Ross earns £56 a minute

Jonathan Ross earns more than half a million pounds for presenting his weekly three-hour Radio 2 show - the equivalent of £56.62 a minute.

The 45-year-old is paid £530,000 for his Saturday lunchtime show, which pulls in 3.4 million listeners on the BBC station.

Presenters of other high-rating shows on Radio 2 are earning more than £3 million, with Sir Terry Wogan topping the list at £800,000 a year.

But he presents five two-hour daily shows in the breakfast slot, meaning the 67-year-old earns £25.64 a minute while on air.

Chris Evans, 40, is being paid £540,000 to take over Johnny Walker's drive-time show, which he starts today. Hosting the two-hour slot from Monday to Friday earns him £9 a minute.

Steve Wright, 51, is paid £440,000 for five three-hour shows a week with an audience of 6.5 million. He added 270,000 listeners in the latest official figures, but his pay works out at £8.30 minute.

Weeknight presenter Mark Radcliffe earns £197,000 for his show from 10.30pm and Ken Bruce is paid £194,000 for his daily morning programme. Night time presenter Janice Long receives £137,000 and Michael Parkinson gets £115,000 for his Sunday show.

Bob Harris, who presents three different shows on the award-winning station, is paid just £96,000.

Recently it was revealed that Radio 1 breakfast show host Chris Moyles was being paid £630,000 a year for his daily show, dwarfing other DJs on the station - including Jo Wiley (£250,000) and Scott Mills (£130,000).

Commenting on the Radio 2 salaries, a BBC insider said: "The range in the amounts paid to the DJs is astonishing. Obviously, Wogan should get the most. He's on five days a week and gets the biggest audience, so it stands to reason.

"But Jonathan Ross does very well indeed considering he is only on for three hours a week compared to Wogan's 10. The pay scales don't seem particularly fair."

Sir Terry took over the Radio 2 breakfast slot in 1993 when his BBC 1 chat show was axed. He still hosts Children In Need and the Eurovision Song Contest for BBC television.

Radio 2 is now the biggest station in the country with an average of 13.25 million listeners, compared with Radio 1's 10.29 million, according to the industry body Rajar.