Our fearless Inside the Arts blog leader and guru, Drew McManus, reminded me that not everyone is a classical radio nerd, and that I should remember to do a nuts-and-bolts post once in a while.
If you’re a listener rather than a radio employee, you might not know who does what at a classical station.
Announcers
The people you hear on the air are the public voice of the station, but they often are NOT the decision-makers. And it might surprise you to know that at a classical station the announcers are not like Don Imus and Howard Stern, pulling in the big bucks. Classical announcers are more likely to be the lowest paid employees. Announcing is considered a glamour job. I know of stations where the on-air employees earn just over mimimum wage. (By the way, we don’t call them D.J.s in classical music.)
A full time announcer might make about $50,000 at a unionized station (the union most belong to is AFTRA, American Federation of Television and Radio Artists), but most stations are not unionized. I worked full time on-air for many years and never even broke $20,000. Still, being on-air is the most fun of all radio jobs IF the announcer gets to pick some of the music. If not, the job can be very frustrating.
Stations usually have a handful of fulltime announcers, and a stable of part-timers who do weekends and sub when needed.
Commenters brought to my attention a few classical podcasts originating from stations. In case you didn’t see their additions to the original thread, here they are: