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Viewers of the “Conversation With Cardinal Dolan” radio show, which has expanded to reach a growing television audience in recent years, undoubtedly noticed a new looking set last week when guests included Fordham University president Father Joseph McShane, S.J., and Msgr. Thomas Shelley, an archdiocesan priest and emeritus professor of Church history at Fordham.
The show, an original program of the Catholic Channel on Sirius XM satellite radio, is distributed to cable television viewers via Telecare, the television ministry of the Diocese of Rockville Centre.
The set was part of a TV studio constructed over the summer at the New York Catholic Center in Manhattan, in cooperation with Telecare.
The Catholic Channel radio show began during the tenure of Cardinal Edward Egan, a founder of the channel. Four years ago, Telecare approached the archdiocese and the Catholic Channel with interest in televising the radio show. Until now, the set was a makeshift one assembled for each weekly taping in Dillon Hall, a reception facility in Cardinal Dolan’s offices at the New York Catholic Center in Manhattan.
In discussions with Cardinal Dolan, Joseph Zwilling, archdiocesan director of communications and general manager of the Catholic Channel, told CNY that he and Msgr. James Vlaun, CEO and president of Telecare, and Liz Aiello, vice president of talk programming at Sirius XM, “all agreed that it was time to give the show a more permanent home.”
The new set, located on the 12th floor at the Catholic Center, is in keeping with the informal atmosphere that Cardinal Dolan has sought to convey in his seven and a half years as host—that of a conversation taking place around a kitchen table.
The faux brick walls and shelving in the background contain items, such as a crucifix, a model of St. Patrick’s Cathedral and assorted baseball caps—that reflect the cardinal’s position and personality, and add to the homey feel.
Other studio features include robotic cameras and a state of the art control room.
Zwilling credited the successful completion of the studio construction in a timely manner to Nicholas Canepa, the building manager at the New York Catholic Center, and Sean Kennedy, a senior executive producer of Telecare, who has a set construction background.
Construction costs were funded by the archdiocese, Zwilling said. There is a hope and expectation that there will be additional uses for the set and production facility beyond televising the radio program, he said.
The cardinal, he noted, is often asked to record video messages for dinners and other events that he is unable to attend in person. Having a well-equipped production facility in-house also could facilitate interviews for other television shows without the cardinal having to leave the building, Zwilling added.
The show distributed by Telecare, is now part of the television programming of various diocesan and other Catholic stations and networks including EWTN, Salt and Light, NET TV of the Diocese of Brooklyn, and archdiocesan stations in Boston and Detroit.
