Barbara M. Allen

Barbara M. Allen (c. 1939 – 26 November 2017) was an American television interviewer, producer, and public relations executive. She spent eight years at WGAL-TV in Lancaster, Pennsylvania, hosting the daytime talk segment Noonday on 8 (1966–1974), before joining PBS affiliate WITF-TV, where she presented the nationally distributed series The Gathering Place and produced American Dreamers. Beyond broadcasting, Allen co‑founded River Ridge Video Productions, served as the first director of public relations for St Joseph Hospital, and later taught communication arts at Elizabethtown College.

Early life and education Allen was adopted by parents who reared her in Hackensack, New Jersey. As a child she stuttered so was given elocution lessons which led to an interest in acting. She graduated from Mount Holyoke College with an A.B. degree in Speech and Drama. She earned an M.S. in Television‑Radio from Syracuse University’s S.I. Newhouse School of Public Communications. and gave birth to their daughter Kim the family moved to Lancaster, Pennsylvania.

Career After Allen's daughter enrolled in school, she began her TV career at WGAL in 1966 as a part-time public affairs interviewer for Noonday on 8,

In 1973, she wrote, hosted, and produced Her Several Worlds, a one‑hour conversation with novelist Pearl S. Buck.

She left WGAL in 1976 to work at WITF-TV as a writer and producer, where she hosted two weekly series that aired nationally on PBS: The Gathering Place and American Dreamers. Of 3,000 applicants, Allen was chosen as one of nine finalists who were flown out to Wenatchee for the Washington State Apple Blossom Festival where contestants participated in a parade and were interviewed by judges. Allen was selected runner-up.

Personal life and death Allen volunteered with Domestic Violence Services of Lancaster County, both at one of their shelters and as a member of their speakers' bureau.

She died on November 26, 2017, at Willow Valley Communities.