Moyles' rise to £630,0000

Radio 1 Breakfast show DJ Chris Moyles earns more than double his nearest rival at the station.

The 32-year-old presenter from Leeds has reportedly negotiated a substantial pay rise with his BBC bosses, increasing his salary to £630,000 a year.

The deal means Moyles - who presents five three-hour shows a week - pockets £15 of taxpayers' money for every minute he is on air.

The next highest paid presenter at Radio 1 is former DJ of the Year Jo Whiley, who earns £250,000 a year followed by Sara Cox on £200,000.

Industry insiders say the deal could anger his colleagues.

One said: "Chris is a huge talent and is credited for increasing the Radio 1 audience share. But I think people will be surprised to hear he's paid so much more than the others. There's a huge chasm in the pay scale which isn't really justified."

Among those who could feel hard-done-by are Edith Bowman, said to be on £175,000 a year, Colin Murray on £170,000 and Scott Mills and Zane Lowe both said to be on nearly £130,000.

At the bottom of the pay scale is dance music DJ Pete Tong, paid £70,000 a year by the BBC. However, the housemusic aficionado can command fees of up to £10,000 a night as a club DJ.

Since he started the job in 2004, Moyles, the self-styled "saviour of early morning radio" has added 1.5 million listeners, taking the total to 6.7 million - still behind Terry Wogan on Radio 2.

In February, Moyles escaped a formal reprimand from the BBC for telling a caller on air that her children were "f***ing brats" who were making too much noise.

Last year, when listening figures were released, he said: "I'm doing f***ing brilliant. If I was good-looking I'd be all over the papers."