Ken Bruce: Radio 2 DJ says early BBC exit ‘seems a shame’

DJ Ken Bruce paid tribute to his listeners as he signed off from BBC Radio 2 after more than three decades of hosting the mid-morning show.

The Scottish presenter, 72, is leaving the network to join commercial station Greatest Hits Radio.

Bruce closed Friday’s programme by playing Golden Slumbers by The Beatles.

Quoting the song, he told listeners: “And in the end, the love you take is equal to the love you make – and I have loved being here with you.”

He added: “Thank you so much, and may we meet again somewhere.”

Bruce hosted Radio 2’s weekday mid-morning programme for more than three decades, and had been on BBC radio in some form for 46 years.

He said: “Thank you to everybody who has contributed in any small way to this programme, particularly the listeners.

“I really couldn’t do it without the listeners, who contribute and complete the dialogue. We talk to each other on a daily basis, and I hope sometime in the future we may be able to continue doing that.”

After receiving well wishes throughout the programme, Bruce joked: “Thanks to all who sent any kind of messages of congratulations – or good riddance.”

He will be replaced by Vernon Kay in May, with Gary Davies presenting the 09:30-12:00 programme in the interim.

Bruce posed for photographs outside Radio 2 headquarters Wogan House

In his final message, Bruce also thanked the BBC, commenting: “I’ve been here for a long time, and apart from the occasional vagary, it is still the finest broadcasting organisation in the world.”

His workmates paid tribute to the long-serving presenter, with Jeremy Vine describing him as “the most intelligent, generous and talented colleague” and “the presenter we all want to be like”.

Travel reporter Richie Anderson said he was the “kindest, warmest, friendliest person,” telling him: “Working with you has been a joy.”

Friday’s programme also included the last Radio 2 edition of his hugely popular quiz Popmaster, which Bruce is taking with him to his new station.

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Vernon Kay, pictured with breakfast host Zoe Ball, will begin presenting the mid-morning slot in May

The Glaswegian presenter left his Radio 2 show earlier than anticipated, after the BBC asked him not to complete his contract, a decision he said he was disappointed by.

He told BBC Radio 4’s Today programme: “It’s entirely within the BBC’s right to ask me to step away a little early. But for the sake of 17 days, which was all that was remaining [on my contract], it seems a shame.”

Bruce was originally due to complete his Radio 2 contract on 24 March, but tweeted last week that the BBC had asked him to host the last edition of his show on Friday instead.

Bruce has been a fixture on Radio 2 since the mid-1980s

The presenter confirmed it was his own decision to leave the station, and he was not removed by bosses.

“I’ve gone at my own accord, I wanted to go at this time,” Bruce told BBC News. “I understand the BBC were in the process of preparing an offer for me to continue. But, you know, I’d made my decision before that.”

The BBC said: “Ken decided to leave Radio 2 and it’s always been known he’s leaving in March. Returning to Wogan House [the station’s headquarters] for a week after a month of broadcasting the Piano Room sessions at Maida Vale provided a natural break. We wish Ken all the best for the future.”

Bruce has said his new show would include “all the great records you know and love from the 70s, 80s and 90s”

Bruce’s mid-morning show has been the most popular radio programme in the UK since 2019, having overtaken the breakfast show, which lost listeners after Chris Evans’s departure.

Asked about walking away from such a successful show, Bruce replied: “It’s become the British the biggest programme on British radio, and I don’t want to preside over any decline. I want to walk away while it’s the top thing.”

Bruce announced his departure from Radio 2 in January, describing his time at the station as “tremendously happy” but adding it was “time for a change”.

Former Radio 2 DJ Simon Mayo said Bruce “might have been out the door sooner” than Friday if he had been leaving a commercial station.

“I think what’s surprising is that it [the situation with Ken Bruce still on Radio 2] lingered as long as it did,” he told Roger Bolton’s Beeb Watch.

“If you’re on social media, the Greatest Hits Radio Twitter icon is Ken Bruce. Ken is an advert for Greatest Hits Radio now so I can understand why they might have thought, we need to hasten these things. It’s unfortunate because it does feel messy.”

Upheaval at Radio 2

Radio 2 is currently undergoing a period of significant upheaval, with several presenters leaving the station either by force or by choice.

Bruce, Vanessa Feltz and Graham Norton have been poached by other networks, while Steve Wright was taken off weekday afternoons and replaced with Scott Mills by Radio 2’s controller Helen Thomas.

Meanwhile, Paul O’Grady left the station after being forced to share his Sunday slot with comedian Rob Beckett, while Craig Charles lost his weekend show (but still presents on BBC 6Music).

With its roster of presenters now including Mills, Kay, Jo Whiley, Trevor Nelson, Zoe Ball and Sara Cox, Radio 2’s schedule now resembles that of Radio 1 in the early 2000s.

Although it has always been the case that Radio 1 presenters gravitate towards Radio 2 later in their careers, the exit of so many older DJs from Radio 2 in such a short period of time has upset many long-term listeners.

Bruce arrives at Bauer’s Greatest Hits Radio at a time when the commercial station is positioning itself as an alternative to Radio 2, for older listeners who feel the BBC station no longer caters to them.

Greatest Hits Radio is also home to Mark Goodier and Jackie Brambles, while Mayo hosts its drivetime programme.

Kay, who has previously fronted Channel 4’s youth strand T4 and ITV’s All Star Family Fortunes, as well as programmes on BBC Radio 1 and Radio X, said taking over Bruce’s Radio 2 show was “a dream come true”.

“And what an honour to follow in the footsteps of the mighty Ken Bruce,” he added in a statement. “I’m absolutely over the moon to be handed the microphone.”