Ken Bruce reveals the real reason he quit BBC Radio 2 as he hits out at BBC bosses
KEN Bruce has revealed the real reason he quit BBC Radio 2 after three decades on the station.
The veteran broadcaster was pulling in 8.3 million listeners to his mid-morning show until he made the decision to leave for rival station Greatest Hits Radio.
When Ken announced his departure earlier this year, he claimed he felt 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 the real reason he decided to jump ship before he started to become "bitter and entrenched".
Speaking to Gyles Brandreth for his new podcast series Rosebud, 72-year-old Ken said: “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."
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He 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?”
‘" 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."
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Bruce also spoke about how his move to Greatest Hits Radio had given him a new lease of life.
"I do feel that it’s rejuvenated me to a certain extent. I loved working for the BBC," he said. "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 departure from the BBC ended on a bad didn't end smoothly after bosses asked him to leave before the end of his contract over fears that he was using his remaining time on air to advertise his new 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."
