Listeners turned to the comforting tones of the avuncular Scot during the pandemic
![How Radio 2 veteran Ken Bruce became a No 1 hit](https://i.guim.co.uk/img/media/8f0cb9a3f47b8ddc774ed02ccd9b99306f6d0b83/715_227_2491_1495/master/2491.jpg?width=1200&height=630&quality=85&auto=format&fit=crop&overlay-align=bottom%2Cleft&overlay-width=100p&overlay-base64=L2ltZy9zdGF0aWMvb3ZlcmxheXMvdG8tZGVmYXVsdC5wbmc&enable=upscale&s=d10a2b468ade603221ff67d965b77761)
This might have passed you by, what with all the other news to savour/slog through/weep over, but Ken Bruce is now the most popular DJ in the UK. Yes, that Ken Bruce. The gently avuncular Radio 2 mid-morning veteran bagged the highest number of listeners in the latest Rajars (the official measure of radio audiences).
Bruce’s station compadre, Zoe Ball, also did well: with 7.5 million listeners, she hosts the most popular breakfast show in the country. But that’s just a warm-up for the biggest radio show out there. Bruce’s 9.30am-12.00pm weekday programme is listened to by 8.7 million people, 1.2 million more than Ball; the largest audience on
UK radio.