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Stephen Nolan involved in Twitter row with William Crawley over BBC salary

Radio Ulster Talkback presenter William Crawley
Radio Ulster Talkback presenter William Crawley Radio Ulster Talkback presenter William Crawley

BROADCASTER Stephen Nolan was involved in a Twitter spat with fellow BBC radio host William Crawley today after refusing to answer questions about his salary which was revealed to be between £400,000 and £449,999.

Nolan turned down an offer from Crawley to appear on his Radio Ulster Talkback programme, claiming he wanted to "speak on the most listened to show in NI" - his own morning radio programme.

The Radio Ulster and Radio Five Live presenter said he would be quizzed on his own Radio Ulster morning show today.

He told listeners on his show today he would not have advance sight of the questions that will be asked.

He also said he was inviting an "independent" interviewer to ask the questions to ensure he was fully scrutinised and also promised to field callers' questions on his salary.

"I will be as accountable to all of you as we do every other day with other people," he said.

But the broadcaster became involved in a Twitter row after Crawley tweeted: "Stephen Nolan has turned down an invitation from BBC Talkback to be interviewed on today's programme about BBC salaries."

Nolan referred to the tweet during his show but teased Talkback about the size of its audience.

"What I actually said to William is, I think it is really important for the maximum amount of people to have a chance to listen to someone interviewing me, and I think it is therefore important not to go on the smaller phone-in show but to go on the show which has the bigger audience," Nolan told his listeners.

In response, Crawley tweeted: "I well understand that Stephen Nolan would prefer to manage a story about himself on his own show rather than face me in an interview today".

But Nolan hit back again and later tweeted it was "important that I speak on the most listened to show in NI".