 percent.
Weather now outpaces sports by 24.9 percent.
But this comparison probably understates
the difference between weather and sports.
Over the last 10 years, far more weathercasters than sports anchors have
been added to news departments as stations expanded weather teams and hired weather
people—but commonly not sports people—for new shows. Even with the additional secondary
weathercasters, they’ve widened the salary gap over sports.