Who was Art Laboe and how did he contribute ending segregation in California?
The radio DJ was an important figure in breaking down barriers in one of the many racist eras in American history.
Art Laboe has died aged 97. Outside of California he may not be well known; his most recent career being in local radio. However, Laboe leaves an impressive and important legacy by using his voice on the air to break down segregation in what is now America’s most liberal state.
After fighting in the US navy during the Second World War, Laboe, born Arthur Egnoian, became a DJ for KXLA in Los Angeles. Using the airtime on the channel he broadcast live music shows he held in drive-ins featuring music from newly emerging rock sounds as well as R&B. It was a rare moment for the different ethnic groups in south California to mix in an era when different toilets were allocated to white and black folk.
Laboe told the Desert Sun in 2016, “At night, kids would bring their own records in and I would play them,” he said, “They were crazy about all the Black artists.”
Later in his career he moved towards promoting aging rock and roll acts but didn’t lose touch with the blends of genres that took him to the top of local radio in the first place.
Lalo Alcaraz, a syndicated cartoonist and television writer who grew up listening to Art Laboe in San Diego, said Laboe was ”someone who gave a voice to the most humble of us all through music. He brought us together. That’s why we sought him out.”
Laboe also trademarked the phrase “oldies but goodies”. In 1958 he released the compilation album “Oldies But Goodies: Vol. 1,” which stayed on the Billboard’s Top 100 chart for 183 weeks.