BBC Radio 2 lost more than a million listeners since Ken Bruce left the station for commercial rival Greatest Hits Radio, according to official audience data.
Bruce spent three decades presenting the same mid-morning timeslot on Radio 2, where his mild-mannered style and Popmaster music quiz helped build the biggest audience in British radio.
Yet BBC bosses failed to nail down their most popular presenter on a new contract, enabling Bruce to jump ship to Greatest Hits Radio to present a show in a similar timeslot. Bruce was also able to take Popmaster from the BBC to his new employer, after personally securing the trademark during the 1990s.
The move has turned out to be an enormous success for Bruce and Greatest Hits Radio, with quarterly Rajar figures showing his new show reached 3 million listeners a week between April and June.
A large chunk of Bruce’s audience appears to have followed him to the new station from Radio 2, according to analysis by radio consultancy Hallett Arendt for the Guardian. When Bruce was in the presenter’s chair the mid-morning slow on Radio 2 attracted 8.3 million listeners. Three months later, the same timeslot – presented since May by Vernon Kay – attracts just 6.9 million listeners.
Bruce said: “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. My first four months have flown by and I’ve loved every minute of it – and there’s much more to come.”
Greatest Hits Radio, which is owned by media group Bauer, was created in 2020 by taking advantage of a relaxation of Ofcom rules to combine various distinctive local radio stations into a single quasi-national network. Other shows on the station have also seen a boost from Bruce’s arrival, with Simon Mayo’s drivetime show seeing a rise in listeners.
Radio 2 remains the biggest station in the UK but its total weekly audience fell by more than 1 million listeners to 13.5 million after the departure of Bruce. A refresh of Radio 2’s presenter lineup to attract a younger audience, a move which saw Scott Mills replace Steve Wright, has also enabled growth at stations such as Boom Radio that target older former Radio 2 listeners.
BBC Radio is having a torrid time across the board, with the broadcaster insisting it is focusing on providing podcasts and other audio material through BBC Sounds rather than chasing radio audiences. The BBC’s share of all national radio listening fell to just 43.2% in the last three months – well below the combined audience for commercial radio.
Ironically, while most national BBC stations lost listeners, its local radio stations in England collectively grew their audience. This is despite many longstanding local radio presenters leaving their stations amid deep financial cuts by BBC management, who plan to merge many parts of the local radio stations into regional entities.
The BBC said its on-demand Sounds app saw a record 216m plays of radio and podcast content during the last three months. Yet its list of most-listened-to content is dominated by traditional BBC radio content such as Test Match Special cricket commentary and episodes of The Archers, rather than specially commissioned podcasts. The BBC’s own annual report showed that Sounds only added 20,000 active listeners aged 16-34 in the last year, suggesting the app is struggling to cut through with young audiences.
Audiences also appear to be cooling on speech-based discussion programmes after years of breakneck growth in the sector amid post-Brexit political turmoil. LBC, TalkRadio, and TimesRadio all saw their audiences fall in the latest Rajar figures.
