DJ salaries and nixers

faceman

I reckon sizzler will run very cost effective radio stations, thats the way to go!

i think everyone is branding all DJ's with the same brush here. Not all DJ's have 8 hour days but not all DJ's are paid 100k per annum.

High profile DJ's like G Ryan do put in the same hours (duration length) as most 9-5's however many high profile radio stations have research teams who do alot of the dogs work, for example for talk shows etc.

From my limited experience of DJing (I was once a local radio station DJ, who played the best metal and rock music money could buy!), i cant see how most DJ's who play just tunes from a 2 hour slot would need to spend 8 hours a day "working" for that 2 hour slot.

Getting back to the OP's original question, i dont really see why DJ's cant do nixers, they are after all entertainers.

_feedback_

Sizzler wrote: »

One minute you say you're dont profess to know it all then next minute you're back on TELLING me my opinion is bullsh*t.

I don't 'know it all', but I have lengthy experience, which makes me know that you view on the work done by a presenter/dj is bullsh*t.

Sizzler wrote: »

The point I had ORIGINALLY made was on the back of someone saying the going rate was up to 70k, for essentially playing music and possibly not doing a 9-5 stint I felt that was a handy number in comparison to the average punter, and I stand by that.

When you put it like that, it's a fair point.. but it is based on figures which aren't realistic... as was later pointed out.

Sizzler wrote: »

You're like a dog with a bone here arent you?

*woof

Preset No.3

You want the facts? Not so long ago, I worked in a station. My day started with me being up at about 5.30, on air 7-10am. Break for breakfast till 10.30. Then into production till OFFICALLY 2pm. Never left there much before 4, there was so much work that had to be done! All this for €26k a year or break it down €500 a week! A lot of the times I came back in at night so that i could either catch up on work that wasnt done during the day or prep my show for the next day. Why do we do it? Because we love radio, and managment know it! Therfore managment pay 'us' crap! Its the nature of the business. That is local radio in Ireland. That also was 5 years ago, but to be honest I wouldnt say that it has gotten much better!

MarkN

There's a very unrealistic situation though, you're not going to be expected to work for 26k a year doing a breakfast show unless you are 1) inexperienced, 2) love pain 3) are very naive.

I can't say I have a lot of sympathy for someone who would do those hours for that money and I mean that in the nicest way possible!

brettmirl

I know of a lot of people that are working those sort of hours for that kind of money. Unfortunately there are a lot of stations around the country that pay very badly.

I've worked for a few of them :-)

Bard

faceman wrote:

i cant see how most DJ's who play just tunes from a 2 hour slot would need to spend 8 hours a day "working" for that 2 hour slot.

As said already, the work involved in presenting a (daily or otherwise) 2 or 3 hour radio show extends FAR beyond just the time spent actually broadcasting.

Mind you, if you're just playing music and breaking up the tracks with "that was, this is..." style links, then sure - not much prep is required, and you can just do it by compiling a list of songs and showing up with them in hand - BUT... that doesn't generally make for particularly INTERESTING or COMPELLING listening really, which is what professional radio stations want.

As someone who, up until recently, presented a radio show of my own, I can say without any doubt that it's very easy for a good and well produced 2 or 3 hour radio show to equate to up to 7 to 8 hours of actual work.

That 7 to 8 hours could include anything up to, say, 3 to 4 hours of preparation of your own show (whether that be researching topics, booking guests, pre-recording interviews, vox-pops, etc., work on jingles or updating promos for the show, or even getting yourself to an outside broadcast location), plus maybe an hour or two on work not specific to your own show that the station (your employer) might require- i.e.: voice-overs for adverts, other shows promos or station run competitions, promotional appearances on behalf of the station, and other internal radio station work such as paper-work (filing of running orders, etc.) and meetings... and THEN there's the 2 or 3 hours of actual broadcasting ... plus, presumably, an hour for lunch!

Make no mistake about it - when done properly and for a professional commercial station, it most definitely IS a full-time job and far from the best paid (or easiest) in the world. Some people clearly need to give more respect where it's due.

faceman

Bard wrote: »

As said already, the work involved in presenting a (daily or otherwise) 2 or 3 hour radio show extends FAR beyond just the time spent actually broadcasting.

Mind you, if you're just playing music and breaking up the tracks with "that was, this is..." style links, then sure - not much prep is required, and you can just do it by compiling a list of songs and showing up with them in hand - BUT... that doesn't generally make for particularly INTERESTING or COMPELLING listening really, which is what professional radio stations want.

As someone who, up until recently, presented a radio show of my own, I can say without any doubt that it's very easy for a good and well produced 2 or 3 hour radio show to equate to up to 7 to 8 hours of actual work.

That 7 to 8 hours could include anything up to, say, 3 to 4 hours of preparation of your own show (whether that be researching topics, booking guests, pre-recording interviews, vox-pops, etc., work on jingles or updating promos for the show, or even getting yourself to an outside broadcast location), plus maybe an hour or two on work not specific to your own show that the station (your employer) might require- i.e.: voice-overs for adverts, other shows promos or station run competitions, promotional appearances on behalf of the station, and other internal radio station work such as paper-work (filing of running orders, etc.) and meetings... and THEN there's the 2 or 3 hours of actual broadcasting ... plus, presumably, an hour for lunch!
.

Im not trying to diss the profession, we all have DJs we love and hate.

Let me hypothesize:

DJ has 2 hour slot weekdays on major radio station as per our existing 2FM's, Today FM's etc.

- Do jingles change that often?
- Promotional appearences- do they not count as additional time, thus extra pay?
- Promos and comps - do show researchers and producers not run that activity? I would have thought so. Maybe there are many DJ's who also produce their own show thus increasing their earnings as a result, which would understandably justify the long hours.
- voice overs for adverts - is this not another job?

LIke i already said, i did local DJ for a period and loved it. Id do it again but i now have other callings in life.

For popular well known DJ's im sure its a very easy job that pays well regardless how many hours you work.

Sizzler

elviscostello wrote: »

I don't 'know it all', but I have lengthy experience, which makes me know that you view on the work done by a presenter/dj is bullsh*t.

Have you worked in 2fm? I think Faceman may indeed be onto something, a bigger station such as 2fm has plenty of runners, who do exactly that. BTW a lot of the earlier posts were referring to 2fm and this is what I based a lot of my comments on, maybe not right but that steered me.

elviscostello wrote: »

When you put it like that, it's a fair point.. but it is based on figures which aren't realistic... as was later pointed out.

OK, we have anecdotal evidence on here of people being rode. Working their bollix for fcuk all money in the industry. Suffice to say they may not be at the pinnacle of the industry (fair enough you got to start somewhere). I dont think we are going to get a 2fm or Today FM coming on here to tell us A) What they earn and How many hours they work, do you? Like every other career if the money is sh*t then get the fcuk out of it. The reality is only a handful of people every decade 'make it' in the industry to a national level and make a few quid (speculating again here that 2fm etc pay well, I think thats been proved though from what people are saying they have to do to earn 26k for example). No point moaning about it. Nobody has forced anybody to take a career path, unless you live in North Korea perhaps :eek:

elviscostello wrote: »

*woof

Impressive, did you check your soundbyte library to reproduce that

Bard

faceman wrote: »

- Do jingles change that often?

No, but - for one thing - some presenters will record "coming up on the next programme..." style promos (and often, on certain stations, they'll have pre-recorded promos that give short clips of -say three- songs, letting you know what music is coming up in the next hour). These things don't record themselves and creating it obviously takes longer than just the 30 seconds it takes to listen to it.

- Promotional appearences- do they not count as additional time, thus extra pay?

Hardly. There's very often much more to working for a radio station than just the work involved in producing and presenting your own programme.

- Promos and comps - do show researchers and producers not run that activity? I would have thought so. Maybe there are many DJ's who also produce their own show thus increasing their earnings as a result, which would understandably justify the long hours.

Certainly. This depends on the station and how many staff are assigned to each programme. It's not all that unusual for a presenter to be their own producer.

- voice overs for adverts - is this not another job?

Mostly yes, but again it depends on the station as many stations (local and community ones particularly) will produce promos in-house for advertisers using their own talent.

The tasks I posted above are just examples,- not all of them would be in every radio DJ's job description. I was just making the point that creating a 2 to 3 hour radio show can very easily equate to a full working day.

gaf1983

Sizzler wrote: »

Nobody has forced anybody to take a career path, unless you live in North Korea perhaps :eek:

Off topic:

Highly doubtful that radio presenting/djing would be a viable career path for many North Koreans. There was an excellent documentary on RTE One last night called "Under the Red Star" about life in North Korea. Apparently, every apartment there is fitted with one radio, playing just the one station, and while the volume may be turned down (not muted though) they can never be turned off. Can't see how there'd be many career openings for up and coming jocks there.