Nick R Thomas - A Public Speaker's Blog

What radio experience do you have? See my separate Radio CV page.

First of all, aren't radio show prep services only used by lazy, untalented presenters? My client list includes highly respected Sony Award winners - hardly lazy or untalented. I've heard all the arguments against prep services, in fact, I even wrote an article about this for the Radio Magazine. It's on a separate web page on this site entitled In Defence of Radio Show Prep Services.

What type of material can you send me? For a start, you might consider my daily topicals service. I send a number of my own original gags/comic observations about current news e.g. events, trends, forecasts, surveys, inventions, celebrities, TV, films, music…in other words, topics your listeners are talking about. There are also occasional timeless, humorous observations about everyday life. These can be used that day or stored for future use. Sometimes there will be several items about one story - how many you use is entirely up to you.

Are there any subjects that you avoid? I avoid humour that is too obviously politically incorrect or tasteless. Care is taken around sex gags, with innuendo used wherever possible instead of anything too blatant. I don’t generally write about drugs stories. I write very little about sport except very big events like the World Cup. Any political gags are limited in number and tend to be general, not as if they come from a supporter of any particular party. I don’t write gags about news stories concerning radio shows which may be in competition with yours!

Believe it or not, that still leaves plenty!

As far as the gags themselves are concerned, although I use some wordplay, I try not to rely too heavily on puns as these are not to everyone’s taste.

How original is your material? I would say at least 95%. Occasionally a news story will be crying out for a classic old joke to be applied to it in a new way; there are also occasions when all comedy writers everywhere come up with the same ideas as each other (I once sat with a BBC script editor and we counted 19 versions of the same gag sent in by different writers all over the UK about a particular news item!) but I pride myself on originality. It’s what my clients pay for – and get.

How much do you write? For topical humour, I like to write about a minimum of 6 news stories per day. It’s often more, sometimes a lot more.

What if I am only allowed to use jokes about news from my own area? Not a problem. I have written for some presenters on this basis for 10 years. Most of what I write is about news that affects everyone e.g. inventions that listeners in your area will soon be using, celebs whose films are showing in your area, etc. Obviously if you broadcast in John O’Groats, I won’t send you gags about news stories from Land’s End. If you sign up for my topicals, I will watch the news for stories from your area and try and write material about them for you. I can’t guarantee that this will happen too often but I’ll do it wherever possible in order to tailor your material even more for your local listenership.

How topical is 'topical?' Generally, we are talking about the stories appearing in that day’s national papers. I will sometimes also include the odd additional line from the previous day which has occurred to me since sending material off. On Mondays, the material will include humour about news from Saturday and Sunday as well.

Topical comedy writers are at the mercy of the news and there may be times when it is dominated by tragic or simply dull stories which cannot be used for humour. On these occasions, I reserve the right to have another look at older news (many stories carry on for days anyway) or include more of the non-topical comic observations I mentioned earlier.

But the vast majority of material is about news from that day’s papers. And if a story breaks in a bulletin just before that day’s deadline, I may even be able to include something about it, thus making your show even more topical!

How topical is your material for breakfast shows? Here in Bournemouth, the papers do not go on sale until after the typical deadline for getting material to a breakfast show. Some newspaper websites update just after midnight, others not until hours later. Despite this, I have many years’ experience of supplying breakfast presenters.

News stories from the previous day’s TV and radio news, Evening Standard and some websites will all go on to become the following day’s national newspaper headlines so these items will still be very topical.

I have also found that breakfast presenters can be very good at subtly working in material about news from the previous day’s nationals, especially if, as I have mentioned, that story carries on.

What if I only broadcast at weekends? Provided there is not another presenter in your area wanting daily topical material, I can put together a lower-priced package for you consisting of some of the material from the past week for a ‘Look Back…’ plus some additional items from that weekend’s news.

What sources do you use for news? Print or online versions of the Sun, News of the World, Mirror, Sunday Mirror, People, Daily Star, Daily and Sunday Express, Mail, Mail on Sunday, Evening Standard, Times, Sunday Times, Telegraph, Sunday Telegraph, Guardian, Observer, Independent and Independent on Sunday. I look at many different parts of a paper, e.g. features, financial pages, etc, not just the main news.

I also use BBC News, Sky News, Digital Spy Wire, Reuters, ananova and other websites for breaking news and quirky items, plus radio and TV news bulletins and any other sources I can find. One of my most enduring gags, written in 1993, but which still gets a huge laugh when I use it at speaking engagements now, was inspired by a leaflet I picked up in a baker’s shop!

Some sources inspire a great deal of material, others very little. If I feel that a presenter may want to read more background about a story before broadcasting my gag about it, or if a news item only appears in one paper, I will often mention which particular source it comes from.

Do you supply material on Bank Holidays? Certainly. I even sent off topical material one Christmas morning for a presenter with a lunchtime show that day and I have continued to supply presenters while I have been away 'on holiday!'

How exclusive is the material? My aim is not to supply more than one presenter in any area with the same material but there may be some overlap at the edges of a broadcast region and it’s also becoming increasingly possible to listen to stations via the internet, satellite TV, DAB, etc., so 100% exclusivity is impossible but I can consult with you about which are the main competitors in your area and agree not to supply any of their presenters with the same material.

Does the material go anywhere else? A few items may be used in my own speeches. Most audiences I speak to are quite senior and not commercial radio listeners. One or two ideas may be rewritten/extended into sketches for fringe theatre (a very small, localised audience) and some could be adapted and offered to a small number of cabaret comedians, mostly working abroad in holiday resorts or on cruise liners. In the unlikely event of any of their audience being from your area and recognising a gag, they will probably assume it was nicked from you!

The non-topical observations may eventually go into one of my 'JOCK BOOK' collections months later (see separate web page for details of these).

The point is: you get this material first!

You yourself may also wish to re-use it afterwards, for example, at PAs. I have only recently discovered that a long-standing breakfast show client used to recycle my gags in his local newspaper column, in fact, it sometimes consisted of little else! All I ask is that you do not pass my material on to other presenters without my permission.

How is the material delivered to me? As you will noticed from my blog, I combine my writing career with a busy schedule as a professional speaker and corporate trainer (up to 100 engagements per year!) so sometimes the material is not sent from my office but from somewhere 'out and about'.

I deliver material by voice or email. Although I like voicemail because, being a performer myself, it enables me to demonstrate the timing of the gags/observations, I know that most presenters prefer email and I have a Blackberry so I am usually able to send from anywhere.

Clients need to give me a first and second choice for delivery in case I have problems with one, for example, background noise might make voicemail difficult so I can opt to email that day instead.

What other material can you supply if I don't want topicals or you already have a client in my area? I can also supply:

Birthday and Anniversary Gags: Based around the Q Sheet, books of days, etc. The Friday quota will also include material about weekend. birthdays and anniversaries

Golden Hour/Top Ten At Ten/Hits and Headlines Gags: Humour about songs and news from a particular period. For this I need advance notice of the months/years and playlists so I can research the gags.

I can also supply further items written to order, such as:

Sketches: From quickies to more substantial sketch material.

Parody Songs: A presenter once had a whole crowd at an O.B. singing along to my parody lyrics!

Speeches/Routines for your PAs: Original, tailored material.

Plus, of course, the 'JOCK BOOKS' - see their separate page for details.

Do you supply lists of trivia, weird facts, etc? No. There are plenty of books, websites and other prep services offering that type of material. I only write about something if I have a gag or humorous observation about it.

So how much do your show prep services cost? My prep will probably cost more than some other services. I don't want to knock my competitors - I've seen some good gags among their material - but I believe that with my background in so many types of comedy writing, especially for radio, my many years of national broadcast credits, the length of time I have been providing this service, the hard work I put in, the quality and consistency of the material, and most of all, the difference I have seen it make to my clients' careers, I am well worth what I ask. My rates have actually changed very over the past 14 years but I am afraid I do not supply exclusive topicals for a couple of quid a day like some others seem happy to!

The rate will be negotiable and will depend on the amount of material you want (for example, you might want topicals plus Birthday and Anniversary gags), the size of your reach, whether you are primetime or on a gravyard shift and whether the station is funding the service or you are paying out of your own pocket (in which case I will be pleased to supply a receipt for tax purposes).

I charge per show, billed in advance every 4 weeks. If your station is paying, I am happy to invoice them - provided they are not as slow in paying as some of the majors I have dealt with in the past! I accept payment by cheque, PayPal or transfer.

If you are away on holiday, just let me know and I will suspend the service until you get back. (Having said that, I have presenters who like the material so much that they are happy to continue paying for it even when they are off so that they can work it into their shows alongside more current gags on their return!)

I've seen some prep services where you only pay for the items you use - can I have this arrangement with you? Sorry, I have to say no, for a number of reasons. Firstly, as I mentioned in my first-ever article for the Radio Magazine, presenters lead busy, hectic lives and I just cannot see any of them taking the time to sit down and accurately count up what they've broadcast. Secondly, it's unlikely that I'll have the time to listen to their shows to double-check. Thirdly, if you only pay for what you use, it may put you off using anything at all whereas if you pay for a quota of material, chances are you'll make sure you get your money's worth.

And it's by using my ideas that presenters start to see the benefit - as I have heard so often over the past 14 years!

What difference could your material make to me? Obviously there are no guarantees - much depends on your delivery, personality, etc - but here is a case study:

A presenter working on a daily show on a small station started subscribing to my service, alternating with another. Within days, he was just using mine. A few weeks later, he auditioned for a much larger station - using my material. They took him on for part-time graveyard shows where he continued to use my gags. After just a couple of months, his bosses switched him to a prime-time daily slot, the youngest presenter ever to be given that show! He stayed there for years until moving to an even bigger station and another peak slot. Just one other thing: 14 years later, he still uses my material on a daily basis!

What do others say about your service? Here are a few examples:

"A consistent, reliable service supplying sharp, topical humour on the day the news breaks - not when it's an already exhausted story. Ideal for crunch and roll". My longest-standing client.

"Made me howl!" Local commercial presenter who used my material from the very first day his station started broadcasting.

"The sheets have been fantastic and added to the (breakfast) show tremendously". Programme Director of a major Emap station.

"Brilliant...love the gags today". A new subscriber after receiving his first day's topicals.

Do you welcome feedback? Absolutely. Some clients have used my service, day in, day out, for years and hardly ever phoned or emailed me. Obviously this automatic repeat business indicates great satisfaction but it's always useful to hear any constructive comments from presenters about the material - that way I can make the service even better!

Can you supply free samples? Yes, for example, I can let you see some recent topicals, that is to say, actual sheets as they were sent on the day so you get a true picture - not compilations of only the 'best' gags over a long period of time!

If you wish to discuss your requirements in more detail, please call 01202 318829
or email nickrthomas@gmail.com

And if you still feel that subscribing to a show prep service, isn't for you, I can teach you how to write your own original comedy material with my PREP SCHOOL manual or e-course.