‘My God’: Big salaries are not realistic anymore, says star

A veteran broadcaster is warning his colleagues against demanding unsustainable radio salaries, claiming the era of big-money contracts is finished.

The elimination of some big salaries and the creation of some larger salaries in the radio industry has sparked a veteran broadcaster to caution that some personalities could be pricing themselves into a future redundancy.

TV and radio veteran Ron Wilson, who this month completed his own negotiation to host the 2SM breakfast show next year, says the market for large salaries is over.

“I read in the Sunday Telegraph where a talent manager said the salary for a breakfast show should command $700,000. Well, my God. Those days are well and truly long gone”, Wilson said in an exclusive interview.

“Stations have to reel-in these vast salaries that people are being paid. There is just not the market there anymore. The whole advertising market is so tight that you just have to be able to constrain your costs. People who are wanting those sorts of salaries are just not realistic.”

The manager of some of Australia’s biggest stars, James Erskine, last month spoke to the Sunday Telegraph about the salary required for the personality that would replace John Laws on 2SM, and said that for “a respected and well-liked presenter to broadcast a high quality radio show five days a week, 2SM will have to look at paying between $700k and $1 million”.

Kyle Sandilands and Jackie Oenter their new ten-year contract on January 1 that will see them paid almost $10 million per year by ARN.

In recent months, the large commercial radio networks have announced redundancies across on air and managerial roles. The Australian Radio Network (ARN) eliminated the jobs of KIIS presenter Mitch Churi and WS FM’s programming boss Mike Byrne. Southern Cross Austereo removed Triple M content director Rex Morris’ job and the roles held by presenter Brendan Annakin and programmer Adam Williscroft. Jamie Row, Dan Cassin and Steve Blanda were made redundant at Nova Entertainment.

Radio star Ray Hadley’s multi-million dollar annual salary is about to be eliminated from Nine radio’s books after the 2GB star stepped-down this month.

It comes as KIIS’ Kyle Sandilands and Jackie ‘O’ Henderson enter their new ten-year contract on January 1st that will see them paid almost $10 million per year by ARN.

“Stations are being forced to pull their heads in as far as salaries are concerned. And those redundancies are part of that. There’s no one station that’s not affected by it - every single station is affected by it”, said Wilson who recently concluded his nine year stint at Sydney radio station Smooth FM.

“You just have to have a look at the state of the economy. Advertising is usually the first to be hit, and the last to come back. And where in the midst of that right now. Budgets are very tight”, said Wilson.

Wilson says he was approached last month to move across to 2SM to host the breakfast show.

“After John Laws announced that he was moving on they approached me about coming in to have a chat…and on the first meeting with the owners Despina Priala and George Caralis, and manager Graham Miles, we all got on like a house on fire. And I just felt their energy for the whole project. Quite frankly, it was something that I couldn’t say ‘no’ to. I just wanted to be part of that energy”, Wilson exclusively told the Daily Telegraph.

New 2SM breakfast announcer Ron Wilson says the days of breakfast announcers commanding $700,000-plus salaries are over.

“Other stations are looking at reducing their costs by spreading their wings all over the country. Here’s a group wanting to focus solely on Sydney. The timing couldn’t be better with so much going on in the industry at the moment, this may well be the time for 2SM to once again shine in Sydney”, he said.

Wilson previously worked at 2SM as a senior journalist when the radio station had a top-rating rock and roll format.

“It’s a bit of an honour to relaunch 2SM back into the Sydney market. It’s an opportunity I just couldn’t say ‘no’ to.”

2SM managing directors Despina Priala and George Caralis recently confirmed to the Daily Telegraph that disgraced broadcaster Chris Smith would be heard on the station’s morning slot next year, replacing John Laws.

“With the line up expected in 2025 on talkback radio, Chris Smith is by far the best broadcast on mainstream commercial radio. It is a changing of the guards. It’s a brand new day in Sydney for next year”, said Priala in an exclusive interview.

Smith will be heard on 2SM on January 6th. He has a controversial past, including allegations of inappropriate behaviour at workplace events and a history of suspensions from roles at media organisations.

“Des and I have made a decision. We’re willing to back this man because he’s had a change. It hasn’t been two months, it’s been two years. And it’s taken him this amount of time to change and prove himself. And we believe he has”, said Caralis, Priala’s brother.