(KTLA Tv/Los Angeles) Art Laboe, the pioneering radio DJ who read heartfelt song dedications to generations of loyal listeners and was credited with helping end segregation in Southern California during an eight-decade broadcast career, has died. He was 97.
Laboe died Friday night at home in Palm Springs, California, after catching pneumonia, said Joanna Morones, a spokesperson for Laboe’s production company, Dart Entertainment.
His final show was produced last week and broadcast Sunday night.
Lou Robbins — Admin/Editor | Airchecks
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I’ve read that Art claimed to invent the genre and the name for it, Oldies but Goodies. His records were in the record stores for pre-purchase fondling. Wasn’t K-Tel strictly mail order other than the remainder bins?
Yeah, mail order. Just saying they were another Oldies collection, years after Laboe started selling his albums.
My brother had a collection of those Art Laboe Oldies But Goodies albums. Did Art Laboe beat K-Tel records to the punch?
When we turned KURB into an oldies station, I wrote to Art and he sent us a bunch of LPs on his label, Original Sound Records.