rosalie allen - Inducted 1999

Rosalie Allen (born Julie Marlene Bendra, June 27, 1924 Old Forge, PA), known as "The Queen of The Yodelers", was an early female Country star and the first female Country disc jockey in New York City. She won a talent show the first prize was to sing on WBRE Wilkes-Barre, PA. She then joined Shorty Fincher's Prairie Pals on a York, PA radio station. In 1944, when many male talents were drafted to serve in World War Two, she became one of the earliest radio disc jockeys and the first female Country music disc jockey in New York. Her "Prairie Stars" radio show ran six nights a week on WOV until 1956. In 1946, she signed with RCA records, and hit the top ten twice in 1946 with "I Want To Be A Cowboy's Sweetheart" and "Guitar Polka". Allen hosted a weekly NBC-TV from The Village Barn (1948-1950) and a second Village Barn series (1951-1952). She hosted a nationally distributed radio show for the NBC Radio Network and international show for the Armed Forces Radio Network (1949-1954). She teamed with Elton Britt for the "Tune Corral" radio series (1950-1951). When her "Prairie Stars" show ended, she elected to stay home to raise her daughter, except for a few special appearances. At one point she worked as a cook for Jim and Tammy Faye Bakker for whom her son-in-law was a security guard. Rosalie Allen was inducted into the Country Music D J Hall of Fame in 1999. Allen died of congestive heart failure in Van Nuys, CA on September 24, 2003.