The top earner you may never have heard of... BBC Radio 5 Live's 'shock jock' Stephen Nolan makes £450,000 and says: 'I just want to earn as much as I can!'

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BBC Radio 5 Live presenter Stephen Nolan earns more than three of the four Today programme hosts, it was revealed today

BBC Radio 5 Live presenter Stephen Nolan earns more than three of the four Today programme hosts, and said he wants to 'earn as much as I can'.  

The broadcaster, who joined BBC Radio Ulster in 2003, is paid up to £450,000 a year, it was revealed today.

In comparison, Mishal Husain earns up to £250,000, Nick Robinson £300,000 and Justin Webb up to £200,000.

Fellow Today programme presenter John Humphrys is paid up to £650,000.   

Nolan has won 12 Sony Radio Academy Awards, including seven Gold, giving him the record for the most Golds in the history of radio's equivalent to the Oscars.

He presents five days a week on BBC Ulster and also appears on BBC 5 Live and does some TV work. In 2005 and 2006 Nolan was named the Royal Television Society's Presenter of the Year.

Nolan said: 'I want to work as much as I can, I want to be the best I can be and I want to earn as much as I can.'  

He told BBC Radio Foyle: 'I am fair game for scrutiny and fair game for conversation.' 

He added it was for others to decide on pay but said it was a pleasure for him to work at the BBC.

Other radio hosts Simon Mayo, Nick Grimshaw and Vanessa Feltz earn up to £400,000 it was also revealed today.

Nolan was at odds with a fellow BBC presenter ahead of his £400,000 to £449,000 salary being disclosed by the corporation.

The broadcaster, who joined BBC Radio Ulster in 2003, is paid up to £450,000 a year

The radio star had a public exchange with William Crawley, host of Radio Ulster's Talkback, over his refusal to be interviewed on the show about his pay packet.

Nolan, who also presents TV shows on BBC One Northern Ireland, said he would instead be quizzed on his own Radio Ulster morning show on Thursday.

Referring to his higher listener figures, Nolan - who dubs his programme 'The biggest show in the country' - said he would rather his answers were broadcast to the widest audience possible.

On Wednesday morning Crawley tweeted: 'Stephen Nolan has turned down an invitation from @BBCTalkback to be interviewed on today's programme about BBC salaries.'

Nolan referred to the tweet during his show, telling his listeners: 'What I actually said to William is, I think it is really important for the maximum amount of people to have a chance to listen to someone interviewing me, and I think it is therefore important not to go on the smaller phone-in show but to go on the show which has the bigger audience.'

In response, Crawley tweeted: 'I well understand that @StephenNolan would prefer to manage a story about himself on his own show rather than face me in an interview today.'

Top ten male earners 

1. Chris Evans, Multi-genre band: £2,200,000 - £2,249,999

2. Gary Lineker, Sport: £1,750,000 - £1,799,999

3. Graham Norton, Multi-genre band: £850,000 - £899,999

4. Jeremy Vine, Multi-genre band: £700,000 - £749,999

5. John Humphrys, Multi-genre band: £600,000 - £649,999

6. Huw Edwards, Multi-genre band: £550,000 - £599,999

7. Steve Wright, Radio: £500,000 - £549,999

8. Matt Baker, Multi-genre band: £450,000 - £499,999

=9. Nicky Campbell, Radio: £400,000 - £449,999

=9. Andrew Marr, Multi-genre band: £400,000 - £449,999

=9. Stephen Nolan, Multi-genre band: £400,000 - £449,999

=9. Alan Shearer, Sport: £400,000 - £449,999

 

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The story was picked up by a local newspaper, which claimed Nolan was 'joking' when he gave his justification for not going on Talkback.

Nolan replied to the story link on Twitter: 'Not joking. Important that I speak on the most listened to show in NI.'

Earlier, he told his listeners he would not have advance sight of the questions he would be asked on Thursday's show.

He said he was inviting an 'independent' interviewer to ask the questions to ensure he was fully scrutinised and also promised to field callers' questions on his salary.

'I will be as accountable to all of you as we do every other day with other people,' he said.

The list of top BBC earners revealed that Nolan, who works seven days a week, is paid more than a number of well-known broadcasters and presenters, including Radio Four's Today presenter Nick Robinson (£250,000 to £299,000), newsreader and Antiques Roadshow presenter Fiona Bruce (£350,000 and £399,000), and the BBC's political editor Laura Kuenssberg (£200,000 to £249,000).

He was the only Northern Ireland-based BBC broadcaster on the list of those paid at least £150,000.

Nolan began his broadcasting career as a late-night DJ on a small Belfast commercial radio station called Citybeat, and often joked how he broke into the business by standing outside the station for weeks on end. 

He said management finally took pity on him and brought him in off the street before offering him a late-night slot. 

There he honed his call-in technique before being brought in by BBC Northern Ireland to front their mid-morning 'shock jock' call-in show, which he has fronted for over 10 years.

He has broken a number of major political and social stories as part of an investigative side to the slot, clashing with civil servants, bureaucrats and high profile politicians such as Iris Robinson and Gregory Campbell of the DUP and Sinn Fein figures like Old Bailey bomber Gerry Kelly over their views.

He regularly hosts former Tory politician Edwina Currie and racing pundit John McCririck as talking heads on his show to provoke fierce debate on the topics of the day.

As a result of the runaway success of the BBC Radio Ulster show he earned his late-night slot on BBC Radio 5 Live, and also transferred his show to the local BBC Northern Ireland television network.

A confirmed bachelor, his personal life is another feature of the show, where he has often discussed his personal demons and battles over his weight, love for junk food like Tayto Prawn Cocktail crisps and peach schnapps, and his refusal to pay parking tickets for his Audi A8 with personalised number plates NOL 6N. 

For the first time today, the BBC had to say which of its household names are on more than £150,000 a year.

The corporation fought tooth and nail against a government order to publish the figures. It then tried to delay their release.

In a sign of further panic, stars were told they could defend their pay on social media – breaking with normal BBC protocol. Bosses have warned every staffer on £150,000 or more that their details will be published and in some against the public reaction.