Personality Test: Jeff Allen
Except for a one-month gap in 1992, Jeff Allen has been on the air at one station or another since 1967.
The Murrysville resident and Lower Burrell native launched the Olde Rocke Shoppe in 1972 on the now-defunct WYDD-FM, New Kensington, then moved it to its sister station, WKPA-AM, a few months later.
The radio personality's first radio gig was at Carnegie Tech's college station in 1964, where he played jazz, trying to emulate the late Phil Brooks at WKPA.
Allen, 69, whose real name is Jeff Stayer, remains a well-received weekend fixture from 9 a.m. to noon Saturdays with his Olde Rocke Shoppe on Music Power 103.9 (WLSW-FM). The show's focus is the music of the 1950s and '60s — early Motown and pop.
He occasionally hosts the station's Oldies Showcase from noon to 5 p.m. Sundays.
His live oldies dances continue to be popular charity events throughout the region.
“Bob Livorio (legendary WKPA oldies DJ who lives in New Kensington) taught me everything I know about playing dance sets at an event. People like to feel they are getting a performance, not just someone plugging discs into players or clicking a mouse into a laptop,” Allen says.
In his nonmusical life, Allen is adjunct professor in business technologies at the Community College of Allegheny County, Allegheny campus. He was in industrial management for Westinghouse Electric Corp. and successor companies from 1967 to 2003, when he retired, returning part-time from 2005 to '12 as a consultant.
The star who would play me in the movie version of my life:
Robert Duvall as a Renaissance man
Childhood hero:
The Lone Ranger. You never knew what he really looked like.
The piece of memorabilia from my childhood I wish I still had:
My first bicycle
The superpower I wish I had in real life:
To make everyone happy and cheerful, especially my wife and children. It's contagious.
Favorite season:
Golf
Favorite ethnic food:
Haluski
I spend the most time on Facebook, Twitter, Instagram or other:
Show I have or want to binge watch:
The old “Tonight Show” hosted by Jack Paar
My favorite cable channel:
It's a tie. The Golf Channel and CNBC
The dessert that matches my personality:
Ice Cream
Movie I could watch every time it appears on cable:
Another tie: Any of the Pink Panther series and “West Side Story”
My favorite sandwich, plus fixings:
Cheeseburger at Tessaro's in Bloomfield with lettuce, tomato and mayo
My favorite Pittsburgh pizza:
Cosmos in Murrysville
Overused phrase I hate most:
“At the end of the day ...”
The first band I saw in concert:
One of my very favorite memories was a WKPA-WYDD promotion night at the Harmar House in the late '60s featuring Stan Kenton's Orchestra with Phil Brooks as emcee.
The best concert I've ever seen:
Another tie: Lloyd Price at the old Civic Arena and Fats Domino in the New Orleans Convention Center
If I was auditioning for “American Idol,” my song would be:
“You Don't Know Me”
Celebrity crush:
Annette Funicello
I'm deathly afraid of:
Heights
In five years, I'd like to:
Play more golf
My favorite TV or movie villain:
Don Corleone
Happiness is:
Watching my wife (Linda Stayer) perform on the theater stage and helping my students at CCAC achieve their goals
My most embarrassing junk food:
Potato chips
Place I'd most like to visit:
Anywhere in Italy
The most dangerous thing I've ever done:
Trying to snorkel in the Caribbean
Top thing on my bucket list:
Walk, better yet, play Augusta National
Best vacation:
Touring the California Redwood Forest with my wife
I wish I had more time to:
Play golf
My favorite thing about Pittsburgh is:
The topography
Three people I'd love to have dinner with:
Fred Couples, Lee Trevino and Robert De Niro
When I was 10, I wanted to be:
A radio broadcaster, preferably doing sports play-by-play
People would be surprised to know that:
I love staying at home by the fireside, and I sing tenor with my wife in our church choir.
My personal motto is:
Live and let live
My first job:
Route sales and delivery for Smith's Ideal Cleaning in Lower Burrell
The person I'm most often mistaken for:
Dick Cheney (It's been a tough life lately!)
My most memorable fashion mistake:
Leisure suits
If I wasn't a DJ or teacher, I'd be:
A writer
The last book I read:
“The Keillor Reader” by Garrison Keillor
In high school, I was:
Overweight
Favorite Pittsburgh-area landmark:
The Mt. Washington Inclines. They are enclosed, which takes away the problem of fear of heights. Plus, our equipment from Westinghouse to this day provides the propulsion for those systems.
The song that always gets me out on the dance floor:
There isn't a song, because I don't dance. My last claim to fame for that was in 1959 at Stewart Junior High School in Lower Burrell doing the cha-cha to Franklie Avalon's “Venus.”
My favorite Pittsburgh athlete:
Heath Miller
