Rosalie Allen, 79; Singer, Disc Jockey Was ‘Queen of the Yodelers’

Rosalie Allen, 79, who was considered “Queen of the Yodelers” and was the first woman inducted into the Country Radio Broadcaster DJ Hall of Fame, died in Van Nuys on Sept. 23. She had suffered a fall a few weeks earlier, and died of complications of congestive heart failure.

Born Juliana Marlene Bedra, one of 12 children of a poor Appalachian coal miner, she grew up in Old Forge, Pa., and during World War II began singing and yodeling in York, Pa., for $15 a week. She soon moved to New York City, where her salary rose rapidly to $300 a week on the “Swing Billies” radio show.

In 1944, Allen placed a promising recording career on hold to become a woman disc jockey and radio personality on New York City’s WOV. By 1946 her original half-hour program, “Prairie Stars,” had expanded to two hours a night, and Country Music magazine called her the most famous country music personality in Manhattan. Her guests included Eddy Arnold, Hank Williams, Roy Rogers and Dale Evans. She also had an NBC television show.

When Allen returned to singing, she appeared in the first country music program at Carnegie Hall in 1947. She went on to record such hits for RCA as “Guitar Polka,” “Never Trust a Man,” “Yodel Boogie,” “Tennessee Yodel Polka,” and a Dale Evans composition, “Aha San Antone.”