Wietze de Jager, the morning DJ of Radio 538 who is complaining about his five-day working week, earns about 300 to 400 thousand euros a year. That is what AD journalist Dennis Jansen says.
After more than nine months, Wietze de Jager comes to the conclusion that he finds the morning show of Radio 538 very difficult to combine with his family life. Last week he spent eight (!) minutes on live radio complaining that he wants to take parental leave and wants at least four working days a week.
Finger tapped
Radio 538 then rapped Wietze incredibly hard on the fingers. After all, as the station’s figurehead, he is expected to simply make an appearance every working day. The radio DJ has now completely backtracked. He now shouts that he just wanted to start a social discussion.
Media journalist Marcus den Blanken says in the AD Media podcast that he understands the position of 538. “I think it’s very normal for everyone to be able to get parental leave, but he just said yes to the morning show a year ago. That is the most important time for a radio station and you get paid a lot for that.”
Three to four tons
How much does Wietze get for this? Fellow media journalist Dennis Jansen in the podcast: “Frank Dane received five hundred thousand. I estimate between three and four tons.”
Marcus: “So you get paid well for it and that you then suggest this and that Frank Dane is victimized for it… You know that a morning show is five days a week. In the afternoon you can get away with it, but with radio it works like this: when you get up, you turn on the radio and then you wake up with a kind of friend next to you.”
‘Just can’t!’
It’s a kind of radio ritual, Marcus explains. “And then you don’t switch to another channel and then you stick with that. That is why it is important that you wake up with the same person throughout the working week.”
“Most people are creatures of habit. That’s why the morning show is the only position… If you said yes to that, then you can’t start talking about parental leave after a year. You just can’t do that in a place like that.”
complaining diva
Erik de Zwart thinks Wietze is a complaining diva. “If you think it’s too heavy, just register with the parks service, which is nice and clear. Do you really want to be on the radio? Then you also have to be willing to pay something for it”, he sneezes in the AD. “And besides, Wietze can pick up his children from school every day.”
Media strategist Evert Bronkhorst of Abovo Media: “Now it’s as if that friend suddenly says he doesn’t like you anymore”. I fear that the image is now going wrong, even though he now says that he continues to work fully. Does the listener want to tune in to someone who finds it all too heavy?”
