Unsigned CD Baby singer/songwriter moos his way on to commercial radio

	posted by Mike Baker on Wednesday November 12 2003 @ 11:46PM PST
	Unsigned Bay Area singer/songwriter Michael Baker has found a novel way to beat the long odds faced by independent musicians looking for exposure in today's music business. After being voted "moo-st likely to succeed" in an online contest, Baker is in heavy rotation on local affiliates of the nation's biggest radio network - as a cow. Baker, leader of the Oakland, California rock 'n' roll band Slim, was recently named winner of the Berkeley Farms' "Moo Master" contest. Created by Berkeley Farms Dairy and Clear Channel Communications, the contest was devised as a way to update the dairy's radio slogan - "Farms? In Berkeley? Mooooooooooo..." - which has been a Bay Area institution for more than thirty years. As the official "Voice of Berkeley Farms", Baker will receive $5,000 and will spend the next year mooing on the dairy's radio commercials, many of which will air on local Clear Channel stations. Officials kicked off the contest by inviting radio listeners to record their own takes on the famous slogan. The winner was chosen from hundreds of submissions by online public vote, "American Idol"-style. Baker finished with over 65% of the vote, and will follow in the celebrated footsteps of Mel Blanc, the original "Voice of Berkeley Farms" and the voice of Bugs Bunny, Daffy Duck, Porky Pig, and many of the other Looney Tunes characters. Baker, who grew up in the Bay Area and clearly remembers the original commercials from his childhood in the '70s and '80s, has never done professional voice over work. However, he is no stranger to the recording studio or the stage. He and his band, Slim, have been performing in Northern California for the last five years, and recently recorded their debut CD, "Interstate Medicine", at Berkeley, California's famed Fantasy Studios. The CD features former members of Counting Crows, Third Eye Blind, and Van Morrison and Bonnie Raitt's bands, and has already broken onto commercial radio playlists. One song from the album, "Sister Rosa", was named a winner of the John Lennon Songwriting Contest, and was also singled out as "The Best Music You've Never Heard" on KGO radio's Pete Wilson Show, the #1-rated radio show in Northern California. Commercials featuring the new Moo Master have hit Bay Area airwaves, and the resulting buzz has already led to the appearance of numerous articles on Baker's moo and his music in the region's newspapers. Local network TV affiliates have expressed interest as well. "I can’t believe all the attention this has generated," says Baker. "Who knew I'd get my first break as a cow?" For more information on Mike Baker or Slim, please contact Shortwave Syndicate at (510) 594-9529, info@slimrocks.com, or visit the Slim website at http://www.slimrocks.com. The winning moo can be heard at: http://www.moomaster.com. Check out Slim's "Interstate Medicine" on CD Baby at http://www.cdbaby.com/slim/.

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