So, the last bastion of the ‘old’ Radio 2 is on his way: Ken Bruce is off to Greatest Hits Radio. I’ll miss Ken – he was the only thing on Radio 2 I still listened to.
Goodbye, Ken Bruce (he’s not dead!)
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Likewise. I rarely listen to R2 during the week, but on the rare occasions I do it’s Ken Bruce (before leaping for the remote the instant Jeremy Vine heaves into view. Why couldn’t it have been him?)
Millions of WFH people think to themselves “No more PopMaster for me, then”.
National productivity duly increases between 10 and 12 on weekday mornings ..
Trevor Nelson, Rylan Clark, Claudia Winkleman, Dermot O’Leary and Jo Whiley are among the names who could be considered for Bruce’s slot.
aka some names who already have a contract with the BBC and we’re looking for something to do with them.
Jeez… have you heard Ry-lan’s Saturday show? One of the few I actively switch off.
I cannot stand Rylan -,absolutely talentless – put him in same category as Michael McIntyre. People who mysteriously shot to fame with no discernible talent.
Jo Whiley and her “fantastic” Brit-School indie bands who turn out to be somewhat interchangeable?
The Kooks are the Mantovani of the 20s.
Last September Mini Paws started (what we rather embarrassingly called) big school. Turns out that La Whiley was a famous ex pupil*, which makes me wonder if this was the place where she learnt to enthuse about a second division landfill indie band (or develop hairy toes)? Not seen it on the curriculum yet, only time will tell.
*According to Wikipedia, they don’t have a statue up or anything
Well I was no Ken Bruce fan as most of the music he played had little appeal for me. Quite liked listening to Popmaster though.
However…those potential replacements. Awful. Not for me at all.
It’s the end of his decades long Wogan impression on the BBC. Seems to be a good egg though and has some interest in music at least. The Popmaster podcast meant I didn’t need to listen to any more of him than necessary
He looks like an egg, too.
On behalf of the Afterword slapheads – that’s a yellow card…
Nothing wrong with looking like an egg. As long as no one goes to work on you.
A popmaster podcast with less KB is possible, it would also have the added bonus of skipping the tedious chats with the contestants!
But isn’t he taking it with him?
Personally, I think he evolved beyond the Wogan impression, but I take your point. I like Ken because he seems to be one of the last dry, self-deprecating types on the radio. If some people don’t like him, that’s fair enough…however, I have two chilling replacement-based words for you: Fearne Cotton.
He was probably the last radio presenter as opposed to somebody off the telly who is now demoted to radio.
I liked Popmaster but only ever really heard it as I drove my parents from Norfolk and back to Oxfordshire for family visits to see the grandkids. Radio 2 was the acceptable station for us all on those journeys.
When we went to see them this festive period my Father had become a radio 2 antagonist. In his words it was now a station that played loud music he no longer knew or wanted to hear.
He now likes Diddy David Hamilton (aged 84…I thought he was dead!) on Boom Radio an online station that is targeting baby boomers like my dad. Fair play to them with an average audience of 300K+ per show for his lunchtime show playing 1960-1980s hits.
If ever there was a broadcaster who had the perfect face for radio.
He and Simon Bates are No.1 & 2, it’s a close-run thing.
Of course Bruce was never on Radio 1 otherwise he may have been a TOTP presenter
It’s now taken as read that to be on R2 you have to be ex-R1 or off the telly.
I couldn’t stand his presentational style or his pop quiz.
I thought he was okay for that station – it’s hardly cutting edge.
I like the 6music format much better -Cerys Matthews is superb and so too other musicians such as Tom Robinson and Guy Garvey.
The only Radio 2 show that I bother with is Jamie Cullum’s on Tuesday evenings. Knowledgeable and enthusiastic and seemingly a pleasant chap (I’ve never met him or anyone who has).
Ken Bruce was all right as a presenter (there are so, so many who get right up my nose) but the music he played was not of sufficient interest to me. Uninteresting pop music is only slightly better than annoying pop music, IMO. Both are difficult to ignore when you are subjected to them.
Some of the Pop Master contestants were amusing in their self-assured ignorance of the subject. Don’t think I’ve heard his show in at least 10 years.
I’ve met Jamie Cullum – ooh, get me – and he is a lovely chap. We went to the same university and, in my final year, I was heavily involved with the Students Union Monday evening jazz nights. My final bookings were the returning Average White Band and the soon to be huge Tori Amos.
Six years after I left, Cullum arrived and took over, and straight away turned it into the gig to be at. I taught him everything he knows, obvs.
And I know his dep drummer, who speaks highly of him.
I still get him muddled up with James Blunt, though.
He’s a pretty good player but I find Jamie’s own music a bit ho-hum, it has to be said. His radio show is a source of lots of excellent “old” jazz to listen to (50s, 60s, 70s), plus some good “new” too. And his occasional interview spots are interesting. Glad to hear he’s as pleasant as he seems.
Consulting my database, I appear to have two JC albums – a chazza purchase CD, and last year’s expanded Christmas album, which has my pal drumming on the bonus live tracks.
That’s two more than Blunty, though.
Cullum’s singing voice is the same, for me, as that Silver Seas bloke.
The Guardian is looking for Popmaster veterans to talk to for an article. There may well be some on here – https://twitter.com/xylottie/status/1615659252516896769?s=20&t=v1RwUjS_ouTRwP7iL9OsiA
A woman only got 3 points a couple of weeks ago – this equates to one correct answer. It wasn’t the easiest round, in fairness, but 12 was achievable to anyone with even a cursory knowledge of mainstream pop music.
Think I got 36 once (not actually on the show.) Probably like many here I am pretty good up to the 90s, but hopeless for anything this century.
It’s a shame Ken Bruce is going but he’s been there a long while so probably time for a change. You can still listen to him on his new show, I can’t believe he held the rights to popmaster…
Unfortunately Radio 2 these days just gets TV personalities rather than good broadcasters. I wish someone would retire Jeremy Vine. Makes me want to throw the radio through the window
I wouldn’t hold your breath, his predecessor Jimmy Young had that show for approximately seven thousand years.
Maybe if Jeremy Vine reintroduced the recipe slot and Raymondo…
“What’s the recipe today, Jeremy?”
“Well, I’m glad you asked me that, Raymondo – it’s savoury baked bean meringue”
How did Jeremy Vine ever manage to get a radio show? His voice is one of the most unpleasant I think I’ve ever heard, always on the edge of complete hysterical meltdown. Awful. Having said all that, he does play the (very) occasional decent record.
He seems to be loathed by everyone, left and right. And quite rightly. Yes, how did he ever become so ubiquitous?
Does he choose the records though?
I may be mistaken but seem to remember him having decent taste in music
I’d be very surprised if someone on daytime radio 2 was operating to something other than a playlist. He might have some limited choice within that.
He’s a fan of the Fall, which along with his Day Today-type election night antics redeems him for me.
He enthusiastically fills in the blanks on Eggheads when the panellists have a gap in late 70s/80s pop music knowledge, particularly indie stuff. So that means I like him.
Ken’s been told he doesn’t have to work out his notice period, because we can’t get enough of Vernon Kay.
https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/entertainment-arts-64755872
“DJ Gary Davies will fill the gap between Bruce’s departure and Kay’s first show.”
Ooh, Gary Davies?!
Ooh, Gary Davies on your radio!
And now, the sloppy bit.
Sorry
Young, free and single? Zero out of three isn’t bad.
But for all the permanent great mate radio 1 roadshow-ness, ooo Gary Davies is a radio presenter and not a TV host bunged in a radio studio. Radio 2 doesn’t seem to recognise the difference between the disciplines
True.
I remember when the most interesting thing about most Radio 2 DJs was finding out what they looked like. Ken Bruce is definitely one of that generation – I know his voice but even now, I’m not sure I could pick him out of a line-up.
To be honest, I thought Bruce’s trumpeting of his departure to Greatest Hits or wherever it is and that Pop Master was going with him was a bit previous, so I don’t blame them. The Beeb gave him what I assume was a good living for many years and advertising his new show while still employed by them seemed pretty unprofessional to me.
Vernon Kay? My god!
Thanks to an electrician chez Moose last summer, I have an idea of Vernon’s broadcasting chops.
Radio 2 done changed yo. M People are the Mantovani de nos jours.
Nuuuuuurrrrrrrse!
TV’s village idiot (© Charlie Brooker) becomes radio’s village idiot.
https://www.theguardian.com/media/2023/feb/24/ken-bruce-says-bbc-has-hastened-his-radio-2-exit
The most offensive thing about this is that I am now older than one of the main Radio 2 presenters. Time for the bath chair.
Yadda, yadda, yadda… any news on Mark Lamarr?
Since his departure, the strand at BBC Radio detailed with “Popular Music” has been jaw-droppingly similar to the strand in the UK government post-2016 detailed with “Not Pissing off Ireland.”
Both, pretty much overnight, have been bollocks.