A friend and I went out on a random Monday or Tuesday and ran into Jacques Doucet. This was right when he started in BR. He was out on the prowl and asked us to show him some spots where some girls would be hanging out. We leave the bar where we met and he says he’ll drive.

He brings us to his late 80’s or early 90’s busted up GMC pickup truck.

Not having actually seen him on tv yet, my friend doesn’t believe he’s on tv and thinks he’s bullshiteting us. He tells us “I’m a sports reporter in Baton Rouge, how much do you think I fricking make!?” Good enough for us. We went with him and he was actually a pretty cool dude.

A few days later we see him on tv.


So, short answer. Not that much.

225 Magazine ran an article in 2009 about the BR TV news market getting pinched by internet and podcasts.

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Money is tight, and competition is stiff. Entry-level reporters in the market make as little as $20,000 a year, and turnover is high.

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LINK

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A few conglomerates started buying up all the small markets and killing big contracts. That’s why you see main anchors in their 20s now and they’re probably making about $40-45k. It happened at the station I used to work at, market 100. We had some established anchors making 6 figures and one day corporate said we’re not renewing your contract and they were gone a week later. Replaced by kids just a few years out of college.

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Exactly what happened to a friend of mine from college. She had been at the same station for over 20 years and had put roots down in the town. She had no aspirations to get into a bigger market. Got replaced with a younger girl fresh out of college.

Funny how when George Sells was canned in Detroit he still made decent money in BTR in the 1990s.