Sunday nights just haven't been the same without Art Laboe. The “Oldies But Goodies” Radio Hall of Fame host got format flipped off LA airwaves in February spurring boycotts and protests. Since then, it's been as lonely as a Lady Playful dedication of “So” by War to Sad Puppet! Laboe's loyal following made due in the meantime with streaming apps before he returned to the Inland Empire in March.
But like The Stylistics song “Break Up to Make Up” Art Laboe is FINALLY returning to the LA radio dial on KDAY 93.5 FM this Sunday.
]
The Back in the Day Hits station had been hinting at Laboe's return for awhile. His rich voice that sounds exactly the same as it did in the '50s–so the veteranas tell me–came over the air for a promo that all but confirmed the news. Their social media accounts built the hype before making it official.
With the Art Laboe Sunday Special set to return, the host comes back to a station that he once honed the mic for 55 years ago in 1960! That longevity is what makes Laboe in LA a necessity. It was at Scrivner's Drive-in in 1956 that the legend on the mic first coined his signature “Oldies But Goodies” phrase.
“I started making a list of those called “Oldies but Goodies.” That list would only have three or four songs on it like 'Pledging My Love,'” Laboe once told me in a 2008 interview. “Kids started requesting more and more of the older ones so that list got longer because so many people wanted them.”
With that multi-generational appeal, gather the family around the radio on Sunday. Sizzle some carne asada on the grill, crack open a few cold brews and tune in to KDAY for the best in killer oldies. Don't forget to have those requests and dedications ready to go.
Art, here's mine to send complete with a love zone smooch!
See also:
The 50 Best Things About the OC Music Scene
The 50 Worst Things About the OC Music Scene
The 25 Greatest OC Bands of All Time: The Complete List
Follow us on Twitter at @OCWeeklyMusic and like us on Facebook at Heard Mentality.
Gabriel San Román is from Anacrime. He’s a journalist, subversive historian and the tallest Mexican in OC. He also once stood falsely accused of writing articles on Turkish politics in exchange for free food from DönerG’s!