The real reason Ken quit? He didn’t want to be an ‘old grump’ pretending to like Radio 2’s edgy new playlist
I was the youngster on the station, and then almost overnight I became the veteran
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 8.3million 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 1.25million. Meanwhile his old Radio 2 slot, now filled by Vernon Kay, lost 1.4million 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.
‘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
‘Had I stayed,I felt I would get bitter and entrenched’
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 say, “No, we tried that, didn’t work”, which does happen. I just felt I would get more bitter and entrenched.’
Glasgow-born 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.
His departure from the BBC ended on a slightly sour note after he was asked to leave before the end of his contract, reportedly because bosses feared he was using his time on air as ‘free advertising’ for his new rival show.
He said he found the decision ‘disappointing’, adding: ‘I thought, “Come on, you can trust me, I’m not going to do a Dave Lee Travis [and] start badmouthing everybody”, because I had a lovely time at the BBC. So it was all a bit... unnecessary. It’s entirely within the BBC’s right to ask me to step away a little early. But for the sake of 17 days, it seems a shame.’
Travis quit Radio 1 while on air in 1993, making critical comments about changes to the station.
But Bruce harbours no lasting ill feelings towards his old employer, calling the BBC ‘the finest broadcasting organisation in the world’.
His programme on Greatest Hits Radio, owned by media giant Bauer, runs from 10am to 1pm on weekdays and includes the PopMaster quiz he created for his Radio 2 show. It was also recently adapted for TV by Channel 4.