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Working in television can be a great career, but launching that career usually means beginning with a low salary at a small station. This is true not just in news, but in virtually every other department.
Some of the better companies have begun to upgrade salaries, but the fact is that most of us came up in an era when starvation wages were the norm. In my case, it was several years before we stopped living hand to mouth.
I’d love to say everyone who “paid their dues” ended up with well-paying jobs, but that would be far from the truth. For each one of us who landed in good positions, there were dozens of others who never attained anything close to financial security.
No station owner wanted any of their employees to end up in poverty. The problem is that with approximately 210 television markets, the majority are small operations servicing small communities. There is simply not enough money coming in to pay large salaries.
Why then, you might wonder, didn’t underpaid staff members quit and find jobs in other industries. Many did, though making a mid-career change is easier said that done. Those that stayed the course did so because they loved the business. Like me, and maybe you, they couldn’t imagine doing anything else.
Looking back, I remember so many journeymen broadcasters who worked hard and contributed to the success of their