Pat Kenny has a million reasons for loving his job
Thursday June 29 2006
PAT KENNY is Ireland's first €1m-a-year broadcaster.
Figures released by RTE yesterday show that the radio and television presenter pocketed just short of €900,000 in basic earnings in 2004. Auxiliary earnings are understood to have taken him through the €1m barrier, and his salary has continued to rise since then.
Mr Kenny's salary had jumped by more than €260,000 in 2004 from the previous year.
The Late Late Show host, currently in the middle of a three-month break, was unavailable for comment yesterday but the man immediately behind him in the list of top 10 RTE earners has defended his own pay packet and that of his colleagues.
Gerry Ryan earned almost €488,000 two years ago in basic salary, a jump of €25,000 on the previous year.
"The only reason I'm paid that amount of money is that RTE make a huge amount of money through radio sales out of the programme. That's the only reason anyone should be paid a large amount of money," Mr Ryan said yesterday.
"I think we make close to about €6m a year in advertising on the Ryan Show [on 2FM1], so I think in terms of value for money for the taxpayer and licence payer, it's pretty good.
"It's the most simple argument on God's earth - you only get what you're worth, and that's the way it is across the board."
Marian Finucane came third in the list, taking home €439,265 for the year. At that stage she was still hosting her weekday show from 9am on Radio One. She has since moved to a weekend slot.
Meanwhile, the man who took her place last year, Ryan Tubridy, picked up €216,000 in 2004. He was at that time presenting the breakfast show on 2FM, and his popular 'Tubridy Tonight' television show had not started.
Mr Tubridy is behind both Joe Duffy and Miriam O'Callaghan in sixth place on the 2004 earnings list, but it is thought that his recent successes on radio and television mean he is now challenging Gerry Ryan for second place.
Others, the 2004 Top 10 includes 'Wildlife on One' host Derek Mooney, news presenter Sean O'Rourke and football commentator George Hamilton. John Kelly, whose popular 'Mystery Train' show on RTE Radio is axed in the new schedule, made over €188,000 in 2004.
Chief news reporter Charlie Bird failed to make the 2004 list after earning over €148,000 the previous year, while Vincent Browne was also knocked off the Top 10 list. Of the top 10 highest paid presenters, only Mr Mooney and Mr O'Rourke are employees of the state broadcaster. The other stars use a company through which their fees are paid under a contract.
The earnings figures mean that Mr Kenny earned more than €2,000 for each hour he was live on air, while Mr Ryan earned €700. However, the 2FM presenter rejected the calculations as simplistic.
"It's not labour - it's a business, it's a commercial enterprise, to be perfectly blunt. This is not McDonald's, this is not minimum wage, don't calculate it like that - this is a very sophisticated high-end business that's calculated in terms of the net value of the product," he said.
"So you cannot work it out in terms of that calculation. It's utterly naive."
- Jason O'Brien
