Ken Bruce has taken aim at his former employer, claiming that the BBC has killed off shows by trying to bring in younger audiences.
The veteran radio presenter hosted his mid-morning show on BBC Radio 2 for 31 years before leaving in 2023 to join rival Greatest Hits Radio.
Speaking to The Telegraph, Bruce spoke about how listeners of his Greatest Hits Radio show tend to be between the ages of 40 and 70 and the station isn’t going out of its way to attract the Millennial, Gen Z or Generation Alpha generations – unlike his ex colleagues at the BBC.
“You see it at the BBC all the time. They have a successful show, and they say, ‘Let’s get [younger]…’ I give you the example of A Question of Sport, I’ll leave it at that,” he said.
However, the presenter quickly added: “That was a great show, and now I don’t think it exists anymore, because they tried to renew it to appeal to younger viewers, and they weren’t there.
“So, yeah, I think what we do is we know who we’re talking to, we know what they want to hear, and we deliver that.”
The BBC axed A Question of Sport in 2023 after 53 years on air, stating at the time that it was due to “inflation and funding challenges”. The Independent has approached the BBC for comment.
Bruce added that he’s not missing the annual BBC pay-list headlines that were “the most annoying thing” for him.
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“I enjoy being on this station, where I think the scrutiny is slightly less than it is at the BBC,” he said.
The BBC’s annual list of its highest earning talent was released yesterday – with ex Radio 2 presenter Scott Mills being revealed as the corporation’s most-paid presenter until his sacking in March.
Mills, 53, earned between £745,000 and £749,999 for the year ending in March 2026 – a £400,000 pay rise from last year’s list.
The BBC announced in March that he had been fired from the broadcaster, with it emerging shortly afterwards that the Metropolitan Police had launched an investigation into him in 2016 over allegations of serious sexual offences involving a boy aged under 16 between 1997 and 2000. The case was eventually dropped and charges were not brought.
Bruce’s last appeared on the list in 2023, making it into the top 10 with a salary of £395,000. He left the BBC that year to join Greatest Hits Radio, taking his hit quiz format PopMaster with him.
He joined Simon Mayo, who had ditched the BBC to join the station two years earlier. Meanwhile, last month, Zoe Ball announced her new weekday radio show on the station after leaving the Radio 2 Breakfast Show in 2024.
