‘Oldies but Goodies’: Longtime radio DJ Art Laboe dies at 97

By CHRISTOPHER WEBER
Associated Press

LOS ANGELES (AP) — Art Laboe, the pioneering radio DJ credited with helping end segregation in Southern California, has died. Joanna Morones, a spokesperson for Laboe’s production company, Dart Entertainment, said Laboe died Friday night after catching pneumonia. He was 97. Laboe is credited with helping end segregation in Southern California by organizing live DJ shows that attracted white, Black and Latino listeners who danced to rock ‘n’ roll. Laboe is also credited with coining the “oldies, but goodies” phrase, having released the compilation album “Oldies But Goodies: Vol. 1,” in 1958. The album stayed on Billboard’s Top 100 chart for 183 weeks.