Even if information about one’s own salary is one of the best-kept secrets in Germany, with a little effort it is possible to get an overview of what figures the dear colleagues in the various fields of work in the media and radio industry see on their pay slips every month.
It does not have to be always the Intendant of a Germany public providers both TV and radio whose stately emoluments range according to controlling instutute KEF between 250,000 to scarcely 400,000 ? per year plus nice pension claims and extra benefits. Given such income you can look in a relaxed mode into the future.
In comparison, the ’standard employee‘ in the whole range (all figures in €) in radio:
Editorial Young editor 2,550. editor 3,200 to 4,300.
Speaker Morning-Host 5,000 to 5,500.
Other presenter afternoon 4,400.
Radio and sound technician 3,500.
Dispatch 2,800 rookie to 3,500.
Technical Manager 5,500
Digital Media 3,600
Sales/advertising field service monthly fluctuating with 1,800 fixed salary and 6 percent commission. During Corona crisis 3.500 – 4.800.
Outside Corona 1,000 fixed salary and 7 percent commission and special allowances for system sales up to 1,000 per sales week.
Previous years 2,800. minimum during worst month such as August and in the best months of October or December up to 11,000 €.
Average in sales: 65,000 annual salary but also up to 80,000.
Dispatching/scheduling 2.800 beginners to 3.500.
(Anonymized data from various providers)
The salary sizes mentioned differently on the Gehalt.de platform for radio presenters depending on the region can be explained by the economic situation of the respective federal state and the position of private providers there. The ranking by federal state in which the most is paid in the radio industry: Hesse, Baden-Württemberg, Hamburg, Bavaria, North Rhine-Westphalia.
The composition of the owner companies also plays an important role. Those with historically retained stakeholders from the print industry generally offer higher salaries.
Salary radio presenter (source gehaltsvergleich.com), entry-level basis, no personnel responsibility, FH degree.
Germany: € 2,582 € 3,249
Baden-Württemberg € 2,859 3,599
Bavaria € 2,686 3,314
Berlin 2,402 € 3,024
Hesse (Frankfurt region) € 2,807 3,431
North Rhine-Westphalia 2,448 € 3,088
Rhineland-Palatinate 3,025 Saxony 2,184 € 2,803 € 4,327
Thuringia 2,100 € 2,642
Analogous to the Michael Page breakdown for radio in ‚upscale‚ sales and national key accounting, following estimates are likely (numbers in €):
National sales: german Nielsen in regions without HR responsibility monthly Fix: 4,500 to 6,000., commission share 1000 to 5000.
Germany-wide with HR responsibility Fix: 6.000 to 8.000.
Success share: 2.000 to 3.000.
Radio pioneer and lecturer at XU University Potsdam, Alexander Zeitelhack‘s comment: „Now, where possible inflationary price developments are to be still hardly noticed, a strategy of employees could read, with the employer a salary plus of some per cent to demand. According to the motto „in a few years it will be much more expensive.“ In addition, employers state that the radio industry has become less attractive, which means that there is less competition among new entrants. A voice on this from the Nuremberg area says, „As in soccer, the big salaries are no longer presentable.“
One trend – which in turn contradicts sentiment from the automotive and manufacturing industries, which intend to pay more – is that those radio managers in charge are less willing to pay more, this as a result of the pandemic. Bad chance for the media industry. Especially benchmarked with salaries of former work students, who are making in real estate, software and electronics industry already in young years 70,000 up to 100,000 € annual income. Good for the one who additionally has low real estate costs in a less central region.
Andreas Sprengart, management of Antenne Kaiserlautern, recommends to think about whether it is worthwhile to emigrate to another region with a significantly higher cost of living. „A hard-working and high-quality employee also earns good money in supposedly weaker regions.“
Michael Page, salary study for comparison
So good for him or her who has been working for a long time, preferably at a print-occupied provider consortium in radio, preferably in Germany states as NRW or Hesse, and manages to have a low cost of living. By the way, a good time to start seems to have been around 2010, as a list from France shows. There, too, after a sharp dip as a result of a recession around 2008/2009, there was a significant upturn.
Pic credits: markus-spiske