Incredible radio success of the man with the velvet voice

More than eight million now tune in to Ken Bruce’s show on Radio 2.

New figures show that radio listening in the UK is at its highest since records began. And when it comes to setting the dial, more than eight million settle on the Ken Bruce Show on Radio 2.

That makes the Scot with the velvet voice second only to Chris Evans, whose Breakfast Show he follows, as the most listened-to man in radio.

Now, as he celebrates his 30th anniversary as a regular on the BBC’s biggest station, Ken has opened up to The Sunday Post about his decades at the top.

After another two-and-a-half hours broadcasting to the masses, he strolls casually into a meeting room beside his studio.

He settles down, tunes up a blue ukulele left lying by the couches and looks about as stressed as someone who has just rolled out of bed and sleepily rustled up a bacon roll.

“I’m not nerveless, but I don’t get nervous doing a daily radio programme,” he admits. “I do have a clap of the hands to get a little buzz going before I go on but that’s it really.

“The figures are amazing, I look at them and I don’t entirely believe them. I don’t think anyone can visualise that number of people.

“I always go about it as if I’m talking to just one person in their kitchen or their car.”

Glasgow-born Ken has come a long way from a BBC Scotland knockback and local hospital radio to national radio royalty.

“I got my first proper Radio 2 show on Saturday nights in 1984,” he recalls. “At that point I thought that if I was very, very lucky I might get a daily show in the next few years and that might last five years.

“I do feel really lucky. There were a lot of contemporaries of mine who were really popular back then and they aren’t there now.

“I don’t know if there’s any good reason apart from luck, being in the right place at the right time and delivering a consistent product. That’s why I appreciate it every day.”

The laidback 62-year-old obviously has music running through his veins. He’s just started playing drums again in No Direction, a little band playing his local village hall.

“It’s a bit of a residency but frankly they’re the only place that’s asked,” he concedes. But what you won’t find is him blowing his own trumpet.

Big names queue up to say what an influence he’s been and how his spinning of their discs has helped make them stars. Tell him fellow presenter Vanessa Feltz views him as such a hero bumping into him is like meeting Elvis, he’s quick to laugh it off.

“Well, Elvis is dead, so I don’t take that as a huge compliment,” he jokes. “But you can’t get your head turned by these things. I still find it a thrill to meet the kinds of people I do.

“I remember doing a big concert in Edinburgh with Ella Fitzgerald and thought, ‘What am I doing standing on a stage with someone like this?’

“You talk to Gary Barlow and you think here’s a man who writes hit after hit and he’s saying nice things to you.

“I was asked recently to interview a childhood hero and I said that everyone who was a hero in my childhood is dead. But I did find one, Stirling Moss, and I’ve got a possibility of meeting Julie Andrews later this year which would just be fantastic.”

Ken’s up at 6am each weekday, feeding the dogs before a drive to the station and a 40-minute train ride into London.

That leaves his wife Kerith as the one getting their three kids Murray, Verity and Charlie he has three from his previous marriages ready for the school run.

But being “free as the air” after his midday finish means Ken’s often the proud dad picking them up from the gates at the end of the day.

“As anyone with young kids will tell you, it’s hard work and hellish at times but great fun.

“Running up and down the stairs picking things up keeps me active.

“I get tired as any parent does and sometimes it’s nice when they go to bed early and sleep but it doesn’t happen very often.”

Ken and Kerith have had a special challenge in bringing up eldest son Murray.

Now 12, he has autism and there’s no mistaking Ken’s fatherly pride in the progress he’s made.

“He hasn’t been able to speak non-verbal as they say for most of his life but he uses an iPad and we’re finally getting to read what he thinks.

“It’s quite slow going for him but he has some profound things to say and it’s wonderful to read. He’s a clever, clever boy and that’s a real delight.

“If you have children you’re always proud no matter what, but when they fulfil the potential you see for them that’s a real bonus.”

Three times-married Ken met Kerith while working on the Eurovision Song Contest back in 1998. He sighs contentedly as he looks back on their time together.

“It’s been 16 years now. We’re coming up on our 14th wedding anniversary and we’re absolutely happy. It’s great, a really fantastic family life.”

Although he’s now spent much of his life down south, Ken’s a frequent visitor to his homeland.

“We try to have a Scottish holiday every year, getting up for a fortnight. I’ll be up for 10 days of broadcasting for the Commonwealth Games and I’ll tag a holiday on. That’ll be the longest spell I’ve spent in Glasgow since I left in 1985 and it’ll be nice to get to know the city again. It’s changed hugely since I lived there.

“I still feel Scottish and I think it’s something you carry around with you and stays with you no matter where you end up.”

Ken admits he was more driven when he was younger, always anxious about the next contract. But age and three decades of being in demand has eased those worries.

“I feel much more confident about it,” reveals Ken whose recent contract takes him up to 65. “In this business you always feel you’re getting away with it and this is the year they’ll finally see through you.

“I used to think that each contract would be my last. But, possibly because I’m older it worries me less.

“Actually, if you’d told me 30 years ago I’d still be here I’d probably have taken my foot off the accelerator and coasted. But the fact it’s all been two or three-year contracts has kept me on my toes.

“If everyone’s happy at the end of this one I’m sure we’ll find a way forward. I’d love to be on the radio for as long as I can reach a microphone.

“I certainly won’t be retiring. I’ve got a family to bring up.”

Ken’s on Radio 2 weekdays at 9.30am.