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DJs have been using comedy and prep services since the beginning of DJs. First there were written services of just jokes, then came more expanded newsletters with phoners, idea starters, music history, etc. Recorded services emerged with bits and characters you could plug into a show.

The written newsletters morphed into faxed, then emailed newsletters and eventually blossomed into online prep services like “Radio-Online” and “Bitboard”. The early recorded bits on tape were replaced by the likes of the “American Comedy Network”, “TM Century” and the Premiere recorded services.

I have used a great deal of services and I have written several successful ones. In the early and mid 1980s I co-published ”Dial-log” with Mike Morin. In the late 1980s and early 1990s, I wrote and published one of the first faxed services, “Comfax”. The question still stands: Should I really use a comedy service?

I think it depends on what type of show you do and what kind of service is available to you. Today, most subscription services provide more than just comedy. But, services do slant towards specific audiences. Prep services seem to have become as splintered and segmented as Radio itself.

In my last job, I had 3 recorded services and two written ones, (the text services were actually part of the 3 recorded ones). Out of all 3 of the recorded services, if I used 2 things each week TOTAL, it was a good week. I used portions of each written service daily, but in a very discriminating way.

Written

Written services that are available by subscription have a few drawbacks:

1. If you are paying for them, they can be costly.
2. Many services just cull material from the same old tired sources.
3. Many services fill their pages with content you will never use.

Here are the more prominent ones:

Interprep http://interprep.com

Telejoke http://www.araycomedy.com

The Prep Page http://www.thepreppage.com/

Morning Prep Daily http://www.morningprepdaily.com/

FmJock http://www.fmjock.com/

The Comedy Wire http://www.comedy-wire.com/

The Complete Sheet and Mega Prep http://www.thecompletesheet.com/

Positive Prep http://www.positiveprep.com/

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