Local TV Salaries Up 2% Last Year

Local TV news salaries rose 1.9% in 2014, up 0.3% from the previous year. That came from the RTDNA/Hofstra University annual local TV survey. The average news director made $102,400 in 2014, with the median $92,000. The average executive producer made $56,600, anchors averaged $83,800 and weathercasters came in at $69,800. On the lower end, reporters averaged $44,500, social media producers came in at $42,300 and news producers averaged $34,900.

Those versatile multimedia journalists averaged $34,300.

Of the 18 positions studied, eight went up last year, nine went down and one stayed the same.

The salary figures of course varied by market size. News directors in markets 1-25 had a median salary of $180,000, while their counterparts in DMA No. 151 and up pulled in a median of $60,000 annually.

Bob Papper, survey author, said it was “certainly not a great year for TV news salaries, but it's better than last year.”

Radio was worse, with salaries dropping 4.1% from last year, after barely rising the year before.

Michael Malone

Michael Malone, senior content producer at B+C/Multichannel News, covers network programming, including entertainment, news and sports on broadcast, cable and streaming; and local broadcast television. He hosts the podcasts Busted Pilot, about what’s new in television, and Series Business, a chat with the creator of a new program, and writes the column “The Watchman.” He joined B+C in 2005. His journalism has also appeared in The New York Times, The Philadelphia Inquirer, Playboy and New York magazine.