Ken Bruce has admitted he felt a little ‘taken for granted’ by the BBC prior to his early departure from Radio 2 after almost 40 years at the station.
The veteran broadcaster left his show last month after bosses cut his final weeks short, which Bruce said he was “a little surprised and disappointed” to learn.
Now discussing his motivation to leave the broadcaster, the 72-year-old said his move to Greatest Hits Radio was partly fuelled by a want to prove his “worth on Radio 2”.
He told Radio Times: “There were times when I felt I wasn’t really noticed by either the BBC itself or some listeners. So I thought, ‘I’m going to make these people appreciate me’.
“And having done that to my satisfaction, I felt it was time to give myself a little challenge, try something different, rather than become stale and wait for the axe.”
The DJ continued: “This is going back a few years, but there were times when all the publicity was about other presenters, people who were off the telly, and I wasn’t mentioned at all. I was just an afterthought.
“And I thought, ‘Well, I just want to make these people realise that I’m doing quite a good job.’ There was a certain amount of, ‘Oi, I’m over here!’”
When the publication suggested he’d been taken for ‘granted’, the presenter said: “You’re absolutely right. But I guess that applies to anybody who’s done a good job for a long time in any kind of situation.”
The presenter previously shared his disappointment over BBC bosses cutting his Radio 2 show three weeks before he was expected to bid farewell to the station.
At the time, he told Radio 4’s Today programme: “It’s entirely within the BBC’s right to ask me to step away a little early. But for the sake of 17 days, which was all that was remaining (on my contract), it seems a shame.
“My belief is that, when I’m given a contract, I work to it and complete it. Over the last 46 years I haven’t had very much time off. I’ve attempted to turn up whenever I’m required to turn up.
“So my natural feeling as a broadcaster is, I’ve got 17 days to do, I want to do them.”
After joining BBC Radio Scotland in 1977 in his 30s, Bruce went on to present several other shows at the corporation, including taking over the Radio 2 Breakfast Show from Sir Terry Wogan in 1989.
He later moved to mid-mornings in 1986 and, after a brief stint on late nights and early mornings, returned to mid-mornings in January 1992.
The BBC announced that Gary Davies, host of the station’s Sounds Of The 80s, will present the mid-morning show from March until TV presenter Vernon Kay takes over Bruce’s Radio 2 slot at a date in the future.
