Ken Bruce MBE

Veteran radio DJ, the legendary Ken Bruce, is one of the UK's most listened-to radio presenters, with one of the most instantly recognisable and distinctive voices in British broadcasting.

He hosted the BBC Radio 2 midmorning show for over three decades, from 1986 to 2023, and with nine million listeners, that makes him one of the most recognisable voices in broadcasting. He then joined the independent Greatest Hits Radio in April 2023, with a weekday show from 10am-1pm, playing for his listeners the biggest songs of the 70s, 80s & 90s.

However, despite having a long association with broadcasting, working in radio wasn’t Ken's first career path. Initially he trained as an accountant, a job he held down for a couple of years, but ultimately he hated it and found it “truly terrible”, swiftly moving on to washing cars.

Eventually he landed a job on hospital radio, working for the Hospital Broadcasting Service in Glasgow, before securing a position at the BBC in 1977 as 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 and also presented a Saturday morning show. In 1980 he took on the midmorning slot and then, in 1983, he presented a daily afternoon entertainment show. He hosted his midmorning show on the BBC World Service in the late 1980s.

In 1985, Ken 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 then began his first stint on the midmorning 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 midmorning slot.

He announced in January 2023 that he would be leaving BBC Radio 2 in March of that year to pursue opportunities outside the BBC, including hosting a new midmorning show for Greatest Hits Radio, replacing Mark Goodier.

Ken Bruce is also a keen musician himself, playing drums in a cover band called No Direction which performs at gigs in pubs and venues across Oxfordshire near his home a handful of times a year.

In June 2023, Ken Bruce was made an MBE in the Kings Birthday Honours list for his services to radio, autism awareness and to charity.