Kenneth Robertson Bruce (born 2 February 1951 in Glasgow, Scotland) is a veteran British broadcaster best-known for his mid-morning programme on BBC Radio 2, which is broadcast on weekdays from 9:30 am until 12 pm. In recent years he has become a cult figure among the 18-30s generation.

Early life and career

Ken attended Hutchesons' Boys Grammar School, Glasgow, before training to be a chartered accountant. He began his broadcasting career with the Hospital Broadcasting Service in Glasgow, and went on to become a staff announcer for BBC Radio Scotland. He later took on his own daily afternoon show for the station and was also involved in a wide range of current affairs programmes.

Radio 2

History

Ken has presented a number of different shows on BBC Radio 2 since he joined the network, including the Breakfast show (January 1985 - March 1986), the Monday - Thursday late night slot (April 1990 - January 1991), and the early morning show (January 1991 - 1992). He has been in his current mid-morning slot since early 1992, following Terry Wogan at 9:30 am and handing over to Jeremy Vine at noon.

In April 2006, the Daily Telegraph newspaper reported that Bruce received a salary of £194,000 for presenting his radio show.

Programme format and features

Emphasis on Bruce's show is music. There are regularly live performances broadcast on air. Each week, a celebrity chooses ten of the "tracks of their years" - two being played and commented upon at around 11:40 am each day. Competitions are usually music-based and a love song and dedications feature at around 10:15 am. A music news slot with Julie Cullen (Mark Sutherland would do alternate weeks until he left the BBC for Billboard music magazine) appears at about 11.10 am on Thursdays. Other regular features include the Record of the Week and the Album of the Week and the Tracks of My Years, where a celebrity picks two songs each day that have a particular meaning to them. The Love Song is played at about 10.15 am each day, preceded by dedications, although a number of the songs in the rotation are not strictly love songs in a romantic sense (e.g. "At Seventeen" by Janis Ian, "The Greatest Love Of All" by George Benson).

The show includes a number of regular features, such as the PopMaster quiz, Spin It To Win It, and Words Don't Come Easily (sic), although many of these have been suspended in their usual format until the BBC's internal enquiry into the possible abuse of phone-ins concludes (despite no allegation of impropriety against Radio 2). PopMaster quiz returned to Kens show in January 2008 with a different type of format, and New Jingles where listeners have to register first and if successful the production team call them back to ask three questions.

Bruce maintains a bantering relationship with the traffic presenter, typically Lynn Bowles, with the two teasing each other and responding to listeners' comments. Such comments are read out throughout the programme, and will generally be on a particular theme of the day, such as a news story. Recurring themes include the appearance of Bruce on the studio webcam, Lynn Bowles' involvement with Land Rover and the information included on this Wikipedia profile, with contributors highlighting the alterations that have been made; on various occasions according to this page, he has become a Knight of the Realm, had a significant number of children, is of limited stature, received an inflated salary and loves caravanning. This ongoing cycle of spurious edits being discussed on air have caused the page to be locked due to vandalism on numerous occasions.

Although the programme's playlist is almost exclusively rock, pop and soul from the 1970s onwards, its Radio Data System flag identifies it as programme type 12, "M.O.R.".

On 3 August 2006 it was announced that Ken Bruce had added 245,000 listeners, bringing his overall ratings to a record high of 6.64 million.

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

PopMaster

Normally, the daily PopMaster quiz, with questions set by music expert Phil Swern, offers the winner a top prize of a DAB Radio if they successfully complete the "3 in 10" bonus round. If they fail to do this, they are awarded a 'Flipper' Radio. The previous consolation prize, a 'Space' Radio, has been known to appear on eBay, much to Bruce's amusement. The losing contestant is given a CD wallet for taking part.

The public phone-in PopMaster quiz was last aired, prior to its suspension, on 18 July 2007. A celebrity version was 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. Following an announcement by Bruce on 7 January 2008, the normal format returned on 21 January 2008.

Other appearances

Ken Bruce has presented for the BBC Proms in the Park for numerous years.

He is also Radio 2's regular commentator for the Eurovision Song Contest and one of the regular presenters of the long-running Friday Night is Music Night.

He has also made several guest appearances in the "Dictionary Corner" on Channel 4's Countdown. When the original presenter Richard Whiteley died in 2005, Bruce said: "Such a nice man - that was the defining quality of him, a genuinely nice man. And he had no real ego.

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

He attended each of the Sex Pistols five comeback concerts at the Brixton Academy in November 2007.

Bruce is a fully qualified coach driver and is the co-owner of a Routemaster (one of London's famous red buses) with Charles Nove, Alan Dedicoat, Steve Madden and David Sheppard. He has referred to them as "a fantastic piece of engineering and such fun to have".

Along with Lynn Bowles, he has taken part in an episode of Ready, Steady, Cook, which was broadcast on BBC Two on 3 March 2008.

Personal life

He has three sons and two daughters. He had another child in February 2008 and presently lives in Oxfordshire.

Ken is a a fan of Rangers F.C., and occasionally remarks on their fortunes on his show.

He was described as an "old fool" by fellow Radio 2 presenter Sarah Kennedy in 1999.

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