Ken Bruce promises golden oldies when he joins Greatest Hits Radio after row over BBC Radio 2 axing classics

© Provided by The i Ken Bruce promised listeners to his new Greatest Hits Radio station show they would hear the ‘songs you know and love’ (Photo: Dave J Hogan/PA)

Ken Bruce promised listeners he will play 70s classics when he launches his new show at a commercial rival after sensationally quitting BBC Radio 2, which has been accused of chasing younger listeners.

In a devastating blow to BBC bosses, Bruce, Britain’s most popular DJ with 8.5 million listeners, announced live on air that he was leaving the corporation after 45 years.

The 71 year-old said that from April, he will move to Greatest Hits Radio (GHR), run by media company Bauer, where he will present a new mid-morning show.

Calling GHR “the perfect place for me”, Bruce is taking with him Popmaster, the daily quiz which is a highlight of his Radio 2 show.

Bruce joins a Radio 2 exodus which began with Chris Evans’s departure for Virgin Radio in 2019 and now includes Vanessa Feltz, Simon Mayo, Paul O’Grady, Craig Charles and Graham Norton.

Steve Wright’s long-running afternoon show was axed after 23 years last September. “It’s the end of Radio 2 as we know it,” said one insider.

Listeners, who took to social media to express their shock at Bruce’s exit, have also rebelled against Radio 2’s evolving music policy.

Fans of Wright say his successor, Scott Mills, is playing fewer hits from the 60s and 70s, in favour of more recent dance music.

Insiders fear Radio 2 is seeking to lure “30-something mums who go clubbing in Ibiza” from rival stations at the expense of older listeners.

Bruce promised fans who abandon Radio 2 for his new GHR show that they would hear “all the great records you know and love from the 70s, 80s and 90s.”

Bauer is believed to have offered Bruce a multi-year contract to jump ship, whereas the BBC was only willing to grant a one-year extension to his £390,000 deal.

Bruce joins ex-BBC stars Simon Mayo and Jackie Brambles in a GHR line-up which will directly target older listeners disillusioned with Radio 2’s shift to seek a younger audience.

Boom Radio, a new station aimed at Radio 2’s baby-boomer audience, staffed by veteran DJs such as David Hamilton, already claims 336,000 listeners.

Helen Thomas, Head of Radio 2, said of its musical selections: “We are told by listeners that just because they are a certain age, it doesn’t mean they don’t want to hear new music.”

Presenters tipped to take over Bruce’s plum Radio 2 slot include Gary Davies, Rylan Clark and Dermot O’Leary. Zoe Ball or Sara Cox could move from their current slots to take on Bruce’s mantle.

Bruce, also Radio 2’s voice of Eurovision since 1988, told listeners: “I’ll reach the end of my current contract in March, and so at that point I will be moving on from Radio 2. Nothing stays the same for ever.”

“I have been here for quite a long time now, and it possibly is time to move over and let somebody else have a go.”

Lorna Clarke, director of BBC Music, said Bruce had been “part of every significant occasion marked by BBC Radio 2 and we, his faithful audience and the Radio 2 all-star line-up will miss his warm humour and wit. Congratulations on a brilliant career.”

Bruce joined the BBC in 1977 as a BBC Radio Scotland staff presenter. His first regular slot on Radio 2 was the Saturday Late Show in 1984, and the following year he fronted the Radio 2 Breakfast Show, taking over from Terry Wogan.

He moved to mid mornings in 1986, then after a brief stint on late nights and early mornings, he returned to mid mornings in January 1992.