Radio man in 1st place

“Krone” has a list: The top earners at ORF

(Bild: Andreas Tischler / picturedesk.com)

It is considered one of the best-kept secrets! Now the ORF reveals exactly 62 top salaries. The "Krone" knows the details. In first place is a radio star and not the Director General ...

State radio salary paradise. Always a political issue, hotly debated in public. On Easter Sunday, the public broadcaster puts a big egg in the Federal Chancellery's electronic mailbox. That's when the secret will be revealed with the list of exactly 62 top-earning ORF employees with an annual gross salary of 170,000 euros or more (2023).

Top earners wanted to stop publication
But not voluntarily. In return for the budget levy, the ORF top salaries must - as reported - be published. In a video crisis summit on the Küniglberg, the top earners wanted to stop the disclosure at the last moment for fear of a wave of outrage on social networks. But that would be tantamount to breaking the law. Not an option for the ORF management, especially in a super election year.

The "Krone" already knows the explosive paper (see graphic below). Compared to the average salary or pension, the figures are indeed top notch.

Expensive old contracts and lucrative side jobs
The state broadcaster argues with expensive, but often fixed-term (old) contracts. In addition, only around 1.3 percent of the approximately 4,000 employees (including subsidiaries) are affected. Some managers would be responsible for hundreds of employees and budgets of up to hundreds of millions. And additional earnings are now limited by new ethics rules anyway.

Robert Kratky: The long-standing Ö3 presenter is the "salary emperor" at ORF even before the managers.

(Bild: Starpix / picturedesk.com)

Getting up early is handsomely rewarded
In any case, Robert Kratky is the country's radio voice at the top. The "Ö3-Wecker" star gets up at 3.30 a.m. from Monday to Friday with an annual salary of around 455,000 euros. This corresponds to around 32,500 euros/month or almost twelve times (!) that of an average earner and is almost double that of his radio director Ingrid Thurnher. In addition, he earns a further 9,000 euros per month in the sideline column.

ORF security officer Pius Strobl is in second place (440,000 euros). Only in third place is Director General Roland Weißmann (with 420,000 euros less than his predecessor Alexander Wrabetz).

The list also includes all nine regional studio directors. Among TV journalists and "ZiB" stars, Armin Wolf with 250,000 euros (i.e. 18,000 euros plus 2500 euros for side jobs per month) and Hans Bürger with 195,000 euros are among the top salaries. Also foreign correspondents such as Ukraine war correspondent Christian Wehrschütz or Ernst Gelegs. But not the "ZiB" spokespersons Tarek Leitner or Nadja Bernhard.