It all started with a phone line and an answering machine waaaaaay back in mid-1992 by a couple of jokers, Dmitri Baughman and Ned Flanders, looking to entertain the masses in the great state of Utah. Yes, that Utah. With so much to make fun of, the idea seemed brilliant! The taped shows contained references to Salt Lake City: land of caffeine-free Coke, Jell-O salads, and Mormons. What better way to skirt the mainstream way of life behind the Zion curtain than with a “virtual audio corkboard” of sorts? The Darker Side became a way to get the word out that life beyond the L.D.S. church was merely a phone call away.
By 1993, the main “phone jockies” running The Darker Side were Dmitri, Ned, and Dmitri’s girlfriend, Chloé. Shortly after starting, Ned ended up setting a good example and was the only one who started taking on life’s responsibilities, so a replacement had to be found. As luck would have it, a local DJ known as “Mike the Janitor” found out about The Darker Side from a listener who called into his radio show on Hot 94.9 KZHT. He started calling and soon became a regular character. His fame and talent were a natural fit, and after meeting Dmitri and Ned over a few games of bowling, he soon took over the role as one of the hosts.
After a good year-long run, hundreds of callers, and endless hours of prepubescent bathroom humor, The Darker Side was shut down due to complete burnout. Not to mention that Dmitri, a poor college student at the time, was pouring quite a bit of money into a project that was taking precious resources away from binge drinking. Oh, and studying.
At about the same time, Dmitri also started up a pirate radio station on 89.5 FM known as “KZAR” (Zion Alternative Radio). Many weekend nights were spent partying with friends and broadcasting favorite music and old Darker Side bits. Unfortunately, the project grew too much and got some press coverage in the local rag, “Private Eye Weekly.” As a result, KZAR was also shut down because some jackass started threatening to call the F.C.C. Whoops.
After that failed project, you’d expect Dmitri to give-it-up-already and get a real job; yet after a few months of going their own ways, Dmitri and Mike got back together to make a new version of an old classic. In 1994, the second coming of The Darker Side, version 1.1, would only last about six months and was shut down, once again, never to return. Until now.
Under the direction of The Darker Side founder, Dimitri Baughman, the archives of past shows are being made available for your listening… pleasure? Mike the Janitor has taken to posting some of these on the iPadio.com website as well. What you’ll hear are over 40 mixes of the original shows as they were played on The Darker Side answering machine from 1992-1994.
In closing, this project would never have been possible without the support from these fine folks: Dmitri Baughman – Founder; Wally Clinkenpeel – Co-founder; Ned Flanders – Co-founder; Mike the Janitor – Co-Host; and Chloé Devereaux – Co-Host. And of course, all the original callers to Salt Lake’s “Darker Side” phone line. Special mentions go out to Slug, James Cajun Smith, Macho Nacho, and all the other regular callers. Without them, most of this noise wouldn’t have been possible. For which most of you are probably wishing was the case.
