Art Laboe

Californian disc jockey & founder of Original Sound

Born: 7th August 1925, Salt Lake City, Utah, USA.
Died: 7th October, 2022, Palm Springs, California

Laboe's family moved to California and he attended Stanford University. He then worked at KSAN in San Francisco in 1943, before moving to LA in 1949 as a DJ on stations KXLA & KPOP. His shows were broadcast from Scrivner's Drive-In Restaurants, where the many requests for 'oldies' on his "Art Laboe Show" led him to create the phrase "Oldies But Goodies".

He later founded Original Sound in 1957, following his successful "Oldies But Goodies" formula and launched a ground-breaking multi-label various artists compilation LP bearing the same title. It remained in Billboard Magazine's Top-100 LP Chart for over 3 years and was followed by a string of popular 'Oldies' album releases, filled with the sounds of the Doo Wop and Rock n' Roll era. His Original Sound studio was also steered by sound-engineer Paul Buff.

Also as a DJ on stations KFWB, KDAY & KPPC, Laboe then became Senior Vice President of KRLA in 1975 and owner of KKPW in 1999.

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