With the announcement of the extension of Ray Hadley’s contract to the end of 2026, there is a little postscript in various news outlet’s stories about what Nine pays its top talent, and that is that Ray’s new $9 million contract is something of a pay cut.

The half million per annum (roughly) decrease still makes him the highest paid in the Nine television and radio stables earning around three times what Neil Mitchell, doing the similar mornings role at 3AW, does.

@mister.lewis 😱 Asking strangers how much money they make 💰@@Kyle & Jackie O ♬ original sound – Mister Lewis

In this TikTok video an American who goes by the name Mister Lewis goes around asking people what they earn and how they live. While wandering along Rodeo Drive in Beverley Hills, he runs into Jackie from Sydney, a radio announcer.

I love this interaction between Jackie O, Kitty (Jackie’s daughter) and Mister Lewis who has no idea that Jackie is one of the highest paid radio announcers in Australia, and based off the comments to this video, in the world.

Many years ago, when I was training at the Max Rowley’s Media Academy, I had to read a news bulletin of sorts for my demo (ahem) cassette. I accidently misread the average salary of radio announcers, adding an extra zero onto the amount. I was thinking about what the median salary would be in our industry today when you allow for top end salaries like Ray and Jackie versus an entry level $40K.

I asked ChatGPT about it too.

Can you live on 40K in a regional station? I hope so.

I know how hard Hadley and Henderson work, the level of ratings success, other benefits they receive and the experience and network they have and can call on. I can’t think of many other industries though where people of commensurate work ethic and experience can be earning just 1% of that.