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January 3, 2021 9:43 am  #1


87-Yr.-Old Hoping For "Oldest DJ" Record Doomed To Disappointment

I came across this story about an 87-year-old who decided to resume his on air radio career, despite his age and despite not having done a show since his college days. He works for a station in Madison, Wisconsin and a local TV outlet did a segment on him, which you can see at the link below. 

The report notes that he's applied to the Guinness Book of World Records to be named the oldest DJ on radio with a regular weekly show. But he's doomed to be disappointed. Because he's not even close to the record. I believe it would belong to Art Laboe, an L.A. radio legend who started playing rock and roll back in the days when it was a radical idea on the airwaves. 

Laboe does a weekly show for KDAY, which runs from 6 PM - midnight every Sunday. He shows no signs of running out of steam and by all accounts, a lot of people still tune him in. Laboe is 95 years old. That is astounding. I'm not sure I would be able to put together a coherent sentence at that age. (In fact, I'm not sure I can even do it at this age!) 
 
But it means that guy in Madison is going to have to wait a very long time for his shot at the record. But good for him for indulging in his radio passion after all these years. 

87-year-old DJ is back on the air, vying for world record 

 

The Art Laboe Connection

 

January 3, 2021 9:58 am  #2


Re: 87-Yr.-Old Hoping For "Oldest DJ" Record Doomed To Disappointment

Speaking of old songs and DJs, I wonder if this might be the first record ever made of a tribute to a DJ. It's a Big Band tune called "The All Night Record Man" by Charlie Barnet and it dates all the way back to 1939, when many stations still signed off for the night and when radio was in its relative infancy.

The irony, of course, is that there aren't any people like "Stay-Up Stan, The All Night Record Man" anymore,  since every music station on the air now is automated overnight. 

Still, a great bit of lost musical history from another era in radio that I'd never heard of before. 

     Thread Starter