PopMaster: Ken Bruce’s radio quiz to grow to be TV present

PopMaster, the favored music trivia quiz hosted by DJ Ken Bruce for 1 / 4 of a century, is being was a TV present.

Six hour-long episodes are being created for Channel 4 by 12 Yard Productions, the corporate behind BBC1’s Unbeatable and Channel 5’s Eggheads.

Bruce, 72, hosted the quiz on BBC Radio 2 for greater than 20 years earlier than leaving the company final month.

However, he struck a deal to retain the rights to the quiz, which he co-created with radio producer Phil Swern who wrote the questions.

The TV collection will air on More4, with a date for the collection but to be introduced.

Bruce joined Bauer Media’s Greatest Hits Radio this month, having fronted his mid-morning Radio 2 present since 1992.

Testing contestants’ information of music and artists from throughout the years, the quiz sees two gamers requested a collection of 10 questions primarily based on standard music from the Fifties to the current day.

Questions cowl a wide range of genres of music and vary from naming artists primarily based on the titles of songs or clips of tracks, in addition to figuring out the 12 months sure songs have been hits.

After each gamers have answered 10 questions – with a complete of 39 factors up for grabs – the winner goes on to play three-in-10, during which they’ve 10 seconds to call three hits from one explicit artist or group.

Promising to honour the format of the present, with “a few surprises thrown in”, episode winners will advance to a grand remaining, the place one might be topped general champion.

‘I may need a face for TV in any case’

Bruce stated he’s trying ahead to “challenging music lovers from around the country… under the glare of studio lights and with the added pressure of television cameras”.

He added: “I can’t wait to get started – and find out whether I might have a face for TV after all!”

Channel 4’s head of options and daytime Jo Street stated bringing PopMaster to the TV was her “mission in life”.

When Bruce introduced in January he can be leaving the BBC after 45 years on the company, the presenter confused it was his personal selection, saying “some new opportunities have come up and I would like to continue my career in a slightly different way in the next few years”.

He now hosts a present from 10am to 1pm on Greatest Hits Radio, becoming a member of fellow ex-BBC presenters Simon Mayo at drivetime and Jackie Brambles within the early night.

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Presenter Vernon Kay will substitute Bruce as host of Radio 2’s mid-morning present in May, with a brand new quiz, Ten to the Top, taking the place of PopMaster.

The PopMaster TV present isn’t its first look outdoors of radio. In 2019 Bruce took the quiz on a UK tour of listeners’ workplaces, and co-creator Swern has written a number of books about it.