Oral History Interview with Randy Atcher and Betty Atcher

To tell you the truth about playing a comic in my early days of performing, it was both enjoyable and something I had to kind of do in order to get to do what I wanted to do. I enjoyed it and had never done anything like that before, and then it was sort of they needed a comedian in the group. So I did it and really had a lot of fun with it. So it wasn’t really anything I really shied away from. I used to have a picture of me in the costume but I can’t find it. [Interviewer Gregg Swem says, But you described it pretty well in one of the earlier interviews what you looked like–very vividly.]

Well, we went up to do the Arthur Godfrey Show [in New York]–and you know, in those days, it was a contest. They’d have about three acts and then they’d pick out one and sort of having been the top one–and, uh, I always remember it because we had worked out an arrangement of “Mama Don’t ‘low No Music Played in Here”–the band–every one of ‘em were [good??]–so we worked it out so that each one played. Well, we got up there and Arthur Godfrey’s secretary–the one that got it together for us to come up–wouldn’t let us do that–we had to do “Good Ol’ Mountain Dew”–you know–or somethin’–you know, whangy and mountainy and so on. So we did it and needless to say, we didn’t come in first–second we did–but the fella who won it was up in Cincinnati for a long time–maybe he’d still be there–name was Braun, I believe it was–Bob Braun [now deceased], longtime TV personality up there. He was the one there who did the solo for it. And I remember particularly well because George Workman played bass for [it or us??] and had not been on an airplane before, and he got up about the middle of the trip and put his overcoat on–and he said just in case we fell, he wanted to be [laughs]–it was wintertime [laughs] and he wanted to be ready for the cold.

And then, later on, he just had us go up [to New York] to the Garry Moore Show as guests. And this time we were able to do whatever we wanted to but we had changed in... [I don’t remember] now what it was we played but we were just guests on his show, and it was a pleasant experience.

Both of those trips would have been in the 1950s. I think it was Garry Moore’s daytime program we were on [rather than the later nighttime variety show]. At night, didn’t he have a quiz kind of a program? [Gregg Swem says, Well, he did that at one time but you know, when he had that hour-long comedy show–variety show–with Carol Burnett–that was all nighttime–and Durwood Kirby–who was also on the earlier daytime show. But I think there was something in the morning I remember that was kind of a–more of a talk show with a little entertainment.] That would have been the one [the daytime show] that we were on ‘cause Carol Burnett was not there when we did it–Durwood Kirby was.–but that would have been the morning one.

So in each of these TV shows I was appearing with a group–the Red River Ramblers Band. Yes, I enjoyed those experiences. It was, you know, a certain amount of recognition as well as just enjoyin’ bein’ on the network. Both of those network engagements came about through Vic Sholis who was the general manager of WHAS. It came through him but I’m not sure how except they may have just for some entertainers and he sent us. So I assume WHAS made the contacts.

We formed the trio High, Wide and Handsome about 1992. The Speed Museum called me and said they were having this exhibit on Buffalo Bill Cody and could I get a Western group together to sing. So, uh, I took my son Mark–Shorty and I had done some but nothing too extensive. But I decided, Well, we could get together and do it–we were gonna be there for--this was for members only–when the exhibit opened–and it was gonna be two to three hours. So we had to get together and get a bunch of the old Western songs, and I had ALWAYS wanted a trio called High, Wide and Handsome because...it’s an expression–a Western expression particularly because they talked about ridin’ high, wide and handsome and all. It was just one of those things that I liked. So we did that opening for members only at the museum. And before they sent the exhibit back, we were there six times. Individual members would have a party of some sort and have us come. And that’s really what got us really started. And then we’ve made a lot of appearances, doin’ a lot of work for years, and were on the Crusade every year–High, Wide and Handsome–and then when my son moved to Florida about–I guess six years ago now–kind of broke up my playhouse [laughs]. Now he comes back for the Crusade and the St. Agnes [Catholic Church] Festival. Yes, I think that’s when the church has the Owensboro barbecue at that time. Yes, it’s a pretty big church festival–I think maybe it’s the largest one in the area.

Yes, I remember being in the production of “Destry” at the Catholic Theatre Guild. Oh, yes. My first wife was--sort of made costumes–and also she was pretty good at directing kind of thing. So anyway, she had been to several of these community plays and they decided they were gonna do “Destry” and they asked her if I would try to do it. And so I did give it a try. It was quite a thing–I’ll never forget–you know, there’s one scene in it where Destry pulls out the gun and shoots the things on wall and pictures drop–and naturally, the first time that happened I pulled the gun out–wouldn’t fire a thing [laughs]–it just, uh, I think I ended up saying bang [laughs]. But it was fun to do. That was a weekend [so I had the time to do it]. That’s where we did it–the old Broadway Theater–on East Broadway.

When we lived at West Point and my father would come home after working at the cement plant all day, he would work in the vegetable garden–there was a lot of that. But we had with the house there was about 3 ½ acres. But my dad wasn’t happy with that, so he’d lease land over–just out of West Point–and go over there. And he’d go usually plant corn or something like that. It was just outside of town. He’d lease something in the neighborhood of 20 acres–not a great big place–but enough that it kept him busy, you know. Oh, yes, he liked to keep his hand in farming all that time–of course, he’d done that all his life. And I was born on the Brooks place out in Tip Top, and that was a big farm. And then went to North Dakota–had a huge farm up there–and worked [can’t understand word??]–and then when he came back and went to work at the cement plant, he just wasn’t happy doing just that.

As to the recordings that my brother and I did–“On Account of You”–that was a song that I wrote and my brother Bob did the recording of it. But “Cool Water” was one of our best. And “Poppa’s Goin’ Crazy, Mama’s Goin’ Mad” was another one. There are several–I just haven’t thought of ‘em in so long–that we did together. “Pennsylvania Pal” was on the back side of “Cool Water.” And of course, that was done with the trio–with Bob and his wife and me. And “Poppa’s Goin’ Crazy, Mama’s Goin’ Mad” was just the two of us–I played mandolin on that record. And uh, I played instrumentally on “You Are My Sunshine” that Bob and Bonnie made–it was a BIG hit. I think the first commercial recording made of it–I’m not sure–before Jimmie Davis recorded it.

“Cool Water” is on the Internet. I didn’t get if off the Internet but I heard from a fellow out in Seattle, Washington, who said that it was on the Internet and he’d gotten it there. And the same is true of that “Poppa’s Goin’ Crazy, Momma’s Goin’ Mad”–kind of a novelty thing. We didn’t record “Blue Eyes Cryin’ in the Rain” but we should have. Fred Rose who at that time was part of Acuff-Rose Publications wrote the song and brought it in to us in Chicago and played it for us, and this was in1941. And then, as far as I know, it didn’t become popular until Nelson–Willie Nelson–got hold of it. We didn’t record it–I sang it a lot with the Swingin’ Cowboys group but I never recorded it.

I believe it was 1973 when my brother Bob and I appeared at the Grand Ole Opry. That was the best I can remember. We appeared at Ernest Tubb’s Record Shop in connection with that visit to Nashville. I had met Tubb when I was at WHAS. Well, he was up here for shows, you know–it would have been probably the early ‘60s when I met him–the best I can remember. I’d met him and he was a NICE guy to talk to. And when we went down and were on in the ‘70s, his son had the record shop then–Ernest wadn’t there. So we sang a couple of songs on that program. [Gregg Swem says, The record shop is probably one of the few old businesses left on that end of Broadway in Nashville where urban renewal has take so much.]

I knew Pee Wee King from 1934 when he came to WHAS and I was at WHAS at the same time. Brother Bob and I were on WHAS and Pee Wee came in–actually, with Gene Autry–when Gene came. And uh, Gene stayed about two months, I think, before he went on out West. And Pee Wee stayed and went with a little band–group–called the Log Cabin Boys. And of course, Pee Wee’s wife and her sister were girl singers with Pee Wee’s band. And uh, Pee Wee and I remained good friends ever since.

When “Hayloft Hoedown” was taken off WHAS and I had the three-month contract with WLKY-TV, Channel 32, Cactus couldn’t go because of his contract. And Tiny Thomale did not go; yes, he was certainly a draw on the show. Yes, we had to hire a different piano player–and he–the guy’s dead now–I can’t think of his name–one of these times I’ll talk to Shorty [Chesser] and I’ll get some names. So Tiny and Cactus couldn’t go but the rest of the cast did go to WLKY.

Well, yeah, it was just sort of a trial run. At the end of three months, I think it was a sort of a mutual agreement [between the station and me]–I wasn’t too happy with the way things were done. And I think the 13-week contract was just with a business for that length of time, so we decided to just stop it after that. It didn’t get the audience there that it had at WHAS.

My first wife’s father was raised in a Catholic orphanage–he was young in a Catholic orphanage and got upset someway or other with the orphanage and the church and everything else, and left the church. Her family didn’t have any particularly strong religious leanings even though she was an Anglican in name. Of course, I was in Australia for a couple of years and goin’ to church wasn’t anything to her.

Yes, country music has evolved into something different today than when I first began performing it. There was never anything about country music that I didn’t like–I learned and sang a whole lot of the mountain songs, you know, but when I joined Sunshine Sue and the Rock Creek Rangers, they were heavy into Western music. And to me, the melodies were just better [than in country music]–prettier–so I just took a real liking to Western music and pretty much stayed with that, although I did a lot of the other stuff too. But, uh, I just liked Western songs–and still do. But I still had an attraction to country music at the same time. Yes, I still sing or have sung some of the good country songs. As a matter of fact, there’s a song called “I’ll Be All Smiles Tonight”–it’s one of the old mountain songs–it’s ancient–and when I did the recordings for MGM in Nashville, {I] decided to do it–I’m not sure why except I liked the song. So I copyrighted a version of it through Acuff-Rose and it has sold better than [laughs] most of the other songs, yeah. “I’ll Be All Smiles Tonight”–it’s an old one.

No, I’ve not been pleased with the new country sound. As a matter of fact, when we went down to make that recording–this was in about 1963 or ‘4–for MGM, we recorded I believe it was 10 songs that I had written–included was a song called “Flyin’ High,” and one called “Soft Shoulders and Dangerous Curves.” “I’ll Be All Smiles Tonight.” “I Need You, Baby.” And so on. And the producer of that session wanted more like today’s country music so we did it that way. And it really didn’t suit me–I didn’t care much for it–but that’s the way we did ‘em. And they’d come out, you know, loud and raucous, and I wadn’t too happy with ‘em. [Gregg Swem says, The melody and all was sort of obliterated.] Yeah, sort of.

Gene Autry’s cowboy clothes influenced the country music business, I think. It began to catch on in country music because he wore the Western style. I started wearing a Western costume when I was with Sunshine Sue in 1937, ‘38. And uh, I always felt like a costume was better for a show, you know. ‘Course, when I was young and my family was on [performing], we wore blue shirts and overalls, you know. But, uh, when I got into the Western thing, then I wanted to go pretty nice Western clothes, and that’s what I wore from then on.

The most popular song or music I’ve written other than the “T-Bar-V” songs, “Soft Shoulders and Dangerous Curves” and “Flying High.” They were on the same record–one on one side and the other on the other side. And Helen Morgan, who was a pop singer at the time, recorded “Flying High.” Those songs were in the early ‘60s. I don’t know–I probably could find one of the songs when it was copyrighted and get the date but the early ‘60s. But I wrote both of those songs.

I had thought that Georgetown University would be a good school for my son Mark because he was into languages. He had four credits in Greek, four or five credits in Spanish, and so on, so he was just into languages. And I thought it would be working up to diplomatic kind of thing–and so we talked to ‘im about goin; to Georgetown. And I thought it was pretty much planned but then, all of a sudden, he told me he didn’t want to go there–he wanted to go to Western Kentucky, so that’s where he went.

Mark works with the Reserves. He gets them prepared and ready for their assignments. He’s a former reservist himself. Yes, he had to retire after 20 years as a lieutenant colonel. Of course, he was then working as a civilian, too, so he just stayed on. He was working for them as a civilian in Kentucky and then transferred to Florida. Yes, he was in the Vietnam War; we discussed that. [Betty Atcher says, He more or less does the administrative work as far as seeing that the troops are shipped out.] Yeah, it’s an administrative post.

John Lair, who founded Renfro Valley–when he was up in Chicago on the WLS Barn Dance, the members of his group were Red Foley, Lair, Slim Miller, and Carl and Hardy Taylor. Well, it was Carl–well, I don’t know--Hardy Taylor was one of ‘em but the other I can’t remember Carl’s last name–anyway, it was a duet who played mandolin and guitar and sang–and they were with him. And then–I was tryin’ to thin–there was somebody else–no, I guess that was the primary band.. Red Foley just played guitar accompaniment but he was a singer–and a very, very popular one. Yeah, very popular.

Yeah, there’s supposed to be a museum they’re opening at Renfro Valley. Somebody said they saw in the paper where someone had written, you know, Why hadn’t they included me in this first group? But uh, it’s funny–Renfro was always kind of distant to the Louisville group here. So maybe they’ll get around to it [laughs as if he’s not concerned about being left out].

When my father traded a one-room log cabin and two acres of ground for a fiddle, this was WELL before I was born. I don’t even know whether my oldest sister was born or not [then] ‘cause he’d had that fiddle fer as long as I can remember. But it was in Hardin County in the Rodgersville area where the land was.

When Roy Rogers and the Sons of the Pioneers came to Louisville in 1958, they were doing charity shows as well as a paid show. And I was replacing a man named Lloyd Perryman–he was kind of sick so they asked me to go along with ‘em, and I did and I really enjoyed it. Lloyd Perryman was well and able to go on by the time the paid show came around; I did the substituting in the charity shows. Roy Rogers was not on “Hayloft Hoedown” at that time. As a matter of fact, he wadn’t on even our radio show–their schedule was pretty tight. And the time we were on was a time when they couldn’t make it or somethin’. Our paths–Roy’s and mine–crossed only once or twice again when he’d be goin’ through town or somethin’ and it didn’t amount to much other than “hi,” you know.

Pat Boone wasn’t on the “Hoedown.” Of course, Pat O’Brien was here for the Crusade; he was not on “Hayloft Hoedown.” Pat O’Brien was here then strictly for a Crusade appearance. And he was on “Small Talk”–Mary Snow Etheridge’s program. I remembered when Pat O’Brien was being interviewed how he dropped his ashes into the microphone [laughs]–this was on “Small Talk,” not on the Crusade–he, uh, imbibed quite a bit. Pat Butram came through here but he wasn’t on the show–“Hayloft Hoedown.” I mentioned Pat Butram in regard to cracked voice–he was not on the Crusade or the “Hoedown.” We did some shows–at that time they were doing some live shows down at the old Savoy Theater–and we worked with uh, uh–Gene Autry’s off-sider, wadn’t it? Pat Butram was too but this was another one. I’ve got a picture of ‘im in those pictures of–let’s see, as a matter of fact, a bunch of proofs of us on stage down there. And uh, funny it won’t come to me–I’m...Well, this fella was a comedian and usually wore kind of striped overalls or somethin’. No, it wasn’t Andy Devine–he was in a bunch of Westerns but he wasn’t connected to Gene Autry. Who was Roy Rogers’ sidekick–Pat Brady, yeah. This was, ah boy, it just drives me crazy–and you know, I know ‘im well and I’ve got the pictures of him but I can’t think of his name. Either he [Autry] or Rogers–it could be either one[‘s sidekick I’m trying to think of]. But of course, uh, the fella who was on with Roy so long, you know–he did a lot of other stuff.

The sidekick whose name I can’t think of was not here for “Hayloft Hoedown”–he was here for a show at the Savoy, and Cac and I went down and were with him for a little bit down there–and more or less introduced and then introduced him. And uh, I don’t think he was on the “Hoedown” ‘cause it was the middle of the week [when he appeared at the Savoy] and the “Hoedown” didn’t come on till later in the week and it was before tapes, so he couldn’t do it.

People who appeared on “Hayloft Hoedown” included Homer and Jethro, Frankie Carle, Earl Wrightson, Ishkabibble [sp??], Marty Robbins, Ray Price, and Steve Lawrence and Edye Gorme. Yes, I think Durwood Kirby was on “Hayloft Hoedown”–and he was here [for the charity show the year] before the Crusade. See, the “Hoedown” started in ‘51 and the first show they did was called a Cerebral Palsy Telethon–one year before the Crusade for Children started. And Durwood Kirby was here with the Garry Moore group for that–the telethon. Garry Moore was not on “Hayloft Hoedown.”

I said earlier I’m sure there were some shows kind of like “T-Bar-V” in other television markets. As far as knowing of any for sure–only things that I’ve heard–but most of ‘em were clown-type things, yeah, and up in Cincinnati, Dayton and Columbus–there was a fella who worked out of Cincinnati–and uh, what did they call him?–Uncle Somethin’–gosh, I’d have to–that goes back so far. He appeared on children’s television up there in those cities. Most of the ones that were on–one of the big differences in them and “T-Bar-V” is we talked individually to each child. They each got recognized on the show. Most of the others had bleachers and they just talked to the whole group–sort of the way “Howdy Doody” [not a birthday show, however] was done–not singling anybody out. Most every large market did have some kind of a children’s program. And I really do think that the fact that we just took the time to talk to each child made all the difference–made that impression [on the children].

The square dancers on “Hayloft Hoedown”–they danced each week for a long period of time. But toward the end, there were on just now and then. Among other things, we lost a couple of ‘em, you know. And square dancing took a long period of time, so because of our time constraints, they started as havin’ them periodically rather than every week. It was a practical thing as well–not having them on as much as before. There were the Inskos–Frances and her husband. OK, there’s a couple–I can’t think of their first name now but Hertz was the last name–and he worked for Linker’s--Bread--or whatever does the company. Yeah, they danced. There were four couples, you know, who were there every time they were on--unless one couple couldn’t be there, they’d insert another couple.

Dale Evans was known as Honey Evans in the old days. Well, when she was at WHAS, she was only known as Honey Evans. That would have been about the time that Pee Wee King came to WHAS and Bob and I were there then, too. This was in 1935 and probably into a bit of ‘36–but not much ‘cause Bob left in ‘36 to go to Chicago. But in 1935. She had a breakfast program at that time–it was on from 7:30 to 8. And then Bob and I were on from 8 to 8:15. And I think I mentioned Foster Brooks followed us with Joe Pearson on piano–and then [at that time] he just sang–he didn’t do any comedy at all–and uh, 8:15 to 8:30. So we filled that hour. Dale/Honey Evans was a singer principally–oh, yes, and a good one. Yeah, she sang. The only person I can remember that played in the band was a fella named Buddy Brock who played trumpet–that was the WHAS staff band–studio band.

The kind of riot at 22nd and Garland [laughs]. Fortunately, there was a real good friend–a policeman there–who stepped in. His name was Woody Atwell. He lived down there in that area. Oh, yeah, the policemen knew me pretty well in those days–and continued to–and a number of times I’ve been stopped and they didn’t give me a ticket because [and he says with a look of surprise] Oh! It’s you! [laughs].

Regarding the David Inman book, well, he told me–he came by and brought somethin’ to be signed the other day and he said that they’ve sold about 3,500 and gone through the third printing. Possibly they’ll do another printing–it depends on how it goes now. It came out at an ideal time–right at Christmas, you know. Oh, yeah, I’m pleased with that reception.

I’m not sure that you should use his name–Michael Swayze’s [sp??]–the one we were talking about earlier–he’s the type who might...[Betty Atcher says, Yeah, he kind of blew in and out of town and that was it.]

SIDE B

...minus expenses, you know–it was something over $2,000. [Betty Atcher says, He just kind of blew in out of nowhere.] He came from Indianapolis and wanted to do this. And at the time, we were talkin’ ‘bout the Kentucky Theater which would have been a good place to do it, but then as it started goin’ along, it kept changing and finally, he said he moved here–moved to Louisville. But wadn’t here long–I don’t know...Anyway, we got through that thing down there at Jim Porter’s–I wadn’t happy where it was. He did not perform on the Crusade. He just came down and gave ‘em a check. [Betty Atcher says, Michael had been on “T-Bar-V” as a child, so he was from Louisville then. And when he came back to town, that was the premise. He came out to West Point when Randy was doin’ a performance out there one night–to that Music Ranch–you’ve got some information about that, do you? Well, that’s something to add.]

Yeah, West Point, of course, is my hometown. And for a long time, they had a plaque in the front yard of our old home–sayin’, you know, former home of Randy [laughs] Atcher [laughs]. But, uh, the country music show they have there on Saturday nights I’ve done many times. As a matter of fact, I’m invested in it to a small extent. And it has done really well. There’s a large auditorium-like–seats about 500 to 600 people–and a stage that goes around. And they have a band there and different people every Saturday. And now they’re broadening it into a group on Fridays, and then some others–goin’ like from a gospel night to country music to rock ‘n’ roll, you know. You come into town off 31W, you go across the railroad and the first street left and it’s called–Music Ranch–you go across the railroad that way [demonstrates] which is just a half–quarter block–and turn. [Betty Atcher says, You come in and make a left turn and it’s where the old hotel is.] It’s in another building–not the building where the antique and craft shops were–but that’s part of their complex. [Betty Atcher says, There’s a whole row of activities along there–the old hotel and little shops. For some 10 years, I think, there have been this–somebody came along–built the big building to house this thing–and for four or five years– four maybe--they tried to make a go of it–they didn’t do well–then this other group came along and decided they would like to set up a stock company and sell some–you know, so they have shareholders and so forth–and we bought into it a little bit and Mark bought into it–and just sort of try to support it, you know, in the little town there–for it to have something while they’re going on. And Randy periodically appears and they’ve always been real proud to say, you know, This is his hometown. But he didn’t wanta overdo it.] [Randy Atcher laughs]. [Betty Atcher says, For one thing--I mean, you know, that gets old after while. So they wanted to make it special if he didn’t show up, you know, and he’s done three or four like real big performances and then he’s done other things where he just stepped up and spoke because we happened to be out there. And we do try to get out there now and then.]

High, Wide and Handsome appeared there a few times. [Betty Atcher says, As to how long the emporium has been around, in its present form, I think it’s been at least four years since we invested in it.] Oh, yeah, a little longer than that. [Betty Atcher says, And it was going before that, so probably five years since this group has taken it over. And it happened that we were out there one evening and it wasn’t even a scheduled performance I don’t think–I think they just asked him to come up from the audience–and then that’s when Mike Swayze [sp??] was there. And he popped in, gave Randy a card ‘cause I was there handin’ out pictures and stuff. And that’s a person we’d never laid eyes on–didn’t know anything about ‘im–and he said–it turns out he was there with that performer–the young man who had the country music band. And they also called that young fella–John somebody or other called him up and he was introduced to the group. And it began then–and very casually–and Mike just started talkin’ and Randy was sayin’, Why, yeah. Mike said, I’d like to call you and come over and talk to you. And he came over and you know, it jist was the kind of thing where somebody was sort of just talkin’–and all of a sudden, he put a whole bunch of stuff into motion–and had paid advertisers and had printed stuff...and stuff that Randy wasn’t even aware of, you know. It just snowballed. And that’s what really got him thinkin’: I don’t like the way this is goin’, you know–this thing’s gotten out of hand. That was the first time we’d seen Mike.]

I’d guess we’d better let Mike go. [Betty Atcher, That’s just to understand where he fitted in there.]

My monitor at the printing house gets a little tired of all the war material I’ve been reading. Yes, we had a series of books about World War II. Well, and we got through with that, and we thought, Well, maybe we’ll get somethin’ that’s not war–then they started on the Civil War [laughs]. Seemed like I just–we just kept stayin’ with the war books. I kind of enjoy ‘em but she is tired of the wars. Oh, yes, she listens carefully to them because that’s her job. She gets a lot of the content–not just watching out for technical things. She has to be sure I don’t make any mistakes in pronunciation or noises or any of that. [Betty Atcher says, They both prepare–they both–Randy does a lot of scanning and preparation before he reads. And I think she has to, too–lookin’ for words that would give trouble.] Yeah, we both do. Town names, people names and other things, you know.

Only once in a great while does a book have to recorded or read again. The printing house kind of prides itself on very few rejections. But see, they proof it here. Then it’s sent to Washington to be proofed there. If there are mispronunciations or noises or somethin’ that they missed, they have been to just reject the book completely and send it back. But then sometimes they’ll just take one thing which could possibly be two ways but their preference one way and send it back and just have it fix that. But uh, it does have to be proofed both ways [in Louisville and Washington] and once they approve it at the Library of Congress, then it’s put on these tapes and sent to the blind all over the world. [Betty Atcher says, But in almost every case, there’ll be one or two little things where he says ‘and’ instead of ‘the’ or whatever. And he has to go back and do small things that they catch here.] But a total rejection of somebody’s work is very rare. [Betty Atcher says, And they’re so good at what they do, really–they’re so professional.]

You get a special tape recorder for these tapes. You cain’t play it on a regular one. To find out how to go about using this service, you would get in touch with the printing house.

The WHAS 50th anniversary and special show. There was a lottery for seats because seating was limited. [Betty Atcher says, The way they first advertised it was they said anybody who was ever on “T-Bar-V” and might like to be on the show could write in a card. Well, they were so overwhelmed they couldn’t believe it. These young guys [putting the show together] had not been around–they didn’t know anything about it. And so it got to the point where there was no way all those people could go to it. But many of them thought if they sent in the card, that meant they were gonna get to come. Well, [the studio--can’t understand word??] dudn’t have but about 50 seats for people. And so then they did have a drawing.] I don’t think it was as many as 100 people who got to come. [Betty Atcher says, They had two sets of bleachers and that was it.] This was an event in the studio at WHAS. [Betty Atcher says, In one of the studios–it wasn’t a large place at all.] Yeah, and it turned out to be a kind of like a news program ‘cause they just went back–the history of WHAS-TV and... [Betty Atcher says, And mostly highlighted news events that had taken place in the last 50 years. And these people were all under the impression that they were gonna get to talk to Randy–that was all they could think of–and they told us–and they told us I don’t know how many times how surprised they were–Oh, gosh, we thought we were gonna get to talk to Randy–laughs–And he stayed for a long time and he was there early and talked to a lot of people, too, but uh...] But they did have to have a lottery or drawing for those few seats. [Betty Atcher says, I don’t think it could have been more than 75 all told.] No, I don’t either. [Betty Atcher says, It was not a large number–it was just in one of those studios. They did have refreshments afterwards and sort of let people mill around and visit a little bit and that. And we talked to a lot of people at that point.]

My niece had counted about 428 books that I have recorded. That would have been about--almost 10 years ago. That was Linda who did that–with the library. She’s my oldest brother Raymond’s daughter; she’s a librarian and worked at UK for the state of Kentucky–for libraries throughout the state. And this one now–Linda–we’re talkin’ ‘bout her–and she got in touch with ‘em and they sent this list of everything I’d read and at the end of it I noticed it says: 428 books. I suspect by now it would probably be over 600. [Betty Atcher says, I would say 500-600–somewhere in there.] Linda–her full name–uh, uh. [Betty Atcher says, Let’s see–Linda and Tony uh–what’s their last name?–laughs] Yeah, she was an Atcher. It’s an Italian-sounding name, I think. [Betty Atcher says looking in their address book, Was it Stith–Tony Stith–that’s kind of ringin’ a bell with me here. I’ll check it out.] That doesn’t sound right to me. [Later Betty Atcher says, The name was Stith–Linda Stith. Maggie–she’s the expert–I just called her.]

When I left WHAS and “T-Bar-V” and the “Hoedown” were taken off, it was pretty much when Barry Bingham Jr. came in and took over that those decisions were made to drop those shows. There was never any official explanation given as to why that was done–they just took the programs off–there wadn’t any celebration of any kind–I was always felt like it was because they were afraid people would be all writing in–the ire of the fans–so they just took the programs off and that was it.

I said that I didn’t really care for Barry Bingham Jr.’s decisions to take those two shows off the air. There was a strip on WHAS Monday through Friday of country and Western kind of programs. A half-hour straight across the board Monday through Friday–that’s known as a strip of programs. And I was told that they were making $300,000 a week profit off that strip, and we he took the “Hoedown” off, they took the whole strip off. And uh, they didn’t have any country music at all for a long period of time–and then just now and then they’d have something. The strip was not a network show–it was jist, jist they were buying these taped programs and they’d have ‘em on for a half-an-hour 7:30 to 8, and it was on five days a week, and all of it in that same type of music, you know. And when they took the “Hoedown” off, they took the whole strip off and–and I–and someone was tellin’ me this–didn’t understand that ‘cause they were really doin’ well with it–the strip–the taped shows. It might have been partly a prejudice against this type of music or musical show but I hesitate to say–Barry Jr. has been real good to me, you know, and comments, and mailed a real nice letter about my illness and so on. Well, he really didn’t care for country music as a....

Vic Sholis, general manager of WHAS, whom I admired very much–I always knew where I stood with him–ABSOLUTELY. But when Barry, Jr. came in, Vic Sholis was shoved aside. One of the things I heard was that they wanted him to take “T-Bar-V” off and the “Hoedown” and he refused. And so Barry had him–they brought in a–oh, well we always called it a hatchet man–to take care of firing people–and gave Vic an office–he had, I think it was two more years to go before he could retire–full retirement–and uh, he didn’t have any authority–he just had an office. And uh, I always hated that because he was–really, he knew his business and as I said, you always knew where you stood with him.

TELEPHONE CALL FROM BETTY ATCHER, MARCH 20, 2002–RECORDING LEFT ON ANSWERING MACHINE: Hi, Wade. This is Betty Atcher. It’s Wednesday evening the 20th of March. And you had indicated an interest in Randy’s progress and I wanted to tell yah that as of today, we have met with the doctor and he has pronounced that Randy is in remission–that his scans look wonderful and that he is now ready to start healing. There’s still a lot of time that it’s gonna take for him to get back to normal because he’s got to get over the effects of the chemo and all these extra medications that he has taken and everything. But we’re just rejoicing and I thought I would pass that along to you. His voice comes and goes but we’re just hoping that with time–and the doctor has said, The farther we can get away from this chemo and get him off of all these other medications, the more likely he is–and he really IS going to feel better. So...he was jubilant–the doctor was jubilant about the whole thing and how well it had all gone–and he just apologized for havin’ to treat him so harshly in order to get to that point but we know that’s what it took, so...we’re very happy and I just wanted to pass that along to you, so...talk to you later. Bye-bye.