Stars’ wages send cost of BBC radio soaring

The National Audit Office found that Wake Up To Wogan on BBC Radio 2 and Radio 1's Chris Moyles Show costs more to produce per hour than six other breakfast programmes broadcast by commercial companies.

The bill for Chris Evans's drive-time show on Radio 2 was also far higher than programmes used as comparators by the spending watchdog.

Tory MP Edward Leigh, chairman of the all-party Commons public accounts committee, said: "The BBC must account for why it spends much more money per hour than its commercial rivals on breakfast and drive-time shows.

"It is already clear from the NAO report that this is primarily down to presenters' remuneration."

Mr Leigh also branded "scandalous" that the BBC had sought to impose a "gagging order" on the NAO by insisting on unacceptable conditions to release full details of the cost of radio programmes.

Documents leaked three years ago, though, showed Wogan was on £800,000 a year, Evans £540,000 and Moyles £630,000. The BBC spent £462 million in 2007-08 on 16 radio stations, or 14 per cent of its licence fee income. The NAO's inquiry found that the BBC had met its target to cut radio costs by £11.7 million by 2007-08 but concluded that significant savings could still be made.

"The BBC's costs are significantly more expensive than commercial programmes in the same slots, largely because of the costs of presenters and other staff, reflecting an editorial choice on the BBC's part to take account of the nationwide remit of its network stations," it said.

Wake Up To Wogan cost about twice as much as the most expensive commercial programme, produced by a major city station, with salaries accounting for around two thirds of the BBC's show.

The Chris Moyles Show was also more costly, though its salary costs were slightly lower. Chris Evans's Radio 2 show was almost off the scale compared with the commercial sector, though the NAO only managed to get figures from three stations.

The BBC, though, stressed its licences meant costs could rise and highlighted how Radio 2 had to "provide an understanding of the context in which music is created and its cultural impact".

It added: "This will increase the cost of Radio 2 relative to a commercial station that does not have such an imperative." The spending watchdog also noted varying costs within the BBC for making similar programmes. The average cost per hour of drama was £14,969 for The Archers on Radio 4, yet for Radio 3 it was £23,965, 60 per cent higher, and £10,496 for Radio 7.

BBC in-house drama productions were more expensive than those produced by independent companies — by 29 per cent for Radio 3 and eight per cent for Radio 4. Drama programmes made in Manchester were marginally higher than those in London, both costing on average more than £24,000 an hour.

For music, the median cost per hour was £1,486 on Radio 2, 54 per cent higher than for Radio 1 on £966, with £650 for Radio 3. Radio 2 comedy was costliest at £24,212 an hour on average, 15 per cent more than Radio 4's figure of £21,000.

The BBC Trust, which oversees the Corporation, said: "We agree that the BBC Executive could do more to evidence how they reach their assessments on what constitutes an appropriate cost for programmes, particularly for those genres where costs do vary significantly across the different radio stations."

The cost of programmes includes wages, equipment, travel, support crews, commissioning, copyright payments, newsgathering, marketing, running the station and physical transmission.