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A Radio Host Took a Pay Cut After Finding Out His Female Co-Host Made Less
Two radio hosts in Australia named Dave Hughes and Kate Langbroek host a show called "Hughesy and Kate". They've been co-hosting together since 2001. And earlier this year, Dave found out he was making A LOT more than she was.
Kate found out LAST year that he was making 40 PERCENT more. So she demanded a pay bump from their station to make it equal, and got one. She finally told Dave about it this past March on International Women's Day. He had no idea and felt awful.
But their contracts for THIS year were already locked in. And the station wouldn't give Kate more money. So Dave offered to take a PAY CUT to make it happen.
They talked about it on the air this week. Dave got on Twitter afterward and said he doesn't want people thinking he's a TOTAL angel. He wanted to be fair. But he also knew Kate would quit if he didn't do something. And he didn't want that to happen.
They're moving to a new station next year, and they negotiated their contracts together this time. He wants to make sure they ALWAYS get paid the same from now on.
Some people online have argued that equal pay doesn't ALWAYS make sense. Like if he had more experience or a bigger following, it might be okay for him to make more.
But they've been doing the same show together for 16 years. And she's actually five years OLDER than he is. So most people agree he did the right thing.