About Ken Double

Broadcaster, entertainer, concert artist

My Story

A former radio and television sportscaster who started taking organ lessons as an 8-year-old in his hometown of Chicago, KEN DOUBLE enjoyed a 33-year career as a sportscaster, and now a second career focused on his love of the music of the theatre pipe organ. 

As a sportscaster, Ken broadcast NBA and major college basketball, NHL, IHL and AHL hockey, the worldwide broadcast of the Indy 500, and more.  That career began in Marion, IN after graduating from Butler University in Indianapolis.  WBAT Radio for two years; then to Lafayette, IN and WLFI-TV; then to Indianapolis with WRTV.  That led to a three-year stint in the NBA with the Indiana Pacers, which later morphed into a 17-year run in professional hockey.

All the while, Ken was not far from the keyboards of the theatre pipe organ.  His lessons began at age eight, and ended with a year under the tutelage of Al Melgard, famous organist at the Chicago Stadium.  Ken helped pay for college with three summers playing at the Tommy Bartlett Water Show in Wisconsin Dells, and his senior year in college, he was the organist at Market Square Arena in Indianapolis providing music for Pacers basketball and Racers ice hockey games.  But for many years, the music was secondary to his love of sports and his sportscasting career.

But since retiring from sports in 2008, Ken has performed concerts on the great theatre pipe organs around the world.  He also helped establish the Long Center Theatre Organ Society in Lafayette, Indiana; spent ten years as the President of the American Theatre Organ Society; was the Director of Fundraising for the Historic Organ Restoration Committee, the organization restoring the largest musical instrument in the world, the Midmer-Losh organ at Boardwalk Hall in Atlantic City, NJ.  All this in addition to his consulting and performing work at the Atlanta Fox on the beloved “Might Mo” Moller theatre pipe organ.

Ken Double performed his first concert in 1978; has more than 20 recordings to his credit; has enjoyed seven tours of Australia and New Zealand; will perform his 40th annual June concert at the Long Center in Lafayette, IN in 2022; and has been the Master of Ceremonies for more than 25 American Theatre Organ Society annual and regional conventions.

Among his career highlights in the world of the pipe organ:

• Had a major impact in saving the former Mars Theatre in Lafayette, IN, a 1921 vaudeville theatre that is now home to that city’s symphony orchestra, and a Wurlitzer pipe organ, the theatre is now the Long Center (named after its major donor)
• Designed, handled fundraising, organized and promoted the installation of and the performances of a Wurlitzer Theatre Pipe Organ at the Long Center, starting with fundraising in 1979; the debut of the organ in 1982 played to two sold-out houses; a rebuild and expansion of the organ in 1991; formation of the non-profit Long Center Theatre Organ Society in 1988; and soon, 40 consecutive years of concert appearances
• Fundraising advisor for the Central Indiana Chapter of the American Theatre Organ Society for three different theatre organ installations in Indianapolis, IN
• In 2007, appointed to lead the board of directors of the American Theatre Organ Society, and in 2008, named its first full time staff President
• During his ten-years with ATOS, Ken saw the Endowment Fund increase from $350,000 to more than $2.1 million
• Led the effort toward a more business-like approach to the organization
• Oversaw the establishment and growth of its youth program, the Summer Youth Adventure, which has seen more than 80 young performers attend this “camp-like” event, producing no fewer than six concert-level young artists
• In 2013, brought the ATOS Annual Convention to Atlanta, which included four stellar concerts on Mighty Mo from artists from Great Britain, Australia and the US
• In 2016, approached the management of the Fox Theatre regarding the needs of the near-90-year-old Moller pipe organ, and was hired as a project consultant
• In 2017, following the death of long-time organist Larry-Douglas Embury, Ken was asked to be part of the team to perform on Mighty Mo at the Fox
• In 2017, was approached by HORC, the Historic Organ Restoration Committee, to lead the effort in fundraising for the full restoration of the largest musical instrument ever created, the Midmer-Losh pipe organ at Boardwalk Hall in Atlantic City
• Made entertainment a priority in his concerts, engaging other music performers, including 34 concerts and three recordings with Skip Stine, former trumpeter with the Harry James Orchestra.

Broadcaster, concert organist, entertainer, promoter, fundraiser – Ken has worn many hats during his professional careers, and has been fortunate to, as he likes to say, “Get paid to have fun.”  As the song goes, nice work if you can get it!