Ken Bruce

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Ken Bruce
Ken Bruce.jpg
Bruce presenting BBC Proms in the Park in 2006
Born
Kenneth Robertson Bruce

(1951-02-02) 2 February 1951 (age 70)
Glasgow, Scotland
Years active1978–present
Spouse(s)
Anne Bruce
​
​
(m. 1981⁠–⁠1995)​

Kerith Bruce
​
(m. 2000)​
Children6
Career
ShowWeekday mid-mornings (1986–1990, 1992–present)
Station(s)BBC Radio 2
Time slotWeekdays: 9:30 am – 11:00 am (1986–1990)
9:30 am – 11:30 am (1992–1998)
9:30 am – 12:00 pm (1998–present)
ShowFriday Night Is Music Night
Time slotFridays: 8:00 pm – 10:00 pm
CountryUnited Kingdom
Websitewww.bbc.co.uk/radio2/shows/bruce

Kenneth Robertson Bruce (born 2 February 1951) is a Scottish broadcaster who is best known for hosting his long-running weekday mid-morning show on BBC Radio 2 from 1986 to 1990, and then again since 1992.[1]

Early life and career[]

Bruce was born and raised in Glasgow, Scotland. He attended Hutchesons' Boys' Grammar School, Glasgow, before training as a chartered accountant, Bruce's first job was washing cars. He began his broadcasting career with the Hospital Broadcasting Service in Glasgow.[2]

Bruce became a staff announcer for BBC Radio 4 Scotland and after BBC Radio Scotland launched in November 1978, became one of the original presenters of Nightbeat alongside Iain Purdon. Charles Nove subsequently joined the presentation rota. He also presented a Saturday morning show.

In 1980, he took on the mid-morning slot and then, in 1983, he presented a daily afternoon entertainment show.[3] He hosted his mid-morning show on the BBC World Service in the late 1980s.

Radio 2[]

History[]

His first broadcasts were from Scotland when he took over the presentation of Radio 2 Ballroom from Scotland after the death of BBC Radio Scotland's announcer/presenter of Scottish Dance Music programmes, David Findlay. He presented Radio 2 Ballroom programmes regularly from November 1980 until 1982 featuring Jim MacLeod and His Band mainly from their resident base of Dunblane Hydro Hotel. Bruce does not mention the Radio 2 Ballroom broadcasts much if at all and they don't feature in his autobiography either. He joined Radio 2 more regularly in 1982 as a stand-in presenter, mainly covering for Ray Moore on the Early show. Bruce also presented shows for BBC Radio Scotland from London. Bruce became a regular presenter for Radio 2 in January 1984 when he assumed hosting duties for the Saturday late night show in addition to his continuing show on BBC Radio Scotland.

In January 1985, Bruce left BBC Scotland and took over from Terry Wogan on The Radio 2 Breakfast Show, being replaced himself by Derek Jameson in April 1986. Following Wogan's death in 2016, his tenure of the show became the oldest for a presenter still living. He then began his first stint on the mid-morning show which lasted until the end of March 1990, when he took over the late show until the end of that year. He then hosted the early show throughout 1991, and on 6 January 1992 he returned to the mid-morning slot,[4] where he remains today. As of 14 January 2019, Bruce follows Zoe Ball at 9:30 am and is followed by Jeremy Vine at 12 noon.[5] On Thursday 1 August 2019 it was announced that his show had become the most popular radio programme in the UK, with 8.49m daily listeners, following a fall in the popularity of Zoe Ball's breakfast show.[6]

Programme format and features[]

Bruce's show emphasises music, including regular live performances. Competitions are usually music-based, with a love song and dedications feature at 10:15 am. A music news slot with (usually) Matt Everitt appears at about 11:10 am on Thursdays. Other regular features include the Record of the Week and the Album of the Week[7] and the Tracks of My Years, where a celebrity picks two songs each day for their particular meaning. The Love Song is played at 10:15 am each day, preceded by dedications, although a number of songs in the rotation are not romantic love songs (e.g. "At Seventeen" by Janis Ian, "The Greatest Love of All" by George Benson).

As a result of health restrictions imposed due to Covid-19, from 23 March 2020 to 31 May 2021, Bruce presented his show from his home as he had to self-isolate. This resulted in a few amusing incidents such as the dog barking at the postman and his answering machine going off on air. He will return to Wogan House on 1 June 2021.

The show also includes a daily quiz, PopMaster. It previously included other competitions such as Spin It to Win It and Words Don't Come Easily, although these were dropped in 2007 over possible abuse of phone-ins (despite no allegation of impropriety against Radio 2). PopMaster returned to Bruce's show in January 2008 with new jingles and a modified selection procedure where listeners had to register first and if successful the production team would call back. Due to Covid-19 restrictions, contestants are currently required to email the BBC rather than telephone.

Bruce maintains a bantering relationship with the traffic presenter (Richie Anderson since January 2019, previously Lynn Bowles and Rachel Horne), whereby the two tease each other and respond to listeners' comments. Such comments are read throughout the programme, generally on a theme of the day, such as a news story.[citation needed]

Although the programme's playlist is almost exclusively rock, pop and soul from the 1960s onwards, until early 2008 its Radio Data System flag identified it as programme type 12, "M.O.R." It is now identified as programme type 10, "Pop music". From its beginning in 1992 until 15 May 1998, the show was two hours long, running from 9:30 to 11:30am. From and since 25 May 1998, the show was extended by 30 minutes, ending at 12:00pm.[citation needed]

Stand-in presenters have included Richard Allinson, Simon Mayo, Aled Jones, Zoe Ball, Michael Ball, Claudia Winkleman, Fearne Cotton, Trevor Nelson and Gary Davies.

The comedian and impressionist Rob Brydon, who is noted for his mimicry of Bruce, sat in for him on 25 August 2008 and again as an April fool prank in 2011 when Brydon impersonated Bruce throughout.[8] Bruce took his first day off sick in 23 years on 10 September 2008.[citation needed] On that occasion, the show was presented by Richard Allinson.

In 2013, the audience for the Ken Bruce Show reached a record 8.17 million. This was surpassed in 2019, as it became the most popular radio programme in the UK, with 8.49m weekly listeners.[9] In 2021, he was named as 'Britain’s favourite radio presenter' in a survey carried out by digital radio manufacturer Pure, coming in front of Roman Kemp and Zoe Ball (in second and third place).[10]

PopMaster[]

Main article: PopMaster

PopMaster has run as a feature of Bruce's show since 16 February 1998. With questions set by music expert Phil Swern, it offers a DAB radio for successfully completing the 3 in 10 bonus round. If the listener fails, they are awarded a Bluetooth speaker (replacing the previous consolation prize of an mp3 player). An earlier consolation prize, a 'Space' radio, has been known to appear on eBay, to Bruce's amusement. The losing contestant is given a T-shirt with 'One Year Out' printed across the front (a catchphrase Bruce uses in the quiz when a contestant trying to place the year a song was in the charts is out by one year). This 'prize' replaced a CD wallet as of 27 February 2012.

The public phone-in PopMaster quiz was suspended after airing on 18 July 2007. A celebrity version was quickly introduced on 20 July 2007, and continued until 18 January 2008. "3 in 10" was not played in the celebrity version and there was no tie-breaker in the event of a draw. It was rumoured that members of the public would be able to play again before Christmas 2007, however this did not happen.[11][12] Following an announcement by Bruce on 7 January 2008, the normal format returned on 21 January 2008.[13] The game returned with new dramatic, orchestral and guitar based jingles.

Bruce himself was a Popmaster contestant during his show on 17 May 2013, when he took part in a special Eurovision edition of the quiz, live from Malmo, Sweden. Bruce competed against Paddy O'Connell with John Kennedy O'Connor chairing the quiz.[citation needed]

Notable events[]

While Bruce was on holiday in August 2007, he was briefly replaced by Davina McCall. This attracted more than 150 complaints from listeners.[14]

During his show on 21 April 2008, theatre producer Bill Kenwright told Bruce that Elvis Presley once visited London in 1958 and was taken on a tour of the city by Tommy Steele.[15][16][17] It was believed that Presley had never visited England and the claim caused considerable controversy.[18]

In December 2008, a crew of fishermen listeners were inadvertently relaying the show to every ship and coastguard station for miles around. It was not possible to contact the vessel, so a request was made to Bruce, who duly said: "If you are on a ship near the Small rocks, please turn me off."[19]

Soon after, while duetting with Steve Wright's 'Ask Elvis' (a.k.a. Mitch Benn), Bruce recorded a version of the Andy Stewart song “Donald, Where’s yer Troosers?” for the Bandaged CD to raise money for the charity BBC Children in Need. This was released as a download.[20]

In December 2008, Bruce was officially inducted into the Radio Academy Hall of Fame.[21]

On April Fools' Day 2011, Bruce's radio show was presented by comedian Rob Brydon impersonating Bruce throughout. Brydon interviewed "Sir Terry Wogan" (impersonated by Peter Serafinowicz), and Bruce himself appeared at the end of the show as his "brother Kenn with two Ns".[22][23]

During the early stages of the Covid-19 pandemic, Bruce was forced to broadcast his mid morning show from his own home, commencing in March 2020, as the BBC wanted to decrease the amount of broadcasting staff working in their premises, and also to protect older presenters.

Bruce has spoken about working from home to the BBC website, he said - "We get a lot more people just asking for a simple hello or a mention for relatives just because they are not seeing them as much as they could. Particularly working from home I sympathise with that, because there are lots of people I’m not seeing. We are all kind of feeling we are in this together, so it has brought broadcaster and listener rather closer together. It has made us have to be a little bit more creative with what we include in the programme. We do a lot more saying thank you to people who are keeping our essentials services going, and we are also giving people ideas of things to do while they are in lockdown".[24]

Bruce returned to broadcasting from Wogan House in the early summer of 2021.[24][25]

Other appearances[]

Bruce has presented BBC Proms in the Park for many years.[26] Since 1988, he has been Radio 2's commentator for the Eurovision Song Contest, having taken over from fellow broadcaster and friend Ray Moore. In 1998, he shared this role with being UK spokesman for that year's contest, reading out the points for the UK telephone vote, taking it over from Colin Berry, who then returned the following year.[27] and presented the Eurovision Song Contest Previews from 1989 to 1991 on BBC1. He is a regular presenter of the long-running Friday Night is Music Night.[28]

He occasionally makes appearances in the "Dictionary Corner" on Channel 4's Countdown, the latest during the week of 11 February 2013.[29] When the original presenter Richard Whiteley died in 2005, Bruce said: "[he was] such a nice man – that was the defining quality of him, a genuinely nice man. And he had no real ego."[30]

In November 2007, he appeared on a Never Mind the Buzzcocks special for Children in Need.[31]

Bruce holds a PCV (Passenger Carrying Vehicle) driving licence and is the co-owner of a number of AEC Routemaster buses with Charles Nove, Alan Dedicoat and Steve Madden. He has referred to the buses as "a fantastic piece of engineering and such fun to have".[32]

On 3 March 2008, Bruce took part in Ready, Steady, Cook, broadcast on BBC Two with Lynn Bowles.[33]

Bruce and Bowles recorded Bring Me Sunshine for charity.[citation needed]

On 30 December 2012, Bruce won an edition of Celebrity Mastermind with his specialist subject being the Jeeves novels of P.G. Wodehouse.

In 2014, Bruce narrated the BBC One game show Reflex. On 4 October 2014, he took part in a celebrity episode of The Chase.[34] Bruce featured with his son Charlie on the fifth series of Big Star's Little Star and in October 2018, he appeared as a cameo on Hollyoaks.[35]

Personal life[]

Bruce has four sons and two daughters. His youngest son was born in February 2008. He lives with his third wife Kerith near Thame in Oxfordshire.[36][37] One of his sons is autistic[38] and Bruce is an active charity campaigner for autism.[39][40]

Bruce is a fan of Rangers Football Club, and occasionally remarks on their fortunes during his show.[citation needed]

His autobiography was published on 4 September 2009, entitled The Tracks of My Years: The Autobiography.[41]

In September 2018, Bruce became the patron of Stoke Mandeville Hospital Radio, replacing former mayor of Aylesbury and long-standing patron and co-founder of the station, Freda Roberts MBE JP. Ken said "Hospital Radio continues to thrive and I am delighted to take on the role of patron."[42][43]

References[]

  1. ^ Staff (1 June 2012). "Ken Bruce Home". BBC Radio. BBC. Archived from the original on 26 May 2012. Retrieved 2 June 2012.
  2. ^ "The Hospital Broadcasting Service Former Members". The Hospital Broadcasting Service. Archived from the original on 6 February 2009. Retrieved 4 January 2010.
  3. ^ "BBC Biography". BBC. Archived from the original on 21 January 2009. Retrieved 4 January 2010.
  4. ^ "Ken Bruce BBC Radio 2, 6 January 1992 9.30". BBC Genome. No. 3549. 2 January 1992. p. 90.
  5. ^ Staff (1 June 2012). "BBC Radio 2 Schedule for Friday 1 June 2012". BBC Radio. BBC. Archived from the original on 30 May 2012. Retrieved 2 June 2012.
  6. ^ Staff (1 August 2019). "Zoe Ball loses 780,000 listeners from BBC Radio 2 breakfast show". BBC News. BBC.
  7. ^ "Latest Records of the Week". BBC. Archived from the original on 18 July 2008. Retrieved 4 January 2010.
  8. ^ "Rob Brydon impersonates Radio 2's Ken Bruce". BBC News. 1 April 2011. Archived from the original on 29 April 2014. Retrieved 23 December 2014.
  9. ^ Methven, Nicola (10 May 2013). "Ken Bruce signs up to Radio 2 for another three years". Daily Mirror. Archived from the original on 29 March 2014. Retrieved 8 May 2014.
  10. ^ "Ken Bruce named as Britain's favourite radio presenter". 15 February 2021.
  11. ^ Dowell, Ben (22 November 2007). "BBC phone-in contests return – with new rules". The Guardian. London. Archived from the original on 6 October 2014. Retrieved 4 January 2010.
  12. ^ "Phone-ins to resume after scandals". Petersfield Post. Archived from the original on 7 February 2009. Retrieved 4 January 2010.
  13. ^ Mahoney, Elisabeth (22 January 2008). "Radio Review". The Guardian. London. Archived from the original on 6 October 2014. Retrieved 4 January 2010.
  14. ^ "Listeners turned off by DJ Davina". BBC News Online. 25 August 2007. Retrieved 4 January 2010.
  15. ^ Schmidt, Veronica (22 April 2008). "Elvis Presley made a secret visit to England". Times Online. London. Archived from the original on 17 May 2011.
  16. ^ "Elvis's secret UK visit revealed". BBC News Online. 22 April 2008. Retrieved 7 May 2010.
  17. ^ MacInnes, Paul (22 April 2008). "When Elvis came to London". The Guardian. Retrieved 4 January 2010.
  18. ^ Youngs, Ian (1 May 2008). "Elvis friends dispute London trip". BBC News Online. Archived from the original on 11 January 2009. Retrieved 4 January 2010.
  19. ^ "Radio 2 presenter Ken Bruce saves fisherman". The Daily Telegraph. London. 16 December 2008. Archived from the original on 29 January 2009. Retrieved 4 January 2010.
  20. ^ "Bandaged, Children In Need CD Released". The Storys. Archived from the original on 15 July 2011. Retrieved 4 January 2010.
  21. ^ "Hall of Fame". The Radio Academy. Archived from the original on 8 December 2011. Retrieved 8 May 2014.
  22. ^ "Rob Brydon impersonates Radio 2's Ken Bruce" Archived 29 April 2014 at the Wayback Machine, BBC News, retrieved 1 April 2011
  23. ^ "Rob Brydon fools Ken Bruce's Radio 2 fans" Archived 3 April 2015 at the Wayback Machine, The Independent, retrieved 1 April 2011
  24. ^ Jump up to: a b "Broadcasting on Radio 2 during lockdown". BBC. Retrieved 26 May 2021.
  25. ^ Ken Bruce [@kenbrucepopmaster] (23 March 2020). "Bruce Towers home studio ready to go @bbcradio2 @bbcsounds #popmaster #music #radio" – via Instagram.
  26. ^ "Ken Bruce profile". Radio Rewind. Archived from the original on 4 February 2009. Retrieved 4 January 2010.
  27. ^ "Ask Ken Bruce transcript". BBC talk. Archived from the original on 10 January 2005. Retrieved 4 January 2010.
  28. ^ "Friday Night is Music Night". BBC. Archived from the original on 20 April 2009. Retrieved 4 January 2010.
  29. ^ "Countdown: Celebrities". Ask Oxford. Archived from the original on 23 October 2007. Retrieved 4 January 2010.
  30. ^ "Ken Bruce quotes". Saidwhat.co.uk. Archived from the original on 7 February 2009. Retrieved 4 January 2010.
  31. ^ "Never Mind the Buzzcocks appearance record". Episodeworld.com. Archived from the original on 8 February 2009. Retrieved 4 January 2010.
  32. ^ "I Love Routemasters". BBC. Archived from the original on 23 October 2008. Retrieved 4 January 2010.
  33. ^ "Episode 16". BBC. Archived from the original on 29 June 2009. Retrieved 4 January 2010.
  34. ^ "The Chase Celebrity Special". TV Maze. Retrieved 21 January 2019.
  35. ^ "Hollyoaks storm week to feature Piers Morgan and Carol Kirkwood cameos". Radio Times. 18 October 2018. Retrieved 25 October 2018.
  36. ^ "BRUCE, Kenneth Robertson". Debrett's People of Today 2006. Retrieved 15 December 2007.[dead link]
  37. ^ "Biography". IMDB. Archived from the original on 29 March 2015. Retrieved 4 January 2010.
  38. ^ "Radio 2 DJ Ken Bruce opens his heart about raising son with autism". 6 September 2009. Archived from the original on 6 October 2014. Retrieved 28 September 2014.
  39. ^ "Archived copy". Archived from the original on 6 October 2014. Retrieved 28 September 2014.CS1 maint: archived copy as title (link)
  40. ^ "Archived copy". Archived from the original on 6 October 2014. Retrieved 28 September 2014.CS1 maint: archived copy as title (link)
  41. ^ The Tracks of My Years: The Autobiography. ASIN 0283070692.
  42. ^ Martin, Roy (24 September 2018). "Ken Bruce supports Stoke Mandeville Hospital Radio". Radio Today. Retrieved 26 September 2018.
  43. ^ "We are excited to announce that from today Ken Bruce is to become patron of Stoke Mandeville Hospital Radio". Twitter. 14 September 2018. Retrieved 26 September 2018.

External links[]

Media offices
Preceded by
Terry Wogan 		BBC Radio 2
Breakfast Show Presenter
1985-1986 		Succeeded by
Derek Jameson
Retrieved from ""