The Guardian’s Julia Day on a rival tabloid’s successful effort at uncovering just what the public license payers are getting for their money.
BBC sources fear that revelations in the Sun about the Radio 1 breakfast DJ Chris Moyles’ (above) £630,000 annual salary and soap actor Ross Kemp’s £380,000 pay packet could be the tip of the iceberg and more of the corporation’s stars will have their wages laid bare.
The corporation believes a BBC insider may have accessed a computer database containing extensive staff salary details and is investigating where the security lapse could have occurred.
The salary details of eight of Radio 1’s highest-profile DJs were published today in the Sun, putting Moyles as the top earner, while dance DJ Pete Tong gets £70,000.
Mid-morning host Jo Whiley is cited as earning £250,000, compared with Sara Cox’s £200,000 for two weekend shows a week, while double-act Edith Bowman and Colin Murray are said to earn £175,00 and £170,000 respectively. Scott Mills and Zane Lowe earn £130,000 apiece, according to the Sun’s report.
Last month the same Sun reporter, Julie Moult, revealed the salaries of a host of EastEnders’ stars, including Barbara Windsor’s and Steve McFadden’s £360,000 pay packets, and Dot Cotton actor June Brown’s £370,000 salary.
The only silver lining to this story is that Moyles might have replaced Carlos Boozer as the most overpaid man on the planet.
Hello,
How much longer the as a bbc licence fee payer must we continue to be fleeced by an exorbident licence fee and then be told that our hard earned money is being squandered on such talentless performers.
I would`nt give any of them a part in very local kids pantomine. It`s no they dont want the wages it pays to get out. Scrap the licence fee for me.
A very unwilling licence fee but made to pay.
Phil Walpole.
i absolutely resent having to pay a licence fee to pay ridiculous salaries for this bunch of wankers.
this is a bloody disgrace and a ‘legal’ con!
give me adverts on bbc any day (or just shut it down) – the channels with adverts get all the major sports contracts and movies anyway which just proves the pathetic bbc funding method is completely outdated and entirely inferior in terms of performance!
they need to kick out the old fashioned decision makers (put ’em in the tardis and send em to the victorian age) and move with the times. they wouldnt be so disliked if they didnt directly tax every household and have legal powers to prosecute. they are as law unto themselves.
….and they have ‘sinister’ links to govenment policies.
The fact is, the BBC is the best we have, and damned good it is too. I’m happy to pay the license fee just to get the radio channels the Beeb put out, which are carefully tailored to meet the demands of 90% of the population. What has the commercial sector got to offer? Nothing for me, that’s certain. Radio is dying a death due to underinvestment and underimagination and commercial TV is awash with imported product and rubbish format shows. And let’s not forget, adverts are deeply painful things to have to put up with. We’re a long way from the BBC getting sloppy and complacent.
I agree Moyles et al are deeply overpaid pains in the arse, but for every div like him there is a decent broadcaster giving us proper content.
the bbc salaries are a disgrace i have recently read about jonathon ross getting awarded an 18,000,000 contract over the next 3yrs that is over £115,000 a week and we the licence payers are funding this.what can we do about it ? how many more are on such a scale I DON’T BELIEVE IT