Bob Atcher was born in Hardin County, Kentucky, and learned violin and guitar from his father, who was skillful at playing the fiddle. Bob attended Kentucky State University when he was only 14. He studied medicine and combined that with guitar playing and yodeling.
Atcher started out on radio in Louisville on WHAS, and was offered spots on a number of other stations in the South and Midwest. Bob was one of the stars of the WLS National Barn Dance. At one time, they called him the youngest old performer in radio as he had started his radio career when he was just a teenager.
In 1934 he went to Chicago and began broadcasting coast to coast. About that same time, he teamed up with a young lady that was known on stage as "Bonnie Blue Eyes". Later on, Loeta Applegate, her real name and Bob were married.
In 1939 he was offered a regular gig on Chicago station WBBM which was broadcast nationally by CBS. The show made him a national star, and he signed with ARC just before CBS bought the company. After the purchase Atcher was transferred to Okeh Records and then to Columbia Records, both CBS subsidiaries.
Between 1939 and 1942, he recorded many duets with Applegate. Among these was "You Are My Sunshine." Bob's younger brother Randy Atcher also appeared on some of his records. After 1942, Atcher served in the Army in World War II and returned to performing in 1946, charting hits which included "I Must Have Been Wrong," (1946), Signed, Sealed and Delivered (1948) and "Why Don't You Haul Off and Love Me" (1949).
In 1948 Atcher signed on with WLS and became a performer on their National Barn Dance and remained there until 1970. As one of their biggest stars, he continued to record and released an album entitled Early American Folk Songs in 1948. In 1950, he signed with Capitol Records, and later in the 1950s moved to Kapp Records. In 1950 he recorded "Christmas Island" with the Dinning Sisters. He continued with the Barn Dance well into the 1960s, and re-signed to Columbia that decade, re-recording many of his songs in stereo.
Atcher was a successful businessman, and bought several businesses and invested in banking with the proceeds from his career. He was also the mayor of Schaumburg, Illinois from 1959 to 1979. He died in 1993.
---------------------------------------------------------------------------Researched and written by Richard Bell, Roots of Country Music. Jun. 12, 2009.
