Steve Wright, £475k?

Lauren Laverne just short of 400k – wtaf!

One of the problems with the BBC being forced to publish their presenter / stars / señor staff wages is theirs no context. Theres no obligation on other broadcasters and media outlets to do the same thing so you don’t know how the rate they are paid compares to other comparable positions and you don’t know what other broadcasters have bid. Its like complaining about the price of milk in Tesco without knowing what it costs in Asda.

Absolutely this. Just another excuse for the Murdoch empire to attack the Beeb – I’d love it if journalists and editors writing and editing about it were required to reveal their salaries, so we can judge their value fairly.

Also: this.

The BBC is excellent VFM

Up to 390,000. Not sure what the ‘up to’ means in this regard.

Worth. Every. Penny.

Another thing to consider is that these are people at the top of their profession. You might not agree that they should be there but they are in the top job. There will be plenty of presenters on pretty normal wages, too. Just like there will be a select few IT consultants/used car salesmen/bike mechanics* on hundreds of thousands

* maybe 🙂

At 80 I wonder if John craven still on the payroll, Im of an age that remembers his news round before Blue Peter Mondays and Thursdays
Magpie was a wee bit better

bike mechanics* on hundreds of thousands

Only since the £50 voucher scheme TBF.

What is the basis of judging whether the BBC is VFM?

The licence fee funds (in part) the BBC but ITV (for example) has to fund itself

So does that make ITV better VFM given the nil cost to the viewer?

I think it is down to a more qualitative judgement which is, of course, subjective

Question: Has anyone heard anything from Jim Naughtie on any BBC outlet since he left the Today Programme in 2015?

If so, was it enough to justify 175 grand a year?

Covid, they now have the gall to expect us to pay monthly for that BritBox repeats crap, stuff we’ve already paid for.

No, you’re not expected at all I don’t just like millions of others as you know being optional to subscribe.

Another thing to consider is that these are people at the top of their profession.

A profession that most people think they can do as it’s ‘just talking’ but is actually a bit ore complicated than that, very few do very well, and most of those in this list are in that category, and very many do very averagely at best (as you’ll know if you ever listen to local radio).

TBH, i couldn’t give a flying **** what an employee and their employer have deemed a suitable wage for their services. It makes no difference to my life whatsoever. As some-one’s pointed out this is just grist to the mill of Mail/Murdoch outrage-mongering.

martinhutch –
Ken Bruce, from BBC article…

Ken Bruce – £385,000-£389,999

Radio 2’s Mid Morning Show, Eurovision Song Contest, Radio 2 Live in Hyde Park

2018/2019: £280,000-£284,999

As for Jim Naughtie, he was on R4 Today only this morning; pre-CV19 he was regularly reporting on US politics, particularly the upcoming election.

what wage should you get to deliver a broadcasting service to the public, and in doing so, open youreself, family and friends up for public scrutiny?

The other posts are correct though, there’s no sense of comparible wages, only to joe public on £30k or a 0 hour.

Not one of my favorite presenters on that list. Classical music is cheap, it would seem. 200-250k for the flagship Today Programme seems reasonable to me. I don’t listen to Radios 1 or 2. BBC 6 music occasionally. Radio 3 is now my staple.

I’m still marvelling that droning, sellotaped-testicle Adrian Chiles is still on the BBC payroll.

He now does a three-hour programme on Five Live on a Friday for which he is apparently paid £155,000 a year

That’s quite an hourly rate.

Another thing to consider is that these are people at the top of their profession. You might not agree that they should be there but they are in the top job.

Quite. Remind me, how much do (some) people get paid for kicking a ball about for an hour and a half?

Steve Wright is still on the radio?

As for Jim Naughtie, he was on R4 Today only this morning; pre-CV19 he was regularly reporting on US politics, particularly the upcoming election.

Aha. Thanks. 175 grand is a princely sum and I wondered what he was doing for it. I thought he’d retired from Today altogether.

It makes no difference to my life whatsoever.

If a public body spends X million on ‘talent’, that’s X million it doesn’t spend on some other aspect of its programming. It’s funded via taxation, so public scrutiny is justified. Obviously if you don’t pay the licence fee or consume any BBC output, I can see it makes no difference to you.

The Steve Wright Show makes my teeth itch. It’s not just him, he’s clearly good at what he does and probably a nice guy. It’s the other sycophants on the show, the dad-jokes, inane chat, singing over the music etc… aaargh!

Radio 2 is the universal compromise when working with others. I’ll generally have 6 Music or Radio 3, but will switch to Radio 2 if working with older guys especially. Younger guys are worse with the commercial stations or R1. Usually pumping out of a Makita site radio. GTF!

I’ve noticed recently that Steve Wright has a habit of repeating himself about 2 – 3 times in quick succession. Then does it again a short while later.

Did I say he has habit of repeating himself?

Also, he tends to repeat himself quite a bit.

Steve Wright ruined radio for anyone who cared about music back in the 80s or whenever it was he started his crap on Radio 1. But not heard or seen him since then, so could be dead for all I knew, or cared, til this thread. Compared to many of the no-discernible-talent celebs littering the screens these days though, man’s an absolute genius and worth every penny.

Every year, same story – it seems that Broadcasters posters don’t like are over paid, however many other people enjoy listen / watching them. Shocking.

I used to work in radio..these listening figures are made up.

Rajar send “diaries” out to a small number of people. These people fill out when and who they listened to, how long for and how many people they were with. Rajar then multiply the survey results to be reflective of the population.

Yes, thats accurate….. i bet the same 30 biddies fill out they listen to Steve Wright every time.

Also I never met ANYONE who filled out a diary. Due to work I have met hundreds and hundreds of people yet no one ever said they filled one out.

I wondered how they came up with the listening figures. Always thought they were some kind of technical algorythm using the radio waves to calculate how many radios were tuned in 😀
A survey diary. Really accurate then.
They must have more realistic figures in these days of streaming? Like website/app hits?

Always thought they were some kind of technical algorythm using the radio waves to calculate how many radios were tuned in

Bet you think TV Licence Detector Vans are a real thing, too? 🙂

Steve Wright is still on the radio?

Not on mine.

I used to work in radio..these listening figures are made up.

Rajar send “diaries” out to a small number of people. These people fill out when and who they listened to, how long for and how many people they were with. Rajar then multiply the survey results to be reflective of the population.

Yes, thats accurate….. i bet the same 30 biddies fill out they listen to Steve Wright every time.

Just googled Rajar as I’d never heard of them, says they do 100,000+ different people each year, All over the country, each for 1 week.
So that 100,000 weeks of radio habits every year to look at for trends.
It’s not too bad as an indicator.

Bet you think TV Licence Detector Vans are a real thing, too?

I’ve sinem outside like!

It’s not too bad as an indicator.

No, it’s bleedin nonsense

I hate to say it, but I think that it’s rather more than 30 years, since March 1981. I can just about bear it, because he plays some reasonable music- until…..he sings along with the song, that just make me shout at him lol…….

They must have more realistic figures in these days of streaming? Like website/app hits?

Marc Riley once said of his history of Punk podcast ‘its the most downloaded podcast this week’.
Probably top of the BBC’s offerings, but surely not the biggest worldwide.
So they do know what is downloaded/listened to online.

As some-one’s pointed out this is just grist to the mill of Mail/Murdoch outrage-mongering.

Its more than that, those who are moaning about it are doing what the Government wants them to do.

The licence fee funds (in part) the BBC but ITV (for example) has to fund itself

I see a lot of the de-fund the BBC and get rid of the licence fee shenanigans, but all I can say is be careful what you wish for.

If the BBC was to become a solely commercial entity that requires advertising revenue, it would change the landscape of commercial TV in two ways:

1: The kind of charge the likes of ITV can levy on those wishing to advertise with them will drop simply because there will be more competition for that advertising money,

2: Brand BBC. Advertisers would flock to the country’s biggest TV company with a world reputation to advertise their wares, the likes of ITV and others will simply not survive.

So in some ways the licence fee pays for ITV as well.

You can’t take a capitalistic approach when they are the main benefactors of the license fee. Want to watch discovery channel live on Amazon? Pay the license. Want to watch a TV channel that is originally broadcasted in Spain? Pay the license. The outdated model in which it operates is just too easy of a target for clickbait headlines.

P
Part 4 of the Communications Act 2003 makes it an offence to use or install TV receiving equipment to:
Watch or record programmes as they’re being shown on TV or live on an online TV service, including programmes streamed over the internet and satellite programmes from outside the UK, or
watch or download BBC programmes on demand, including catch up TV, on BBC iPlayer without being covered by a TV Licence.

I’d rather listen to someone cutting sheet metal with a blunt hacksaw than Steve Wright.

Wherever possible he plays the most middle of the road, dull, boring tosh. I’ll bet his ‘go-to’ is something by Simply Red.

That and the fact he is about as entertaining as an enema means £475k doesn’t feel like value for money for me.

Just another excuse for the Murdoch empire to attack the Beeb – I’d love it if journalists and editors writing and editing about it were required to reveal their salaries, so we can judge their value fairly.

wasn’t Bojo paid £500k a year to write one article a week for the Telegraph or Times?

wasn’t Bojo paid £500k a year to write one article a week for the Telegraph or Times?

The lazy ****er probably bunged someone else a grand a week to do it for him.

When he couldn’t be arsed to make stuff up himself.

I didn’t think that many people don’t know how to change channel.
I can usually change the Sonos to 6 music before he’s finished the first word…..

If they offered him 100k a year, take it or leave it, he’d take it.

If he wants to leave then develop the next talent.

People listen because it’s the Beeb, not because it’s Steve Wright. Waste of public money, and it is public if the payment is mandatory for a service you can’t turn off.

Bet you think TV Licence Detector Vans are a real thing, too?

I’ve sinem outside like!

Vans clearly exist.

Licensing vans exist, or did. Last I checked there were two or perhaps three operating across the entire country.

“Detector” vans do not exist and never have. And they would almost certainly be illegal if they did. The technological limit of any detectoring is a little man peering through your front room window to try and catch you watching Eastenders.

I like to think that Radio 2 helps it’s listeners drown out the silence inside their heads. I can’t see any other reason for it.

Re Rajar and 100k people. Ask everyone you know have they ever filled one out. Prize for anyone who finds someone who has.

For other digital media like sky, they know what you are watching but guess how many people are in the room to get figures. The answer is always more than one by the way…

Its all fabricated to sell advertising. Like magazine and newspaper sales. They have a circulation figure monitored independently by ABC (how many they print/sell/give away) but they multiply this by a magic number to get a “readership figure” as they presume many people read each magazine.