Ken Bruce has criticised the BBC for trying to appeal to a younger audience.
The former Radio 2 presenter, 75, left his mid-morning show on the station in 2023, after being on BBC radio for 46 years, and moved to Greatest Hits Radio.
He said despite having a “great time” at the corporation and feeling “very proud to work for the BBC”, it had a tendency to focus on younger audiences.
Speaking to the Telegraph, he said: “You see it at the BBC all the time. They have a successful show, and they say, ‘Let’s get (younger)…’.
“I give you the example of A Question Of Sport. That was a great show, and now I don’t think it exists anymore, because they tried to renew it to appeal to younger viewers, and they weren’t there.
“I think what we do is we know who we’re talking to, we know what they want to hear, and we deliver that.”
The BBC axed A Question Of Sport in 2023 after 53 years on air. At the time it said the decision was due to “inflation and funding challenges”.
Former tennis player Sue Barker spent 24 years as the host before being replaced by actor Paddy McGuinness in 2021.
The show also underwent a revamp, which saw non-sporting celebrities being invited to appear as guests.
Bruce started as a presenter on BBC Radio Scotland in 1977 and went on to become one of the corporation’s highest paid stars – earning £395,000 during his final year there.
Although he said he misses his former colleagues, many have now “retired or left”.
Bruce said: “I had a great time there, and [was] very, very proud to work for the BBC all those years, but you know, people do retire. It’s just that I retired and took up another job.”
He said he does not miss the spotlight placed on BBC presenters, adding: “I enjoy being on this station, where I think the scrutiny is slightly less than it is at the BBC.”
He also called the BBC’s annual high-pay list “the most annoying thing”.
Despite working for the BBC for nearly 50 years, Bruce said he rarely listens to Radio 2 these days. “I don’t avoid it, I just don’t bother switching it on,” he said.
Looking back on his longevity in radio, Bruce recalled how he was once told there was “no future” for him in the industry.
“When I started in the BBC, I was doing a news course, and the guy taking it said: ‘It’s going to happen. Radio will die. There’s no future in radio. Television is going to be the way people consume everything. There’s no future for radio’,” he said.
“Well, that was 1978 or something. And here we are 50-odd years later, and it’s still going strong. And stronger than ever in some cases.”
Speaking to the Press Association in 2024, Bruce said he did not have any intention of hanging up the headphones anytime soon.
“Doing a daily programme is not a massive strain but it does require you to be on peak form,” he said at the time. “I don’t want to get to a Joe Biden stage. If I feel I’m not doing a job to my own satisfaction, then I probably will retire.
“At the moment I feel quite happy, but I’m aware of not going on too long. If I start to feel that people have had enough of me, then I’ll go.”
The BBC declined to comment.
