The Richest Radio Station Hosts in the USA (by Net Worth) – Radio Fidelity (2024)

FAQs

Who is the highest-paid radio host in the US? ›

Howard Stern is currently the highest-paid radio host in America, still acting primarily as a radio presenter. He has been on the air for more than 30 years and has a contract with Sirius XM worth more than $500 million.

Howard Stern

He is currently the highest-paid radio host in the world, with an annual salary of over $90 million. Stern works for Sirius XM Satellite Radio. His high salary is a testament to his popularity and appeal as a radio host.

The self-proclaimed “King of All Media” Howard Stern reigns supreme in the radio world. Howard Stern, on the third year of his eight-figure contract with SiriusXM, earned an estimated $90 million in our 12-month scoring period, before taxes and fees. The shock jock is once again the world's highest-paid radio host.

America's most listened to radio host, Rush Limbaugh commands an audience that averages 15.5 million people.

Not just a high-earning radio station, WLTW is the most popular radio station in the country. Located in the heart of New York City, it broadcasts from the former ATT Building in the Tribeca neighborhood of Manhattan. Their transmitter is perched atop the Empire State Building.

How Much Do Radio Host Jobs Pay per Year? $25,000 is the 25th percentile. Salaries below this are outliers. $57,500 is the 75th percentile.

As we've mentioned earlier, in most markets, both songwriters and recording artists are typically paid royalties any time their music is played on the radio.

How much profit can a radio station make? The exact profit of your radio station will obviously depend on factors ranging from audience size to programming cost to the amount of advertisers. However, the most popular local radio stations in the country are able to make over $60 million in ad revenue each year.

While ZipRecruiter is seeing hourly wages as high as $17.31 and as low as $5.29, the majority of Radio Station Dj wages currently range between $15.87 (25th percentile) to $16.83 (75th percentile) across the United States.

How much does a SiriusXM DJ get paid? ›

The average salary for an On-Air Personality is $39,355 per year in United States, which is 50% lower than the average SiriusXM salary of $79,118 per year for this job.

How much does a Radio DJ make in the United States? The average Radio DJ salary in the United States is $41,063 as of June 26, 2023, but the salary range typically falls between $33,839 and $50,136.

With nearly 72 years on the airwaves, a Conroe woman now holds the Guinness Record title for being the "World's Longest Serving Female Radio Presenter/DJ." Growing up, Mary McCoy, 85, dreamed of getting into the entertainment business.

A radio station makes money by advertising on its station.

Radio audiences are the product being sold to advertisers by a radio station. Radio stations can also make extra money from sponsored events and sponsored content. However, technically this is still a form of advertising revenue.

Like radio talk shows, TV news talk shows usually won't pay guests for showing up. In both cases, the financial results – if there are any – are generally longer term. Gaining more awareness will lead to more people discovering what they do, buying their products or services, and so on.

With 855 stations, iHeartMedia is the largest radio station group owner in the United States, both by number of stations and by revenue. The 855 stations reach more than 110 million listeners every week, and 245 million every month.

The Grand Ole Opry is the longest-running live radio program in the world.

… world's first commercial radio station, KDKA, began broadcasting in Pittsburgh in 1920.

These events usually include interacting with fans in person or running contests. Work hours can be between regular business hours, early in the morning, late at night, or on weekends and holidays. Most shifts are four hours long, but special on-air events may change this.

Who is known as the father of the radio? ›

Guglielmo Marconi was an Italian inventor who became famous for his contributions towards the growth and development of long distance radio transmission.

Information on Some Individual Stations. KRUZ. At its website, KRUZ Santa Barbara claims the title "The Biggest Station In The Nation" and states, "No other FM station in America covers more area than KRUZ 103.3 FM.

Today, the current rate is 9.1 cents (typically split with co-writers and publishers). Performance Royalty – A songwriter receives a performance royalty when their song is performed on terrestrial broadcast radio, in a live performance venue, or via online streaming services.

For artists in the US, the copyright protection of a song lasts for the lifetime of the copyright holder and an additional 70 years after their demise. This law applies to all bodies of works that have been published since 1978. The payment on these royalties also lasts for the duration of the copyright protection.

Each play counts as one spin. Performance rights holders make money from each radio spin directly and indirectly. Directly in the form of a royalty fee paid by the radio station. Indirectly, via the promotion given to the track making it more likely for the listeners to buy/download it later.

The cost of starting a radio station can vary depending on the size and scope of the project. Generally, start-up costs will range from $10,000 to $100,000. Key expenses include licensing fees, broadcast station construction permit, and equipment purchases.

According to the most recently available data, in 2022 just 12.2 percent of surveyed radio stations reported that they were showing profit, less than half the figure reported for the year 2000.

Starting an online radio station requires little more than basic recording and editing equipment, including broadcasting software and condenser microphones, but broadcast radio requires some extra tools. This includes a fully compliant EAS and radio transmitter that's approved by the FCC.

How much does an Entertainer make at Walmart in the United States? Average Walmart Entertainer hourly pay in the United States is approximately $14.78, which is 12% below the national average.

The average club DJ makes between $100-$200 per night. Pay can depend on the DJ's level of fame, club location, or club fame. Higher-end DJs make over 6-figures. Some club DJs can make six-figure sums!

How much do Iheartradio DJs make? ›

Total Pay Estimate & Range

The estimated total pay for a On-Air Personality at iHeartMedia is $64,081 per year. This number represents the median, which is the midpoint of the ranges from our proprietary Total Pay Estimate model and based on salaries collected from our users. The estimated base pay is $49,553 per year.

What are SDARS royalties? SDARS royalties are generated when your songs spin on SiriusXM's satellite radio stream. They pay between $47 and $49 per spin. Why do SDARS royalties pay so much more than everything else?

52% of job seekers rate their interview experience at SiriusXM as positive. Candidates give an average difficulty score of 2.6 out of 5 (where 5 is the highest level of difficulty) for their job interview at SiriusXM.

SiriusXM pays about $1 billion a year in subsidies and revenue splits to automakers, and according to the company, 75 percent of all new vehicles sold in the United States come with satellite radio installed. (It works with every major carmaker.)

Shift lengths vary, but DJs are often on air for three to five hours, during which time songs are interspersed with weather reports, listener requests, contests, on-air promotions for concerts and events, and radio banter. More production work often takes place after the shift ends.

A radio disc jockey, more commonly known as a radio DJ, chooses and broadcasts music for their listeners.

There are guidelines and regulations for everything. Yes, everything. Being a radio presenter doesn't give you license to say whatever you want on air, but you can still get away with a lot if you know-how. In the USA there's the FCC, an organisation that regulates radio stations and fines them for infractions.

Hassan Hamid is the world's youngest broadcast radio presenter (male) who started his career at the impressive age of 4 years and 70 days, so just a few days older than Amatullah when she first started working. So, what is Amatullah's show about? “[I talk about] science, social education, telling stories and poems.

The average radio show host age is 49 years old.

It was a salute to the oldest radio DJ by the Guinness Record Books after working in the industry for almost 72 years. The Mike & Carla Morning Show thought it was only right to make mention of Mary McCoy. This 85-year-old still hosts the two-hour Country Classics show six days a week on KVST K-Star Country.

Do Internet radio stations make money? ›

How do internet radio stations make money? Mimicking the same monetisation model as traditional terrestrial radio stations, internet radio stations make money mostly from ads as well as sponsors. These ads can be everything from on-air commercials, to Google ads placed on their site.

Portable People Meters (Nielsen Meters)

Both internet and terrestrial radio stations track audience size using devices called Portable People Meters or Nielsen Meters, a couple of basic radio terms to know.

The average cost per spot of a radio ad is between $200 and $5000 per week. However, depending widely on location, you can find spots for as low as $5 or as high as $8000. You can see that peak prices tend to be during the morning rush hour or later on in the day when people are done with work.

In most cases, there won't be a script as such, but the radio DJ will just think of something to say off the top of their head. Most shows will have a structure of sorts, however, so the broadcaster will know what to introduce and when, although some degree of repetition is probably inevitable.

As of Jun 16, 2023, the average annual pay for a Radio Talk Show Host in California is $50,193 a year. Just in case you need a simple salary calculator, that works out to be approximately $24.13 an hour. This is the equivalent of $965/week or $4,182/month.

As of Jun 24, 2023, the average annual pay for a Sports Talk Radio in the United States is $89,055 a year.

$43,000 is the 25th percentile. Salaries below this are outliers. $70,000 is the 90th percentile. Salaries above this are outliers.

SiriusXM Salary FAQs

How does the salary as an On-Air Personality at SiriusXM compare with the base salary range for this job? The average salary for an On-Air Personality is $39,368 per year in United States, which is 50% lower than the average SiriusXM salary of $79,118 per year for this job.

As of Jun 26, 2023, the average hourly pay for a Radio Host in the United States is $20.41 an hour. While ZipRecruiter is seeing hourly wages as high as $39.90 and as low as $8.17, the majority of Radio Host wages currently range between $12.02 (25th percentile) to $27.64 (75th percentile) across the United States.

How do radio hosts make money? ›

The listening audience, similar to a TV audience and social media users, are the product being sold to advertisers. This is how radio stations make money; through advertising. Extra income also comes from sponsored content and events (however, this is also a form of a advertising) as well as charging callers.

Average CBS Radio hourly pay ranges from approximately $14.00 per hour for Production Intern to $23.45 per hour for Mailroom Clerk. Salary information comes from 7 data points collected directly from employees, users, and past and present job advertisem*nts on Indeed in the past 36 months.

How much does a Morning Show Host make in the United States? The salary range for a Morning Show Host job is from $39,507 to $56,826 per year in the United States. Click on the filter to check out Morning Show Host job salaries by hourly, weekly, biweekly, semimonthly, monthly, and yearly.

Like radio talk shows, TV news talk shows usually won't pay guests for showing up. In both cases, the financial results – if there are any – are generally longer term. Gaining more awareness will lead to more people discovering what they do, buying their products or services, and so on.

SiriusXM has 2,323 employees, and the revenue per employee ratio is $3,875,591. SiriusXM's peak quarterly revenue was $2.3B in 2022(q4). SiriusXM peak revenue was $9.0B in 2022. SiriusXM annual revenue for 2022 was $9.0B, a 3.53% growth from 2021.

SiriusXM Full-Year Gross Profit of $4.3 Billion

Total cost of services at SiriusXM was $2.6 billion for the year, a 2% increase compared to the prior year. Gross profit at SiriusXM totaled $4.3 billion, an increase of 6% compared to 2021, producing a gross margin of 62%, roughly a point higher than the prior year.

SiriusXM satellite radio is known for paying artists upward of $44 US per play, a significant amount compared to the minuscule royalties paid out by top streaming services such as Apple Music and Spotify or through regular radio programming.

Average Annual Salary by Experience

News Reporter salary in India with less than 1 year of experience to 10 years ranges from ₹ 0.2 Lakhs to ₹ 7.2 Lakhs with an average annual salary of ₹ 2.2 Lakhs based on 538 latest salaries.

1. Anderson Cooper. With a net worth of $200 million, Anderson Cooper tops the list of richest journalists in the world in 2023. He has made this huge fortune in his career of over 30 years now.