Wannabe Reporters: 9.50 an hour!
01.7.2010 That is less than the $10 an hour that In N Out burger advertises as its starting salary. And boy do I love a good In N Out burger animal style with X L and X T with fries and a Neapolitan shake. But the fact you can make more working there, than you can with a degree from UC Berkeley as a first time reporter sort of blows my mind. Just a little.
One of my former interns is considering a job in a blue state in middle America, one where they don't do live shots and they one man band. Meaning they produce, shoot and edit their own stories. No photographer to help. For 9.50 an hour. That is the reality of TV reporting these days, kids. High supply, low demand. Fewer jobs than ever, and higher expectations. Do more with less.
I currently have 4 interns who are aspiring TV reporters or on-camera talent. I am not at all trying to torpedo anyone's dreams but ever since I met the Harvard educated lawyer husband of my equally brilliant friend and former TV type, he put things in a different perspective. He said he advises young folks brimming with vim and vigor to go for the career or job that pays the most. Because at some point, no matter how much you love your work, it will become work. A place you go or thing you do because you have to. I mean, obviously, it's not a bad job to be Kim Kardashian and have 2,774,281 people following your ass on Twitter, figuratively, and in The Good Doctor's case, literally. But that's sort of a different stratosphere of "work" so let's go back to the basic normal world in which most of us live. Work is something you do so you can enjoy the rest of your life. And hopefully it's a great way to spend a big chunk of your day, but don't even lie and tell me you don't love your days off. Don't even go there, Pinocchio. We all love our vacation days and our weekends and our holidays and the days when we can goof and find sexy dresses half off and an additional 30% off that at BCBG. Why yes I did do that this weekend.
So Harvard lawyer friend says this and it seems all cynical and anti-idealistic and soul-killing, but there's a real nugget of truth there. Mo' money doesn't always equal mo' problems.
But 9.50 an hour. That could definitely make some mo' problems if you aren't ready to join the ranks of the working poor while working your ass off. Which may or may not be as nice as Kim Kardashian's. God love the aspiring reporter though. I was one 10 years ago. And I almost took that job at ABC in Sioux City, Iowa. For $18,500. A YEAR!!! That was Y2K. I mean it was not like 1950. And even if you adjust that for inflation and factor in the COLA, that is still a depressingly ridiculously low amount of money for an annual salary. My parents' friends were shaking their heads, "And she was valedictorian? Tsk Tsk."
But then my news fairy godmother came along. And hired me for $26K a year to work as a one man band at Central Florida News 13. Plus moving costs! I said yes ma'am to that job, packed my bags, and pitted out in the balmy Orlando outdoors for the next year and 9 months.
So much has changed in TV news in a decade. But salaries somehow have managed to stay the same or go lower. Wiki How helped me with my calculation. The $18,500 Sioux City job I almost took would've paid me $8.90 an hour. And in 2010, one of my fearless former interns is considering a job for .60 more per hour.
What the douche? It's my new WTF.
Reader Comments (7)
So true and sad.. I am so sad to see how little lots of jobs pay. Having a grad degree in human services is one of the worst. Right now, I make the same as I did 8 years ago when I graduated with my MS, how sad is that, its less than all my silly loans!
Oh the injustice!
and the 9.50 doesn't include wardrobe or makeup, kiddos. so, don't forget to factor that into hourly rate. or for graduation, ask your parents to buy you a new wardrobe.
In my short experience in TV News, I was getting very used to being POOR...
I started in market 13 as an overnight associate producer making a mere $9.00 an hour. My first reporting gig was for 25,000 - I was blessed. I was offered a few of the $9.00/hr range in very small markets in 2004-2005, but bit on the bigger salary ( at a smaller station in that particular market) as a means of survival. I did survive- barely!
I am no longer in the news biz, but when i was, I played for the love of the game- unfortunately, that meant little, tiny paychecks. I cannot imagine starting out in the biz now, so many stations are relying more on "I-reporting" and citizen journalism- in addition to reporters and sometimes even the main anchors picking up a camera and doing it all. Vicky thanks for your blog posts... they are always so entertaining and relevant!
Urania: Let aspiring human services wannabes also take note.
Connie: Exactly. Although I will say, randomly, my station in Reno had awesome contracts with a local salon for hair and makeup products for us for free! And I actually got a couple grand for a clothing allowance. That was the ONE and ONLY place that happened.
Shannon: Great details from your time in the trenches. Thank you for sharing because it's so important for young reporters to hear the real, gory, details. And how 25K is considered one of the bigger salaries for a first reporting gig. WTD?
Would you have taken the Sioux City job if Orlando hadn't miraculously appeared in a haze of fairy dust and transported you away to the land of humidity and bad hair? Just curious. Meanwhile, you know I believe it's better to be lucky than good... and I just love the fact that you, my dear, are both.
p.s. Hair and clothing allowances and much higher salaries here now... just thought you should know not all stations are going to hell in a handbasket... at least, not yet:).
News Fairy Godmother: I shudder to think what would have happened had you not twinkled in with your wings. I SHUDDER. Would I have been the only Asian within a 200 mile radius of Sioux City? Desperate for a good bowl of pho? Or would I have been "successful, surprising" just like the city's motto? But yes, lucky and good. I have had my lion's share of the first, and I keep striving for the second. As for hair and makeup, WOMAN. Those people better know just how great they have it.
P.S. I'm pretty sure a thing called "strong leadership" has a lot to do with avoiding hell and the handbasket.