America

Peel started his radio career in the United States in the early 1960s and worked successively at KLIF in Dallas, KOMA in Oklahoma City and KMEN in San Bernadino, California, under the his real name of John Ravenscroft (shortened in California to John Ravencroft).

The DJ marked the 40th anniversary of his radio career on his BBC Radio One programme of 11 October 2001, although he admitted he was unclear about the exact date of his first appearance on the Kat's Karavan show on WRR in Dallas. Very few clips from Peel's US career remain, although some were aired on Radio Radio and other documentaries.

In the early 1990s, Peel recorded a series of shows called Peel Out In The States for distribution to local stations in the US.