Artie

Cool grooves’n hot tracks & Artie facts

Artie Laven is our longest-standing DJ starting with ‘The Beach’ FM, which was the first radio station on Great Barrier.
Artie has been on the island for 50 years and was involved in the birth of Aotea FM and has a regular show two afternoons a week. However he lives in a very isolated place on Gt Barrier where tidal access determines whether you come out or not.
Artie’s family was very musical – his dad loved Louis Armstrong and his brothers played instruments. Artie had stage fright so never adopted an instrument. Instead, he became passionate about black music and music history. When Artie first turned up he brought a wind-up gramophone to entertain the kids.
He’s quite up to date with his computer skills and has just learnt that Spotify has great music too. Artie always comes with a wide range of music, some being his personal records or cd’s.
We can rely on Artie for most of his shows but every now and then he’s off island racing his classic bikes.