He performed with his mother's dance troupe, and worked as a child actor in Hollywood on the “Our Gang” comedy series in the 1930s and in radio as a regular on “Screen Guild Theater” and the “Jack Armstrong” series.
Upon returning to Chicago, he got his start in radio while attending Loyola Academy and working part-time on-air for a station operated by the Chicago Board of Education. He then joined the Army, and served as a disc jockey for a radio station based at Fort McPherson in Georgia during the Korean War.
In the mid-1950s, Allen adopted his radio name Bernie Allen and landed a job with WIND-AM 560, and later with WJJD, before joining WLS as its midday host in 1963. During that time, WLS led the ratings for young adults in Chicago and was the No. 1 station in the midday, afternoon and evening time slots.
Here is Bernie at WLS on December 30, 1967 [ LISTEN ] (12:24)
Working at WLS-AM 890 in the 1960s, Allen spun the hits during the golden era of the then-powerhouse rock-and-pop music station known as "The Bright Sound of Chicago Radio."
Allen was part of the WLS crew at Comiskey Park in August 1965 as The Beatles performed before thousands of screaming fans.
"Bernie and I were just a few feet from the band and it was like standing behind a jet engine," said former Chicago disc jockey Clark Weber, who worked the morning shift at WLS and had introduced The Beatles to the crowd. "One of us, I can't remember who, put our hand up and we actually saw sound vibrations rippling through the fingers. It was incredible!"
Bernie was old-school radio — kinder and more soft-spoken. He came up in the era of Tony Bennett and Frank Sinatra, and he was much more polished. Those who followed after him were louder, much more brash and rock 'n' roll.
Throughout his decades long career, Allen hosted dozens of station-sponsored sock hops and did on-air interviews with many of the top rock 'n' roll and pop bands of the time, including The Buckinghams, Herman's Hermits and Paul Revere and the Raiders.
His wife, Tommasa, was a professional singer who performed under the stage name Tommie Cane. The two met when he attended one of her shows at the now-shuttered Mister Kelly's, a popular nightclub on Rush Street. She died in 1999.
By the late 1960s, Allen had been moved to weekends. He stayed with WLS through 1971 before moving on to on-air jobs at WCLR, WLAK and WCFL. In 1983, he rejoined WJJD, where he worked for six more years, before retiring in 1990.
Bernie passed away on November 16, 2015 of pulmonary fibrosis at 86. He was survived by two children and two grandchildren.
