Contest gives student yodellers an open forum

Students who have always longed to "yo-a-lay-hee-hoo" like the Swiss Miss Hot Chocolate girl now have their chance. The "Alpine Mint Total Yodel Contest" is being held for yodellers nationwide as a promotion for the new Carefree Sugarless Gum flavor "Alpine Mint." The Nabisco Foods Group, producer of Carefree Sugarless Gum, is offering a week-long trip for two to Switzerland to the best yodeller in the country, Nabisco spokesperson Lisa Morgan said yesterday. A yodelling hotline, 1-800-94-ALPINE, has been set up to record the yodels. Morgan said she thinks University students will be interested in the contest because "college students really get into that sort of thing." She was unable to say, however, if college students who have long blond braids or hail from the Ozarks will fare better in the contest than their urban yodelling counterparts. Morgan added that the last Nabisco-sponsored contest, a "moo-off," was not even won by a college student. "Some person from Baltimore" did the best bovine imitation, she explained. Carefree Sugarless Gum Senior Product Manager Hunter MacFarlane said in a press release that callers "should yodel like they've never yodeled before and feel free to add humor to their yodels." He also suggested that contestants "use any musical format to give a contemporary twist to their entries." Punk Rock, Merengue, Progressive, Big Band and Calypso are some of the suggested musical styles. Judging the contest is RCA Records talent scout Josh Sarubin, who said he is looking for "creativity and wackiness." He said he expects the best yodels to come from "people from the middle of nowhere with too much time on their hands." Sarubin added that he might use some of the yodels as background music in upcoming record releases. College senior Sean McGrath said that although he likes to "yell and scream pretty loudly," he has never yodeled "professionally." He does not think he will enter the Total Yodel Contest though.