Randall Ignatius Atcher (December 7, 1918 - October 9, 2002) was a Louisville, Kentucky, radio and television personality.
Atcher was born in modern-day Ft Knox, Kentucky, and by the age of 15 was an accomplished and favorite entertainer. Atcher played guitar, mandolin, banjo, double bass and harmonica and was often heard with his musical "Atcher Family" on WHAS AM radio in Louisville. By the 1950s, Atcher was a popular entertainer in Louisville, performing (and starring) on over 22 programs a week. Atcher died on October 9, 2002, in Louisville.
Biography
Randy Atcher was the fifth child of Mary Agnes (née Ray) and George Christopher Atcher. Soon after his birth, the family farm was taken as part of the Fort Knox reservation, and his family moved to North Dakota, and then back to Kentucky when he was twelve. Atcher's father was a Kentucky State Champion old-time fiddler.
Atcher quickly became an accomplished and favorite entertainer. In 1934, at the age of 15, he was listed as the "Yodeling Wonder" during a concert he performed with his brother Bob Atcher at Hustonville (Kentucky) High School.
Atcher played guitar, mandolin, banjo, double bass and harmonica and was often heard with his musical "Atcher Family" on WHAS AM radio in Louisville. The family was first broadcast in 1932 on Louisville's WLAP AM radio station and then began a two and a half-year run on WHAS AM that ended in 1936.
Atcher became a prolific entertainer at WHAS Radio and TV in Louisville. In 1959, at 12:15pm each day, he hosted a show called Randy Sings Ballads. At 1:00pm, Randy and the Red River Ramblers performed an hour show. His children's show T-Bar-V Ranch aired every day at 4:00pm. On Saturdays, Atcher did the WHAS Old Kentucky Barn Dance that aired Saturdays from 6:00pm to 7:00pm and the Country Record Shop show from 7:30pm to 8:30pm. Atcher's popular barn dance show was also a featured attraction for two Saturday nights at the Kentucky State Fair.
Early career
Atcher originally performed with musician members of his family. A 1935 newspaper article listed "Bob Atcher, the 'Mountain Minstrel', Randall Atcher, the 'Laughing Yodeler', Dad, the 'Kentucky Fiddling Champion' and Francis, the 'Old Grin Boy'" on April 15, 1935, at Moreland High School in Danville, Kentucky and broadcast on WHAS AM radio. Readers were told they would "laugh 'till your sides ache'".
Interrupted college
Atcher attended the Western Kentucky Teachers College in 1936. The "radio yodeler from West Point" won the position of vice-president of the freshman class. The Ohio River flood of 1937 washed the Atcher family home at West Point away, and Atcher withdrew from the college, helping to rebuild the family home. He did not return to college, having decided to continue in entertainment.
Return to broadcasting
Later in 1937, Atcher joined the hillbilly radio troupe "Uncle Henry and His Kentucky Mountaineers". In 1938, he joined "Sunshine Sue and Her Rock Creek Rangers", playing guitar and singing on WHAS AM radio. While a member of that troupe, Atcher also played the rube comedic character "Lemuel Q. Splutterfluss". In 1939 the group moved to WMOX AM in St. Louis.
In 1938, he left Louisville for Chicago and put a band together there. He won slots performing on WJJD and WBBM and became a local star; he also recorded occasionally with his older brother, Bob Atcher.
In 1941, Atcher joined his brother Bob and Bob's wife Laurena Applegate, known as "Bonnie Blue Eyes" as "The Western Trio" on Ben Bernie's Just Entertainment program. The program aired on Louisville's WHAS AM radio station Mondays through Fridays at 4:45 pm.
Military service
Atcher stepped away from WJJD AM in Chicago and enlisted as a Private in the United States Army Air Forces, saying "We were with Ben Bernie's old orchestra on a tour at the time of Pearl Harbor. My birthday is December 7, so it's easy to remember. And I quit the troupe that night and came home and enlisted in the Air Force. When I went in the Air Force... I decided that I probably wouldn't go back into music when I got out of the service. But after four and a half years it was just so natural to go back to the entertaining that that's what I did." Atcher mustered out having earned the rank of Major in the US Army Air Forces.
Later career
Upon discharge from the Army, Atcher initially returned to WHAS AM radio as a performer on their Old Kentucky Barn Dance. Atcher signed a solo recording contract with MGM Records and also recorded many songs with his brother Bob for Columbia Records.