Ken Bruce celebrates one-year on Greatest Hits Radio with a special show live from a surprising location
About what makes radio broadcasts special…
It’s the anonymity, the ability to be just part of yourself and only communicate in one way with someone who just listens to you, it’s a very direct communication. That’s what appeals most.
About the secret of his popularity…
If I had known that, I would have done it much sooner. I don’t think you can ever analyze why something is popular. It becomes popular without you even noticing or trying, and the more you try, the less it will happen. A good relationship between broadcaster and listener is simply something that grows and develops naturally.
About what he finds most difficult…
Getting up in the morning. Once I get up and go to work, I’m fine. I’m on the air at 9:30, I’m done at 10:00, and I’ve often said that I feel better at the end of a program than I did at the beginning. I’m sorry it’s over.
On how he’ll end the show…
It will just be a quick goodbye, I won’t pull my heartstrings, especially because I don’t want to pull my own heartstrings. I’m just saying that this is the end of this particular era of my life, but there will be a continuation. I love daily broadcasts, that’s what I’ve been doing for years and years. I’ve been on BBC radio five days a week since 1977, so it will be different, it will change me a bit, but I still want to be on air every day.
As for whether he’ll be emotional…
No, I look at the clock and think I have to leave on time… maybe a little, but I’m a hard-bitten old Scot.
As for whether he knows what to say…
I don’t, it will come to me at the time, I might make a few notes, but I don’t like writing anything in sentences. I just like to write down a few ideas and I’ll say whatever comes to mind at the moment.
If he knows what his last song will be…
I’m doing that now, but I’m not going to reveal that until the last minute.
Upon his departure…
It is completely within the BBC’s right to ask me to leave a little early. Garden leave is a well-known concept in broadcasting and many other areas, but for the sake of 17 days, which was all that was left, it seems like a waste, but you just adjust your schedule. Instead of three weeks it is one week, which was fine. My belief is that if I get a contract, I will work on it and finish it. Over the past 46 years I haven’t had much free time. I’ve tried to come when I need to come, so my natural feeling as a broadcaster is that if I have 17 days to do, I want to do them.
At his best moment…
I’m talking to you, Gary. I can die happy now. I can’t actually choose a moment. I enjoyed everything I love every day, just a normal day. Meeting special people, someone like James Taylor or Carole King when they came into the studio. These were more nerve-wracking than anything, so I didn’t enjoy them at the time because I thought I had to get this right and not say something stupid to James Taylor, for God’s sake. Note I like to just do a normal daily program, make myself and other people laugh.