Remembering the prolific “Oldies but Goodies” disc jockey Art Laboe.
Art Laboe’s voice filled Southern California airwaves for more than 70 years. But beyond being a beloved disc jockey whose show was eventually broadcast across the nation, Laboe spread a radical message of racial unity way before such messages became mainstream.
The prolific “Oldies but Goodies” radio legend died Oct. 7 of pneumonia. His death comes at a time when we need his message of tolerance more than ever. So today, a tribute to Art Laboe. Read the full transcript here.
Host: Gustavo Arellano
Guests: TimesOC feature writer Gabriel San Román
More reading:
L.A.’s radio community pays tribute to Art Laboe, a legend and mentor: ‘End of an era’
Column: I’m playing an Art Laboe album to counteract the noxious vibe from L.A. City Hall
Art Laboe dies; his ‘Oldies but Goodies’ show ruled the L.A. airwaves
Gustavo: In the 1950s and 1960s, when the United States was in the throes of desegregation, radio DJ Art Laboe — he had a different vision.
Art Laboe: Some songs have that sound that the day they come out, they're, they're gonna be there for a long time. You just know it.
Gustavo: One where Black, white and brown faces were on album covers and show posters, and dancing together. He didn't care who you were, where you were. Laboe’s charm, his buttery voice — and love of what he eventually called “oldies but goodies” — popularized so many concepts: the compilation album, dedications on-air and, most important, how to really, truly, greatly promote concerts.
Art Laboe: Art Laboe, inviting you to bring back the ’50s and ’60s with us this Friday night at Art Laboe’s Oldies but Goodies Club on the Sunset Strip, Hollywood.
Gustavo: And he brought this music and boogie for everyone for over 70 incredible years. And his passing comes at a time when those messages are needed most. I'm Gustavo Arellano. You're listening to “The Times: Essential News from the L.A. Times.” It's Friday, October 14th, 2022. Today, a tribute to Art Laboe, who died on October 7th of pneumonia. His voice was on the L.A. airwaves for generations and across the American Southwest. He was a cultural icon there, but beyond his personality and awesome songs that he'd spin, Laboe broadcast a radical message of racial unity and tolerance for others way before such messages became mainstream. Here to help pay tribute to Laboe is L.A. Times reporter and my longtime compa, Gabriel San Roman. Hey, what's up, Gabriel?
Gabriel San Ramon: Doing good. But definitely feeling the gut punch of losing such a radio legend like Art Laboe.
Gustavo: Oh yeah, man. I mean my first memory of Art was his album “Memories of El Monte,” actually on a CD. And I mean, the songs are great. Got “Dedicated to You,” “You're Still a Young Man,” “Reasons,” all that great stuff. But I always liked the cover, like you see this cover, it's a picture of one of his concerts at El Monte Legion Stadium back in the ’50s. And you have Black kids, Asian kids, white kids, Mexican kids. They’re all dancing together. They're all happy and all of that.
And we have to remember, this was from the 1950s, when redlining was still in full force. But yet here you have Art saying like, “Nah, nah, racism? You get to stay out the door. This is a, this is a safe space for all folks of color and anyone who wants to be on.” But what were your first memories of Art?
Gabriel: Really what first came to mind when I heard the news of his passing was being the teenager, when you're trying to express yourself about early, whimsical romantic feelings and whatnot. But for me, really like Sunday nights, you could just turn on the radio. He had a six-hour killer oldies Sunday special, and for me, I'd get my Solo jeans, spray some starch on ’em, do my ironing, getting ready for the school week ahead. And it's as simple as that in terms of my first memory. But that's pretty much as Chicano as it gets.
Gustavo: I have those same memories. I didn't iron as much as you probably did, porque yo soy trocho. Then we become adults, we start covering music, and you — I remember when you actually interviewed Art Laboe.
Gabriel: Exactly. I had goals as a young media maker. In 2008, I worked as a radio producer in community radio.
Gabriel (tape): My first question is, as someone who is credited for coining the term “oldie but goodie” — as an authority on the matter, I'd like to first begin by asking you, when does an oldie become an oldie?
Art Laboe: So, uh, I used to pass out a list of songs at the drive-in and then, uh, let the kids pick the music from the top 20 songs. So I used to get a few requests for songs that were three or four years old. So someone that's like 16 or 17 — we had a lot of teenagers — two years, three years in their lives is a long time ago because they don't start living their social life at age 1. They start living their social life in those days, maybe about 11 or 12, and that was half of their lifetime, you see? So it didn't have to be very old to be an old one. So they, they said, “Well, the old song…”
Gabriel: I had a conversation with a legend, uh, that stands out as one of my best interviews in my career, and all these years later I'm happy that I still have that audio.
Gustavo: And just, it has to be clarified that Art Laboe was not just in Southern California. His show was broadcast nationwide. And people who knew and loved Art Laboe knew that stuff. What was Art's background?
Gabriel: Art Laboe was Armenian and grew up in Salt Lake City. As a young kid, he was completely fascinated by the medium of radio, and this is a time really before television takes off, and radio was king. But when his family moved over to Southern California, he calls himself almost a native. He gets started at an early age at a San Francisco radio station called KSAN, and back in those days you had to have an FCC license. At first, the hiring manager said, “We don't have a job for you.” Then he busted out the license. During World War II, a lot of people had either quit the station or had been called into duty and Art Laboe’s like, “Well, actually, I got this license right here.” And then all of a sudden the tone changed and, uh, the station manager hired Art Laboe, and it's been a radio career ever since. But really where his career takes off, as we know it now, is in the 1950s when he started to coin “oldies but goodies” at the advent of rock and roll when it really took, you know, teenagers by storm.
Art Laboe: I didn't really know that I had that big of a following in East L.A., but I started doing shows at El Monte Legion Stadium, and in those days, teenagers couldn't go to public dances if they were under the age of 18 in Los Angeles, but they could in El Monte. So they came from everywhere — Beverly Hills and South Gate and Hollywood and the Valley, and of course a lot from East L.A.
Gabriel: And you had this melting pot of music there, where Chicanos, uh, Black folks and white kids from, from West L.A., all congregated together to hear Rosie and the Originals, you know, Ritchie Valens, all these wonderful musicians. But the core of that audience in El Monte was Latinos.
Art Laboe: And so we called them Oldies but Goodies dances, and then the first Oldies but Goodies album came out, uh, Volume 1 in 1959.
Gustavo: So why were these concerts so notable in El Monte of all places, which is a suburban city just east of Los Angeles? What was everyone else doing at that time?
Gabriel: Art Laboe did what Dick Clark did not do. If you look at “American Bandstand,” Dick Clark liked to say that the dance floor where he recorded the program when he took it over in the mid-’50s was integrated with Black kids and white kids, but a scholar named Matt Delmont basically disproved that by poring through thousands of photos and interviewing teenagers who wanted to be on the show but weren't on the show. So in the ’50s, Black teens from Philly couldn't get on “American Bandstand,” but all the way across the country in El Monte, Art Laboe had white, Black and Latino youth dancing together to music for the ages.
Gustavo: More after the break.
Gustavo: Gabriel, so even early on, Laboe was innovative in many ways outside of music. And a 70-year career, that's a long time, but his biggest fan base eventually became Chicano. How did that happen?
Gabriel: The relationship started in the mid-’50s, and Laboe recounted with me a story about Ritchie Valens.
Gustavo: Ritchie Valens, the late singer of “La Bamba.” Of course, he died in a plane crash along with Buddy Holly and the Big Bopper and others. We view him now as an icon, but Art knew him from the very beginning.
Art Laboe: Well, uh, I knew Ritchie when he was 17. He went to, it was high school, in Pacoima. ’Cause he did his first shows for me at El Monte Legion Stadium when he first came out with his early stuff. But when that movie “La Bamba” came out, showed a lot of people that there was Latin music in the ’50s, but he was like the first one that broke through. And that song of his, “Donna,” went to No. 1, but, uh, in the early days, he did a lot of stuff with me. I'm telling him this story about — his mother called the stadium and she got me on the phone and she says, “You tell Ritchie to come right home and don't chase those girls.” So I go backstage and I say, Richie, I talked to your mother. She called, got a message for you. She said, go right home; don't chase those girls. And he broke out laughing. He thought that was really funny, you know? And of course he didn't go right home.
Gabriel: I think it, the relationship really becomes solidified because the return of Art Laboe happens in 1991. He gets approached by KGGI 99.1 FM in Riverside. They say, we know what you do on Sundays. We'll give you the complete freedom to do, you know, a six-hour show of dedications in, in old-school jams. From then on, I think the relationship and the multi-generational aspect of it really takes off. ’Cause by that time, you know, there's people that listened to Art Laboe in the ’50s when they were teenagers. And then there's teenagers in the early ’90s who are getting to know him.
Art Laboe: It’s interesting ’cause sometimes, uh, I'll talk to someone on the air that's a teenager and they'll say, “My mom wants to talk to you.” And I'll talk to the mom. And I've even said, Grandma wants to talk to you, or an uncle or somebody, you know, so they all remember and they still listen ’cause I still play some songs from that era.
Gabriel: Basically, Inland Empire, which is a region of Southern California about an hour from Los Angeles, played a big role in reviving Art Laboe’s career and the Latinos in the Inland Empire. And then through Los Angeles and elsewhere and, and in Phoenix and Tucson and, and in cities in New Mexico, he really broadcast to all of the Southwest. And he didn't just rely on oldies. He didn't just rely on your Brenton Wood jams, your Chicano soul jams from El Chicano or Malo or, or Tierra. In the latter part of his career, he platformed young Chicano musicians like MC Magic.
SONG CLIP: … todos los dias — it’s MC Magic, baby — solo pienso en ti…
Gabriel: Or Amanda Perez, or a singer named LaLa. And so a new generation of artists and new genres of music became incorporated into his radio show, “The Art Laboe Connection.” And Art Laboe recognized that we needed more Latinos in media, on the radio. And he didn't just think that; he showed up and mentored young talent like Jimmy Reyes, and definitely I think that'll be part of his legacy too.
Gustavo: Jimmy Reyes is a DJ at 104.7 FM here in Los Angeles. And he first worked with Art Laboe as an intern. We spoke to him about Art’s influence on his life.
Jimmy Reyes: Art Laboe went to bat for me when I first got let go from Hot 92.3 in Los Angeles. And that was my first time being fired, so I was pretty devastated. And I put a call out to Art Laboe and them ’cause they had a facility on Sunset in Hollywood called Original Sound Entertainment, where, um, he would broadcast from, ’cause he had a radio station called KOKO 94 in Fresno. So I went over to meet with them and they offered me a job.
Gustavo: We talked about Laboe’s “oldies but goodies” empire, and also his quest to fight racism. But he was a titan in many other ways, especially in radio. What were some of the other things that he was a pioneer in?
Gabriel: When you listen to the show, you immediately got a sense that Art Laboe's radio program and his dedications provided a lifeline to folks that were incarcerated, you know, doing hard time. And basically you could be in prison listening to Art Laboe and hear your family on the other side of the wall coming through the airwaves. The nicknames for Latinos that they used in their dedications, so it would be easy to hear on a Sunday night, a dedication from someone named “Sad Girl” to their boyfriend or their husband named “Sleepy,” and Art Laboe would use those nicknames too when he made those dedications.
Jimmy: I mean, he was like our, our Vin Scully, our Chick Hearn. Such a legendary broadcaster. Definitely an icon and just a connection that he brought amongst people. The power of a dedication, calling someone to do a special message on the radio can go a long way.
Jimmy: It's Old School 104.7. I’m Jimmy Reyes, taking your calls and sharing memories of the late great Art Laboe.
Caller: I wanna pay my respect to Art Laboe. I remember we used to listen to him when I was locked up at Glen Helen every Sunday, you know, his dedications and, uh, I was wondering if you would play a song for me that reminds me of him, which would be “Papa was a Rollin’ Stone.”
Jimmy: I can definitely do that. Hey, uh, how long were you locked up for?
Caller: So, I think I was doing a year.
Jimmy: Oh man. Hey, if I can ask you, ’cause I've always heard that, you know, the homies are listening for their dedication. So what would happen when Sunday came around? How would you guys hear it? Some of you had radios back then in the cells? How did that work?
Caller: No, it was, uh, we were in dorms and the sheriff or the police had control of the intercom in there, and, uh, they would turn on the intercom just for the dorm.
Gustavo: More after the break.
Gustavo: Gabriel, what Art Laboe’s most associated with, older music, the old R&B, what he literally trademarked as “oldies but goodies,” what do you think is it about oldies music that continues to have this staying power? What do you think is so powerful about that command of nostalgia?
Gabriel: I think that “oldies but goodies” remain because it's just timeless music and the lyrics are heartfelt and sincere. If you take a song like “Angel Baby” by Rosie and the Originals…
MUSIC CLIP “Angel Baby”
Gabriel: These are very innocent declarations of, of love that kind of typified, the sensibilities of mid-century America. And so when you go really back into the day of Art’s music vault, artists like Brenton Wood, they sound as good today as they did back in the day. I think there's a very strong pull to the good old days, if you will, when you were young, times were simpler, and it'll never go outta style.
Gustavo: It sounds so saccharine, though, you know those heartfelt love songs with titles like “Dedicated to You,” and “Chapel of Love,” and “Keeper of Dreams,” and all that. So how does Art and these songs continue to hold such a place in our hearts, even at a time where it feels racial tensions in the world at large is especially bad?
Gabriel: Yeah, Art Laboe was organic in his approach. He said that teens didn't have such a narrow scope or love of music. And if you went back to the ’50s and ’60s, the Billboard charts were diverse, and white kids wanted to listen to Black artists. And he was one of the first DJs that was unafraid to have that kind of eclectic playlist on his radio programs. He delivered to the youth what the youth wanted, driven by the open-mindedness and shared love of music that young kids from all different backgrounds enjoyed. And Art was the DJ, in more ways than one, at the center of it all.
Gustavo: What's amazing about all of this, Gabriel, we're talking about a DJ who, in our estimation, was doing these radical revolutionary things in many ways. But yet he never said anything political. He never talked about politics on the air. He never put himself out there as this type of revolutionary figure.
Gabriel: But it is all very revolutionary in that sense. And then also just, you know, what he did in terms of his legacy in the medium and his longevity in it, too, as well. I don't know what Art Laboe’s overt politics were, but I know that he delivered musical utopias.
Gustavo: We're airing this on the heels of massive turmoil with L.A. City Council, where some Latino council members were caught on tape saying horrible remarks against Black people and other minorities. How much do we need Art Laboe right now?
Gabriel: We need Art Laboe more than ever. He understood the street cultures that cross-pollinated between Blacks and Latinos, and uniquely in Southern California, whether it's hip-hop, Latinos have been on the scene. Black folks created the genre, the culture, and we participated in it through b-boying, b-girling, graffiti, DJing and MCing, and Art Laboe put on, you know, the new generation of MCs. Like my folks grew up in the ’60s. They listened to Motown. They listened to Chicano soul, Sunny & the Sunliners. They listened to Art Laboe. And they have a lot of respect for Black people, history and culture. So if we could learn about each other and build a mutual respect through our cultural contributions, it would be a different L.A. It would be a different Southern California. But, you know, we're here, in the moment, missing him. And missing him for more than just his Sunday dedications.
Gustavo: Gabriel San Roman, my eternal compa, thank you so much for this conversation.
Gabriel: Thank you for having me on to remember a hero of mine in radio and someone that I, and all of us, will miss dearly. Thanks so much. I appreciate it.
Gustavo: And that's it for this episode of “The Times: Essential News from the L.A. Times.” Denise Guerra was a jefa on this episode and Mario Diaz mixed and mastered it. Our show is produced by Shannon Lin, Denise Guerra, Kasia Broussalian, David Toledo and Ashlea Brown. Our editorial assistant is Madalyn Amato. Our engineers are Mario Diaz, Mark Nieto and Mike Heflin. Our editor is Kinsee Morlan. Our executive producers are Jazmín Aguilera, Shani Hilton and Heba Elorbany. And our theme music is by Andrew Eapen. And hey, we're building a Dia de los Muertos audio altar this year and would love to include your memories of your loved ones. Call (619) 800-0717, (619) 800-0717, and leave us a voicemail with your own ofrendas. Tell us who you are, where you live, and then tell us a great story about a friend, a family member, someone dear to you who has passed on and joined the ancestors. We wanna air an entire episode with those stories around Day of the Dead. Thanks in advance. And again, the number (619) 800-0717. I'm Gustavo Arellano. We'll be back Monday with all the news and desmadre. Gracias!
Laboe: “Here’s kisses (smooches)”