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Why Did Ken Bruce Leave Radio 2?
Former Radio 2 presenter Ken Bruce has spoken for the first time about the real reasons he quit the station, saying he disliked some of the new music he was forced to play and feared being seen as a ‘grumpy old man’ by younger colleagues.
The veteran broadcaster was pulling in 8.3 million listeners to his BBC programme until he left in March for commercial rival Greatest Hits Radio, where he has increased the mid-morning audience by more than 1.25 million.
Meanwhile, his old Radio 2 slot, now filled by Vernon Kay, lost 1.4 million listeners in its first three months without him.
Previously, the 72-year-old said he left the BBC after three decades in the same slot because it was ‘time for a change’ and it felt ‘like the natural culmination of some planning I’ve been doing’.
But now he has revealed he decided to jump ship before he started to become ‘bitter and entrenched’, saying: ‘It was a long time and I thought I’m doing the same thing every day.
Ken Bruce said he was worried he would be seen as a ‘grumpy old man’. Pictured, portrait of radio host Ken Bruce in the studio, photographed for Radio Times on January 1984
‘There was a point of saying that I can’t enthuse over all the new music I’m having to play as much as I could over the old music.
And I didn’t want to get to the stage where I was badmouthing some of the music [or] pretending to like it.’ The father of six elaborated: ‘I certainly did think I’ve got a bit more to offer.
I didn’t want to be declining over the next three or four years and still doing the same show, but everybody around me getting younger and thinking, “Am I the old bloke in the corner here?”
‘I was the youngster on the station and then almost overnight I became the veteran, and I didn’t want to become the old grump in the corner saying “things aren’t what they used to be”, or [to] any new idea says,
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“No, we tried that, didn’t work”, which does happen. I just felt I would get more bitter and entrenched.’
Bruce said the switch to Greatest Hits Radio had given him a new lease of life, insisting: ‘I do feel that it’s rejuvenated me to a certain extent.
I loved working for the BBC. I think it’s a great institution. But maybe for the last couple of years I can’t be blamed for just trying something else.’ His comments come on a forthcoming episode of Gyles Brandreth’s podcast series Rosebud, which started on Friday.
Bruce also told Brandreth he never sees himself retiring and intends to continue broadcasting until he is physically unable or is sacked.
Radio legend Ken Bruce said the switch to Greatest Hits Radio had given him a new lease of life
Undated handout image issued by Greatest Hits Radio of Ken Bruce’s Secret 60s, playing the ‘most iconic songs and legendary singers’ of the decade
Bruce said the switch to Greatest Hits Radio had given him a new lease of life, insisting: ‘I do feel that it’s rejuvenated me to a certain extent. I loved working for the BBC. I think it’s a great institution.
But maybe for the last couple of years I can’t be blamed for just trying something else.’ His comments come on a forthcoming episode of Gyles Brandreth’s podcast series Rosebud, which started on Friday.
Bruce also told Brandreth he never sees himself retiring and intends to continue broadcasting until he is physically unable or is sacked.
Bruce said the switch to Greatest Hits Radio had given him a new lease of life, insisting: ‘I do feel that it’s rejuvenated me to a certain extent.
I loved working for the BBC. I think it’s a great institution. But maybe for the last couple of years I can’t be blamed for just trying something else.’ His comments come on a forthcoming episode of Gyles Brandreth’s podcast series Rosebud, which started on Friday.
Bruce also told Brandreth he never sees himself retiring and intends to continue broadcasting until he is physically unable or is sacked.
