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 |