Hey everyone!

It was another great week both on air and behind the scenes of TCGS! I sincerely could not ask for three better bosses with Lino, Maureen and Lou.

Speaking of those three- this week for the blog, I decided to delve a little deeper into how a show is put together every day and how each member of the crew prepares. Here's what I found out...

Maureen: As producer of the show, Maureen must always be one step ahead. While preparing for that day's show, she is also brainstorming ideas, booking guests and planning segments for future shows. Whether it is creating content for next month's Italy trip or writing questions for a game later in the week, Maureen is always thinking quite far in advance. On the day of a show, she compiles a list of news stories and ideas for Lino to sort through and sends it to him by 2pm (he will probably dispute that she sends it by then, but oh well). While Lino loves to make fun of her on air, it's clear behind the scenes how hard Maureen works to help create a great show.

Lou: To most fans, it is no surprise that nearly all of the day-to-day sound editing falls on Lou, from compiling that day's audio clips to creating the podcast (one of his favorite tasks, seriously). What might surprise you, however, is how much mental preparation he puts into a show each day. For example, he will sometimes listen to stand-up comic routines on his commute to NYC in order to get into the right mindset. While at times it means blocking out his own personal moods, it shows how committed Lou is to creating great comedy with a Catholic spin-- from picking a brilliant audio clip to simply being in the right frame of mind.

And finally, Lino: To be honest, I think his quote speaks for itself in regards to show preparation: "I live my life. We always say the best thing that could possibly happen to me is on my walk to work I get kicked in the groin, because then we know I've got something to talk about." When that doesn't happen, he picks show topics based on what he feels like talking about and compares that process to knowing what food he is in the mood for on a given day. He also brainstorms ideas with his friends and SiriusXM coworkers, from his "secular friends" to Maureen and Lou. Overall, of course, it's all about applying real life events to faith, which we all know Lino does quite well.

Long story short, they all work very hard in different ways to create a great show, and most of the time they are pretty humble about it. :) In the next few weeks you can expect some longer interviews with the three about all sorts of topics, if only because I love picking their brains.

Until then, enjoy a few behind the scenes pictures from this week!