3 August 2023

Ken Bruce has almost doubled the number of listeners to Greatest Hits Radio’s morning show months after he joined the station, figures reveal.


The Scottish DJ announced in March that after 30 years with the BBC, he was taking his morning show to the commercial station.

Some fans vowed they would never listen to his broadcasts again, but quarterly listening figures from Rajar, the official body for measuring radio audiences, suggest that in fact he took some of them with him. A million fewer people have been listening to BBC Radio 2.

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Greatest Hits Radio had three million listeners tuning in to its morning show, an increase of 93 per cent compared with the year before Bruce arrived.

When Bauer, the company behind the station, signed Bruce, they launched an advertising campaign encouraging Radio 2 listeners to switch. He was also able to bring with him his PopMaster quiz. Bruce, 72, said the BBC had declined his offer to jointly trademark the quiz, allowing him to buy the rights.

Radio 2, which hired Vernon Kay to replace Bruce, has lost a million listeners this quarter compared with the same period last year, from 14.5 million to 13.5 million, a fall of 7.4 per cent.

“I’ve always said that it’s not really about the numbers and it’s not, for me at least, but I’m delighted to hear today’s news for the team here at my new home, Greatest Hits Radio,” Bruce said. “My first four months have flown by and I’ve loved every minute of it — and there’s much more to come.”

The Greatest Hits Radio Network reaches a record 5.9 million listeners every week, up 47.6 per cent compared with last year. Ben Cooper, Bauer Media Audio UK’s chief content and music officer, said the group had “achieved incredible success”.

He said: “The arrival of Ken Bruce and PopMaster means Greatest Hits Radio now has nearly 6 million listeners, with success shared across the station as Simon Mayo’s Drivetime is now the UK’s biggest commercial drivetime show with 2.3 million listeners.”

Rajar figures showed that TalkRadio increased its year-on-year audience by 6 per cent, from 686,000 listeners to 727,000. However, Times Radio dropped by 8.2 per cent from 570,000 listeners to 523,000.

Overall, the BBC suffered a 3.9 per cent drop in listeners, with the biggest fall in audiences over the age of 45. The World Service was the biggest casualty, losing nearly a quarter of its listeners compared with last year.

Boom Radio, aimed at the baby boomer generation, doubled its number of listeners in a year to 641,000. This was down to older listeners leaving BBC Radio 2 in search of more of the music they grew up with, the station said.

Charlotte Moore, the BBC’s chief content officer, said: “This quarter BBC Radio has delivered fantastic coverage of live music and sport with listeners tuning in for Radio 1’s Big Weekend, the Coronation Concert, Eurovision Song Contest, Glastonbury and a nail-biting first Ashes Test.

“Our digital listening is up significantly and I’m delighted to see another record-breaking quarter for BBC Sounds which has grown the amount of plays year on year by nearly 50 per cent.”


www.thetimes.co.uk/article/bbc-radio-2-l...atest-hits-s9tlqjzvr

Yes of course, when a popular broadcaster leaves a radio station with a massively popular quiz, like Popmaster, then a lot of listeners are going to follow him. The BBC should have trademarked the quiz and passed it on to Ken's successor. Radio 2 still gets a lot more listeners than Greatest Hits Radio or any other radio station. I've never listened to Greatest Hits Radio or any other commercial radio. I don't want to listen to lots of adverts, and I prefer radio 6 or 4 in the mornings. Radio 2 was desperate to attract more people in their 40s who grew up in the 90s with Scott Mills on Radio 1, hence Steve Wright getting the chop. Steve Wright was a truly great broadcaster and I think it was a mistake to get rid of his afternoon show, and the BBC seems to be rowing back a bit on that by giving him more bbc sounds shows to do. I like Sounds of the 70s with Johnny Walker and Sounds of the 60s with Tony Blackburn. People want to listen to programmes that remind them of the music they loved when they were young, and it's comforting to hear the same familiar voices.

I never listen to the radio.(see previous posts)

You are correct that older listener's like to hear song's from their youth and the voice of familiar DJs.

My friend in Long Island whom only ever listens to Q104.3q for Jim Kerr. I remember him vaguely from the mid 80s.