Allen was introduced to TV broadcasting and production through his volunteer work with the American Red Cross public-access television cable TV show "Crossviews". He learned all aspects of TV including production, directing, scripting, editing, videography, voiceover, and on-camera work from veteran and pioneering broadcaster Ceatta Mickey. In 1997, while producing his own public-access television program about racing - "Speed TV" - he was invited to host Speedvision’s "Competition Offshore" - which covered offshore powerboat racing sanctioned by the American Power Boat Association (APBA). Allen was also briefly a sports producer at Cleveland's Fox 8 under Casey Coleman.