How much do on-air personalities (deejays) get paid?

Question

I 've always wanted to be an on-air personality but I've never heard anything about the pay. How much do they get paid?

Answer 1

5 BUCKS AN HOUR

Answer 2

Anywhere from minimum wage to millions of dollars per year. It depends on the experience, talent, audience you draw, deal you cut, time of day you work, city you work in and a host of other things. There is no average (though I'm sure some websites will say there are).

I can only speak for how it works in the US:

Being a jock is almost a 24/7 job. You are expected to come in early and do commercials or help with promotional planning. You are expected to stay after your shift for the same chores. You give up your weekends to go to station events, some of which are fun - I used to do concert intros, got to go backstage, feel important and stuff, go see my friends in their seats with all my passes strung around my neck then introduce the act. Heady stuff. Sadly only about 1% of the job.

I once had to announce to 20,000 screaming fans that "Ozzie has a serious throat infection and Black Sabbath will not be able to perform tonight as scheduled," BOOO! "BUT, The Outlaws have kindly consented to do a double set!" YEAH!

They didn't care, only one guy asked for a refund. Though the promoter cited me for helping to keep them in their seats because of the way I handled it, did I get any more money? HA!

They don't use jocks to introduce the bands much anymore. By then the acts all had opening sequences they didn't want messed up by some local kid from the radio station. (see a separate question on this subject that was asked earlier this week).

Once we finally get home, we are expected to prepare for tomorrow's show, monitor other stations and watch popular TV shows so we can talk about them on the air. We might also have a stack of CDs to listen to for potential new hit records.

For that, most jocks are paid an annual salary that is very dependent on your experience level, what city you are in, what time period you are on air and what your off-air title is. Most jocks also carry "Music Director," Production Director," Program Director" etc. So, if you're the MD/Mid-day personality, you'll get more than the night guy who has no off-air title. You are expected to be thrilled about this because your experience is building and your "career" will benefit.

There’s no overtime, though occasionally you'll get some bartered merchandise, an appearance fee or a discount if you buy something from an advertiser. The manager might set up a bonus structure based on your ratings.

The smaller the station, the more work, including emptying the trash! If you are doing mornings in Philly, it's much different from being the night guy in Des Moines. Except the night guy in Des Moines is always trying to figure a way to get to do mornings in Philly. And the guy in Philly wants to take his show to syndication so he'll have a national audience and get syndication fees.

Excluding big stars like Bob & Tom, Tom Joyner, Opie & Anthony, Howard Stern, etc. annual salaries run from $20k per year (for a beginner overnight jock in a small market) to $200-$300k for the morning guy in Philly who has a cast, sidekick, promotion and appearance money and maybe does all the commercials for the local Ford dealer.

There's an interesting article from the Bureau of Statistics (below) but their numbers are probably not right, because very few announcers are paid hourly and that's what they base their numbers on.

Hope this helped.

-a guy named duh

Answer 3

It really depends on how popular/successful you are as an on air personality. Also if you work for a small market station then you wont get paid as much if you were working for a large market station such as ones in LA or New York. Radio is a very hard industry to get into and it requires a strong passion and determination in order to succeed. If you don't have that then I suggest you don't pursue it. Starting off in radio when you work your way up you make very little money. If you are basing going into radio on just the amount they make then it really isn't the place you want to be. If you really want to be in radio and that's your calling then money wouldn't matter. I guess you can say its the radio itch. If you dont want it that bad and you aren't willing to work at the bottom and make low wages for years find a more stable career. Radio is not stable at all you can be fired and have to move in a moments notice.

Answer 4

Don't really know, except that i bet Wogan gets a whole lot more than someone on a local station.

Answer 5

depends who they are and what the station is.

you will tend to find not a lot like to talk about what they earn.

you see they are a few things you have to remember, a top DJ on a top station will not only get paid for his air time and a contract but big company's like Sony will send him stuff for free like a PS3 with games, hoping he plays it and they get a free plug on the radio, he may say i was playing on blar blar blar on the PS3 last night was a great game i could not put the controller down.

they is a lot a bonces to being a top DJ, also people may want you to open a new store or do some special event all bounces and all cash in the bank.

being a top DJ is a well paid thing

regards and sorry i could not give you a better amount

x Kitti x