The BBC has published its executive salary list today (July 2) as part of the British broadcaster’s Group Annual Report and Accounts for 2018/19.
Under the terms of the the BBC Charter, the broadcaster is required to publish the names and salaries of all senior executives paid more than £150,000 from licence fee revenue.
According to the report, covering the 12 months to end of March 2019, Group Managing Director Bob Shennan (who was recently promoted from his previous role of BBC Director of Radio and Music) is paid between £275,000-£279,999 a year.
Ben Cooper (pictured), Controller, Radio 1, 1Xtra and Asian Network, and an executive rumored to be in line for the BBC’s new all-powerful Pop Music Controller job, is currently on an annual wage of between £200,000-£204,999.
The report also includes the salaries of some of the Beeb’s biggest on-air stars, with Radio 1’s highest paid presenter being Nick Grimshaw, who earns around £310,000-£314,999 per annum.
Radio 1 Breakfast Show host Greg James is on £225,000-£229,999 with evening presenter Annie Mac earning between £180,000-£184,999 per year.
6Music presenters Lauren Laverne and Shaun Keaveny’s salaries are between £305,000-£309,999 and £160,000-£164,999 respectively.
The BBC’s highest-paid radio presenter in 2018 was Chris Evans, former host of the Chris Evans Breakfast Show on Radio 2. He was paid around £1.2 million in the year, before leaving for Virgin Radio in December.
Do the salaries listed above offer good value for money?
One interesting data point is the salary earned by the former CEO of PRS For Music, Robert Ashcroft, who stood down last month.
UK collecting society PRS licenses the BBC for the latter’s annual blanket agreement covering the use of music in its programming.
‘Broadcast’ contributed around £127.7m to PRS’s revenues in 2018 according to PRS’ financials, published in April.
Robert Ashcroft earned (see below) ‘remuneration for qualifying services’ (not including group pension contributions) of £870,000 in 2018, down on the £974,000 he earned in the prior year.
That 2018 figure was nearly double the £450,000-£454,999 annual salary earned by the BBC Director-General, Tony Hall.
Music Business Worldwide
