Radio Pay

The FCC conducted a study that showed that ad sales men and management were paid far more than talent and writers at local US radio stations and that this gap had widened over recent years.

Using a base week in October, the study found that average pay for a radio station salesman was $100 a week (about $57,000 a year in 2009 money), musicians got $62 ($35,500), announcers $56.80 ($32,500) and writers made $43.50 ( a little under $25,000), a few dollars more than station accountants and about $10 a week more than stenographers.

Pay was better at the bigger station (defined as 50,000 watt clear channels), where announcers made $88.75 ($50,000), musicians $82.77 ($47,000), ad sales execs $299 ($171,000) and outside salesman $224,76 ($128,000). Writers there made $63.83 ($36,500). At small stations writers got only $34.19 (less than $20,000), about $5 more a week than stenographers.

Lesson learned: writing for local radio was for suckers.