Ken Bruce

Kenneth Robertson Bruce (born 2 February 1951) is a Scottish radio and television presenter.

Bruce was born and raised in Glasgow where he attended Hutchesons' Boys' Grammar School before training and working as a chartered accountant for a couple of years, His next job was washing cars and began his broadcasting career with the Hospital Broadcasting Service in Glasgow in the early 1970s.

In 1977 Bruce became a staff announcer for BBC Radio 4 Scotland and a TV continuity announcer for BBC One Scotland and BBC Two Scotland.

Following the launch of BBC Radio Scotland in November 1978, he 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.

He hosted his mid-morning show on the BBC World Service in the late 1980s.

Bruce's first broadcasts were from Scotland when he took over the presentation of Radio 2 Ballroom from Scotland after the death of Radio Scotland's announcer/presenter of Scottish Dance Music programmes, David Findlay.

He presented Radio 2 Ballroom programmes regularly from November 1980 until 1982.

He became a stand-in presenter on Radio 2, mainly covering for Ray Moore on the Early show.

Bruce also presented shows for 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 Radio Scotland.

In January 1985, Bruce left Radio Scotland and took over from Terry Wogan on The Radio 2 Breakfast Show, being replaced himself by Derek Jameson in April 1986.

He hosted a weekday mid-morning show on BBC Radio 2 between 1986 and 2023.

In April 2023 Bruce joined commercial station Greatest Hits Radio.

In the 2023 Birthday Honours he was appointed a Member of the Order of the British Empire (MBE) for services to radio, to autism awareness and to charity.

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.

Bruce announced on 17 January 2023 that he would be leaving BBC Radio 2 in March of that year to pursue other opportunities outside the BBC, including hosting a new mid-morning show for Greatest Hits Radio, replacing Mark Goodier (who moves to weekends).

Bruce presented his final Radio 2 show on 3 March.

His final track played was "Golden Slumbers"/"Carry That Weight"/"The End" by the Beatles.

Bruce's show emphasises music, and on Radio 2 he included regular live performances.

Competitions have usually been music-based, with a love song and dedications feature at 10:15 am on the previous Radio 2 show.

Other regular features previously included the Record of the Week and the Album of the Week and the Tracks of My Years, where a celebrity picked two songs each day for their particular meaning.

The Love Song was previously played at 10:15 am each day, preceded by dedications, although a number of songs in the rotation are not romantic love songs.

The show also includes a daily quiz, 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 smart speaker for successfully completing the Three-in-Ten bonus round.

If the listener fails, they are awarded a set of Bluetooth headphones (replacing the previous consolation prizes of a Bluetooth speaker, and before that 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).

It previously included other competitions such as Spin It to Win It and Words Don't Come Easily, although these were dropped in 2007 following the phone-in scandal.

The public phone-in PopMaster quiz was suspended after airing on 18 July 2007.

It was rumoured that members of the public would be able to play again before Christmas 2007 but this did not happen.

PopMaster returned in early 2008, although the other competitions did not.

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.

A celebrity version was introduced on 20 July and continued until 18 January 2008.

"Three-in-Ten" was not held in the celebrity version and there was no tie breaker in the event of a draw.

This consolation prize replaced a CD wallet as of 27 February 2012.