''The Organist Entertains'' was a long-running music programme broadcast on BBC Radio 2. The 30 minute programme focused on the organ in its many guises, and played recordings and live broadcasts of

theatre organs A theatre organ (also known as a theater organ, or, especially in the United Kingdom, a cinema organ) is a type of pipe organ developed to accompany silent films, from the 1900s to the 1920s. Theatre organs have horseshoe-shaped arrangements o ...

pipe organs The pipe organ is a musical instrument that produces sound by driving pressurized air (called ''wind'') through the organ pipes selected from a keyboard. Because each pipe produces a single pitch, the pipes are provided in sets called ''ranks ...

and electronic organs around the United Kingdom and the rest of the world. The programme ran as a weekly feature on Radio 2 from 11 June 1969 and was originally presented by Robin Richmond. In 1980, Nigel Ogden took over as presenter. In Ogden's absence, the programme was occasionally guest presented by Blackpool Tower organist

Phil Kelsall Philip Julian Kelsall Member of the Most Excellent Order of the British Empire, MBE London College of Music Examinations, ALCM (born 13 July 1956) is an English theatre organist who has been principal organist at the Blackpool Tower Ballroom sinc ...

. The programme's introductory music was "From This Moment On" by Cole Porter, played by Ogden. On 10 January 2018, the BBC announced that the programme was to be discontinued after being on air for almost half a century. The final programme was broadcast on 8 May 2018.

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* {{DEFAULTSORT:Organist Entertains, The BBC Radio 2 programmes British music radio programmes Organs (music) 1969 radio programme debuts 2018 radio programme endings