Host, announce and present on radio, television and podcasts. Small pay at the start, big pay if you get known.
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Pay, the path, pros and cons and the facts on one printable page. Good for a wall or a guidance counsellor.
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What you earn and what it costs to get there.
Typical
$58,000
Small-market first job
$37,000
Big-market host or anchor
$120,000
Job Bank's national median is $27.97 an hour, about $58,000 a year full time. This is one of the widest spreads of any job on this site: the top figure is $57.69 an hour, and a handful of national hosts earn far past it.
$37,000 to $45,000
Overnight or weekend shifts in a small market
Almost nobody starts in Toronto or Vancouver. You start in a town of 30,000, do three jobs at once, and move for the next rung.
$90,000 to $120,000
Morning show host or news anchor in a large city
Morning drive is the most valuable shift in radio and pays accordingly. Getting there usually means four or five moves across the country.
Tuition, fees, exams and kit. Not rent, food or travel
The two routes are very far apart. The low end is close to nothing: campus and community radio is free to join and is where most working broadcasters actually learned, so a usable microphone and interface is the whole spend. The high end is a four year university media degree at the top of the tuition range plus a home recording setup. A two year college broadcasting program sits in between at roughly eight to sixteen thousand dollars in total. What the numbers hide is relocation: expect to move two or three times chasing early jobs in small markets, and that is real money.
Campus and community radio is free to join and is where most working broadcasters actually learned.
Voice work
Commercials, narration, video game and animation voices. Often the steadiest side income in this field.
Live hosting
Corporate events, concerts, charity nights. Paid by the event.
Podcasts
Ad reads and sponsorships, once an audience exists. Most podcasts never get there.
Talent fees
Extra payments when your voice is used in a national campaign rather than a local one.
The exact path from high school to qualified.
No licence, no exam. A demo reel and a willingness to move are the requirements.
High school
Grades 11 and 12
English, drama, media studies. Join or start the school announcements, a podcast, anything with a microphone.
Campus or community radio
From age 16 or 17
Free air time and a real audience. Do this whether or not you go to school for it.
Broadcasting program
2 to 4 years
A 2-year college broadcasting diploma or a media degree such as the Bachelor of Arts in Media Production at Toronto Metropolitan University.
Build a demo reel
During school
Three to five minutes of your best on-air work. Stations hire off this, not off your transcript.
First job in a small market
1 to 3 years
Weekends and overnights somewhere far away. Say yes and learn everything.
English
You write most of what you say, and you write it fast.
Drama
Breath, timing and reading out loud without sounding like you are reading.
Media arts or communication technology
Editing audio and video is now part of every on-air job.
A second language
French, Punjabi, Mandarin and Cantonese stations all hire.
You need no credential to be on air. Stations themselves are licensed by the CRTC (Canadian Radio-television and Telecommunications Commission), which sets rules on Canadian content and on what can be broadcast. Those rules shape what you play and say, and breaking them is the station's problem and quickly yours. Traditional radio and television audiences have been shrinking for years, which is why the outlook here is limited.
University media programs
The School of Media at Toronto Metropolitan University offers media production and a sport media degree, the only one of its kind in Canada.
College broadcasting diplomas
Two-year programs at colleges in most provinces, usually with a working campus station attached.
Journalism schools
A route in if you want news rather than entertainment.
No school at all
A real path in podcasting and streaming, where the audience is the credential.
Things you don't need, but that help.
Sports play-by-play
A distinct skill with its own shortage. Junior hockey and university games are where you practise.
News reading
Stations want people who can cover a shift and read a bulletin cleanly.
Audio editing
Cutting your own segments makes you cheaper to employ, which is the point.
Social video
Every on-air role now includes short vertical video. Stations check your following.
A clean driving record
Remote broadcasts, station vehicles and live events.
Voice training
A coach for a few sessions beats years of guessing.
A second skill inside the station
Sales, promotions or production keeps you employed when on-air hours get cut.
Thick skin
Feedback is public, instant and often personal.
Day to day, pros and cons, where you'd work.
A morning host is at the station by 4:30am, reading the news, scanning social feeds and lining up the show. On air from 6 to 10, talking in 45 second breaks between songs or segments. Then recording commercials, cutting clips for social, planning tomorrow, and a remote broadcast from a car dealership at 4pm. Afternoon and evening shifts are calmer. Weekends and holidays are normal because stations never stop.
The good
The hard parts
Things people don't tell you.
The national public broadcaster began as a radio commission in 1932, created partly so that people in remote parts of the country could hear Canadian voices instead of only American stations.
The Canadian Media Producers Association reports that film and television production generated close to $12 billion in GDP (gross domestic product) and about 181,000 jobs in 2025.
In radio, the 6am to 10am slot draws the most listeners and carries the highest advertising rates, so the morning host is usually the best paid person on the station.
Toronto Metropolitan University runs a Bachelor of Arts in Sport Media, described as the only program in Canada dedicated to sports media and the business behind it.
Last checked September 2026. Pay figures are typical full-time annual amounts in Canadian dollars, based on Government of Canada Job Bank wage data and published salary grids. They vary by province, employer and experience. Tuition is for domestic students.