Mike 'Arty' Artwell: “The music, the DJing, it’s still good even after all these years."
Published: March 28, 2021 | Updated: 29th March 2021
If you want to get the party started there’s only one man.
Dat Man.
Mike Artwell, known to his many fans and followers as ‘Arty’ – and also Dat Man.
In fact his strapline is: ‘There’s No Party Without The Arty’.
For 33 years, the DJ has been a constant feature of Bournemouth’s nightlife.
Playing a mix of soul, funk and disco.
Never failing to ignite the party and keep the floor moving.
Doing what he dreamed of as a young boy.
And now a very special anniversary.
The internet radio station he fronts – State of the Art Radio – celebrates its first birthday.
Launched at the start of lockdown it has listeners around the globe, a full complement of DJs and more just itching to get on the station.
Yet for Arty it’s only been about one thing.
The music – and having a good time.
He said: “I just love what I do and feel very privileged.
“All I wanted to be was a DJ.
“If you had told me when I started that I’d still be doing this at the age of 60 I probably wouldn’t have believed you.”
Growing up in Melksham, Wiltshire – and a keen collector of 12 inch imports – Arty recorded shows on TDK C90 cassette tapes and sold them to his friends for £5 a time.
He said: “I always wanted to be on the radio and this was my way of doing it, recording the tapes in my bedroom and talking between the music.
“Each tape was individual.
“With a 12 inch import costing £6.99 I had no problem selling the tapes for £5 which was quite a lot of money back in 1979.”
It was a chance trip to Bournemouth, after taking voluntary redundancy from Avon Industrial Polymers in Chippenham, that set him on the path to becoming one of the resort’s longest-serving party DJs and hosts.
The regular DJ at ZigZag in Fir Vale Road had called in sick and the nightclub manageress – spotting Arty in the bar and knowing he had done DJing – asked if he could step in at the last minute.
He did – and it proved a great success.
But it didn’t end there.
Joe Lucy, owner of another nightclub, Madison Joes, also saw him in action.
He was so impressed with Arty’s DJing skills that he hired him on the spot.
Arty said: “It was incredible really.
“I’d taken voluntary redundancy, gone to Bournemouth to have a bit of fun and ended up as DJ at two of the biggest clubs.
“I’ve been DJing every weekend since for 33 years.”
State of the Art Radio officially launched in April last year with test shows in the preceding two weeks.
Digital agencies Media Lounge, founded by Adam King, and Global Brand Communications, founded by Darren Mooney, collaborated on State of the Art Radio.
They worked together to produce a digital streaming service, branding, website, Amazon Alexa skill, iPhone Siri shortcuts and ecommerce shop.
Roy Smoothe, from Cool Branding, helped with the promotion of the station, particularly in the first four months.
And Arty fronted the station with, initially, a daily three hour show with repeat shows running at other times.
He said: “Technically I know nothing but Adam [of Media Lounge] is a great friend and just said ‘get on and DJ’.
“It came at just the right time with the first lockdown and we’ve never looked back since.
“We have listeners all over the world, from Barbados and Jamaica to Australia and Europe.
“It’s good fun and a good vibe.”
For the first four months Arty was State of the Art’s only on-air voice.
Then DJs from across the country started contacting him.
The station now has around 20 DJs and plays a wide range of music, including R&B, soul, disco, reggae, hip-hop and dance.
Over the past six months, Dani Nodwell, Brand Director of Baboosh!, has been working with Arty on the brand and marketing strategy for the next phase of the station’s development.
Forty years after he first put a microphone into the stack system and pretended to be a radio DJ, Arty said he is still “living the dream.”
He added: “I never had a plan. Things just happened.
“The funny thing is that nothing has ever, really changed since those days of the TDK tapes.
“The music, the DJing, it’s still good even after all these years.
“You’ve just got to be yourself and enjoy yourself.
“That’s exactly what I do.”
