Greatest Hits Radio presenter Ken Bruce refuses to play Taylor Swift songs on his show until ‘she writes something that isn’t about her ex-boyfriends’
Ken Bruce has declared he will not play Taylor Swift songs on his show until ‘she writes something that isn’t about her ex-boyfriends’.
The 73-year-old broadcaster took his PopMaster Quiz show from the BBC to Greatest Hits Radio last year and attracts 3.8 million weekly listeners.
But he will not bend to Taylor Swift mania and play the 34-year-old’s music.
He told The Mail on Sunday: ‘All her songs are the same. I’ll play her on my station when she writes something that isn’t about her ex-boyfriends. Great radio songs have three beats and then they’re straight into the song, not these long intros that she does.
‘We’re a 70s, 80s and 90s radio show as our core audience is older.’
His comments come as the Shake It Off singer left the UK for the European leg of her $1 billion Eras Tour before she returns for five more shows at Wembley Stadium in August.
Ms Swift’s arrival in the UK earlier this month transfixed the nation, with Scotland renaming a loch after her and Capital FM dedicating an entire station to her music.
But Mr Bruce has conceded only to playing very short clips of her music occasionally on his PopMaster Quiz show to maintain a variety of genres.
He said: ‘For our audience, we do 70s, 80s and 90s music. We do early noughties and 2010s – not very many – but we expect people to know things from recent and current music, only the biggest names though.
‘We do ask questions from the 50s as well and 60s. Our core audience on Greatest Hits Radio is older so they’ve got to be able to answer most of the questions.’
Mr Bruce revealed on air last year that he was leaving Radio 2 after three decades, saying that although he ‘loved working at the BBC’ he wanted ‘to try something else’.
But his show was axed a month early after it became ‘essentially free advertising’ for his new position on rival Greatest Hits Radio.
He now presents the pre-lunchtime 10am slot on GHR and has increased his audience from 2.2 million a week to 3.8 million.
