Survey: TV News Salaries Fall, Radio Stagnant

The latest RTDNA/Hofstra University Annual Survey found that local television news salaries actually fell 1.9% in 2012. 

With inflation a modest 2.1%, that meant that TV news salaries dropped in purchasing power by 4% last year. Radio salaries fared only slightly better, with an increase of 0.8% last year.  That's not enough to compensate for 2.1% inflation, leaving radio news salaries down 1.3% in terms of real wages.

Overall, radio news salaries edged up 0.8% in 2012.  But you really have to burrow into the numbers to see what took place. Major market salaries rose in 2012 and rose by quite a bit.  The overall number was so much lower because median salaries actually fell in large, medium and small markets, although the small market results were a bit more mixed.  As usual, the larger the market, generally, the higher the salary.

 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.

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