With all the layoffs, furloughs and pay cuts, it’s no suprise that broadcast salaries have taken a dive. In 2008, TV news salaries fell 4.4 %. Radio news salaries dropped 1.8 %. But… if you add the rate of inflation, real wages fell by 8.2 % for TV and 5.6 % for radio news. It’s the first time in 15 years that the average salaries dropped for both TV and radio news.
Every year professor Bob Papper, from Hofstra University and the RTNDA conduct an annual study on employment and salaries. This year’s results show that on-air jobs were the hardest hit by salary reductions.
Papper expects layoffs to slow down, but salaries to continue to drop. He expects “higher priced people” retiring, getting laid off or taking salary cuts. But he’s optimistic there will be a turnaround towards the end of this year and into 2010.
You can read more details of the study on the RTNDA Web site.