Starting out in radio as a high school senior, Dex won a DJ of the Week contest and his first on air appearance was at KLAC in Los Angeles.

In a Radio & Records interview with R&R's publisher Erica Farber, Dex was asked if Dex Allen was his real name. "No. if you were a child of the '60s like I was, and you wanted to be a disc jockey, and your real name was Claude Turner, you'd probably change it too."

"I was using the name Chip Allen on the air, which was another great stupid name.  (John) Rook wanted to create this concept of an all-night guy who was a rich California playboy who had moved to Pittsburgh. I was supposed to be that guy.  He said, "I want you to be Dexter Kilbride' - swear to God. I said, 'Where did you come up with that? He said it just sounded like a real rich name. We split the difference. We went from Chip Allen to Dexter Kilbride to Dex Allen. My wife calls me Dex most of the time. When she's really, really mad at me, she'll call me Claude. That's the tip-off, but it rarely happens."

Dex Allen left KQV in 1965 for the Pacific Northwest. 

In 2001, Dex is the President and Chief Executive Office of Commonwealth Communications with 21 stations in the western part of the United States.

Information in this article and the
Dex Allen interview are copywrite
2001 by Radio & Records. 
The complete interview is in the 
August 3, 2001 issue of R & R. 

 Dex Allen Aircheck Dex's last night at KQV 9/26/65