ROSALIE
ALLEN 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.
