A-list pay packets revealed: The six-figure salaries of South Australia’s top TV and radio stars
They’re the big names that keep you informed and entertained in the mornings and on the nightly news. So how much are the state’s top media stars getting paid?
Entertainment
Don't miss out on the headlines from Entertainment. Followed categories will be added to My News.
It might look glamorous from afar, but working in TV and radio can mean punishing hours and intense scrutiny – so it’s only fair Adelaide’s top media identities get generously compensated.
We’ve asked around and surveyed former members of the industry – both behind and in front of the microphone or camera – to find out what the city’s best and brightest media performers can command annually.
Some big names have received a salary boost on last year as their role has expanded and their star continues to rise.
Others have fallen off the list as they’ve stepped back from the limelight, either of their own accord or through change beyond their control.
Of course, pay packets are a closely guarded secret in the industry, so the below numbers are merely a guide based on our experience and media contacts.
Actual individual wages and salary agreements may differ.
To make things easier, we’ve broken down the predicted salaries into brackets to illustrate who’s rumoured to be top of the tree and where everyone sits in SA’s media landscape.
TIER ONE
Estimated salary range: $600,000 – $800,000 a year
Kane Cornes
Channel 7, SEN radio, AFL
Cornes was Channel 7’s prized summer recruit, with the former Nine expert making a stunning move to the AFL host broadcaster ahead of the 2025 season.
Football media’s most wanted – and divisive – man, Cornes’s signature wouldn’t have come cheap but he’s a massive coup for the Seven network, which was looking to boost its AFL coverage.
Therefore Cornes, the son of inaugural Crows coach Graham and a Port Adelaide 300-game player in his own right, would almost certainly have received a hefty pay increase, instantly vaulting himself to the top of this list.
The face of Seven’s Thursday night footy coverage and his own twice-a-week TV program, The Agenda Setters, Cornes somehow maintains his daily work on SEN radio’s breakfast and afternoon shows, plus also appears on the AFL’s official website.
Arguably the hardest working man in the footy media, Cornes is worth every cent with his forthright opinions regularly leading the news agenda.
TIER TWO
Estimated salary range: $500,000 up to $600,000 a year
Will Goodings
FIVEaa breakfast and Seven weekday newsreader
Goodings has continued to shine in his dual roles on radio and television.
The son of longtime presenter Graeme, Goodings, alongside colleague Rosanna Mangiarelli, was appointed to the coveted newsdesk in January 2023 and together, they’ve continued Seven’s domination of the nightly news ratings.
He’s also one-half of FIVEaa’s popular breakfast show with David Penberthy, and regularly towards the top of the ratings in the timeslot.
TIER THREE
Estimated salary range: $350,000 up to $500,000 a year
Mark ‘Roo’ Ricciuto
Triple M breakfast and Fox Footy
Rosanna Mangiarelli
Seven weekday newsreader
These two SA media icons are in a league of their own.
One of the greatest players to ever pull on the Crows guernsey, Ricciuto is a staple of the local airwaves, kicking goals on Triple M as one-third of the station’s top-rating Roo, Ditts and Loz brekkie program.
When lured over from the drivetime shift in 2014, Ricciuto was rumoured to be paid more than anyone in the radio market – and their continued success means his salary has likely only risen since then.
Throw in a lucrative role as a Fox Footy expert, and you have one of the state’s best-paid media identities.
The hugely-respected Mangiarelli, who got her start in Port Pirie at Central Television, became a household name on Today Tonight and hasn’t put a foot wrong since her elevation to Seven’s weekday newsreading post alongside Goodings.
A popular charitable ambassador, Mangiarelli is one of the most admired personalities in the SA news media.
TIER FOUR
Estimated salary range: $300,000 – $350,000 a year
David ‘Penbo’ Penberthy
FIVEaa breakfast
Andrew ‘Cosi’ Costello
South Aussie with Cosi
Rory Sloane
Channel 9 and 3AW football
Sloane has seamlessly fit into AFL media since pulling the pin on a decorated career with the Crows last year.
In January, after much speculation, the ex-Victorian announced he was joining Channel 9’s footy team in what was surely a big-money deal, appearing on their stable of programs including Footy Classified, Sunday Footy Show and 9News Adelaide.
He’s also picked up some radio commentary work with Melbourne’s 3AW Football, adding to his portfolio and enhancing his weekly pay packet.
And it’s a case of so far, so good for Sloane, who has received plaudits for his straightforward yet honest opinions, while also providing SA with an important voice on the national footy stage.
Perhaps SA’s most beloved media personality, Costello re-signed with Seven in November last year for a further three years.
The lucrative deal will see his top-rating lifestyle and travel program, South Aussie with Cosi, on local screens until the end of 2027.
Originally starting on Nine, the show switched networks to Seven in 2022, and has gone from strength-to-strength with Cosi developing into one of the state’s most bankable stars.
An irreplaceable part of FIVEaa breakfast, Penberthy has only enhanced his stature as an authoritative voice and regular newsbreaker on the popular early morning program.
He supplements radio with work for The Australian newspaper and as a must-read weekly columnist with News Corp, sharing his thoughts across various mastheads nationally.
TIER FIVE
Estimated salary range: $200,000 – $300,000 a year
Bernie Vince
SAFM breakfast, Triple M, Fox Footy
Laura O’Callaghan
Triple M breakfast radio
Chris Dittmar
Triple M breakfast
Max Burford
Ten sports presenter and Mix 102.3 breakfast
Jodie Oddy
Nova 919 breakfast show and Channel 10 journalist/presenter
Andrew Hayes
Nova 919 breakfast show and Channel 7 presenter/journalist
Brenton Ragless, Kate Collins
Nine newsreaders
Kate Freebairn
Ten newsreader
Tom Rehn
Nine’s weekday sports presenter and Hello SA, FIVEaa sports commentator
Hayley Pearson
Mix 102.3 and Hello SA
Mark Soderstrom
Channel 7 sports presenter and ABC Grandstand
Fears that Vince’s media career could be in trouble following the September axing of Triple M’s SA Rush Hour show were quickly dispelled.
It didn’t take long for the beloved former Crow to be appointed to SAFM’s breakfast program, alongside Sydney-based, Adelaide-born Emma Georgiadis, with the pair given the tough task of resuscitating the station’s ailing ratings in the competitive timeslot.
It’s too early to tell if they will succeed but at least they’ve received a sizeable boost on this list.
Vince is also a regular voice on sister station Triple M’s AFL coverage and appears on Fox Footy’s light entertainment program, The Bounce.
Hayley Pearson is another personality to receive a notable increase thanks to her new role alongside Max Burford on Mix 102.3 breakfast program, replacing the outgoing Ali Clarke.
The well-paid position comes on top of her other successful ventures, including TV show Hello SA and Adelady.
The rest of this tier is highlighted by the city’s most popular and reliable media identities, such as top-rating breakfast hosts Laura O’Callaghan, Chris Dittmar, Jodie Oddy, TV newsreaders or those who combine multiple, high-profile roles.
TIER SIX
Estimated salary range: $150,000 – $200,000 a year
Will McDonald
Nine’s weekend and afternoon news presenter
Tiffany Warne
Ten weather presenter and stand-in news presenter
Emma Georgiadis
SAFM breakfast
Liam Stapleton and Ben Harvey
Nova radio
Abbey Holmes
Channel 7 AFL coverage
Amelia Mulcahy
Seven weather presenter
After winning fans with her bubbly personality as Ten’s weather girl, Warne has now stepped up in Freebairn’s absence to anchor Ten’s news coverage, which she’ll continue until next year.
It’s been a huge six months for Georgiadis, who in November secured her dream role as SAFM’s new breakfast co-host alongside her good mate Vince, replacing Soderstrom and Rebecca Morse.
In the weeks since, she’s become engaged and announced she’s pregnant with her first child. Georgiadis will be hoping good fortune will continue to smile on her as the radio ratings surveys progress throughout 2025.
Nova duo Stapleton and Harvey, together with producer-turned-co-host Belle Jackson, went national last year with their new “Late Drive” radio show.
It’s been a period of growth for the team, in particular Stapleton and Harvey, who launched their national careers on Triple J’s national breakfast show, before returning home to Nova Adelaide in the same timeslot in 2020.
The top-rating duo added longtime producer Jackson as they moved to Melbourne in 2023 and their on-air brand remains as strong as ever.
Originally making a name for herself as an inaugural Crows AFLW player, SA-born Holmes has become a well-respected voice in the AFL media.
She’s an integral part of Seven’s footy coverage, working as a boundary rider, expert commentator and host of various AFL and AFLW shows and match broadcasts.
Still just 34, Holmes’s career is well and truly on the rise.
TIER SEVEN
Estimated salary range: $90,000 – $150,000 a year
Stacey Lee
FIVEaa afternoons
Jules Schiller and Sonya Feldhoff
ABC breakfast
Alice Monfries
Nine’s weekend co-presenter
Jessica Braithwaite
Nine weather presenter
Belle Jackson
Nova radio
While they may not be earning the super big bucks, these media identities can still boast having “nice work if you can get it” salaries.
Formerly with the ABC, Lee’s pay packet would have increased when she made the move to commercial station FIVEaa and Schiller and Feldhoff are now stalwarts at Aunty.
A rising star at Nine, Monfries is making her mark alongside her weekend news co-presenter Will McDonald, while Braithwaite’s sunny disposition has secured her spot as the station’s weekday weather presenter.
One third of Ben, Liam & Belle, Jackson is unlikely to be earning as much as her co-hosts, who have been in the media game since their teens, but the popular presenter – who made the move with them from brekky to “late drive” is playing for keeps.
Rodger Corser: “Do you want the truth?”
Australian actor Rodger Corser reveals the next phase of his career came ‘out of necessity’ – and after his wife asked him to ‘please go and get a job’.
Star backs Chappell Roan’s savage speech
Singer Alessia Cara has spoken out about Chappell Roan’s Grammys speech, saying it reignited a ‘necessary’ conversation about the treatment of musicians.