September 16, 2026
Be engaged, stay adaptable, and recognize the contributions others make to your success.
Those are the lessons St. John’s University alumnus John McDermott ’93M.B.A. has taken from a nearly four-decade career in broadcasting that took an entrepreneurial turn in 2023. Mr. McDermott, who spent years in corporate radio, cofounded Caloroga Shark Media that year with longtime friend Mark Francis. Together they have grown the company into an innovative independent audio and podcasting studio that blends artificial intelligence (AI) technology and human creativity.
The small but agile studio is unique in the podcasting ecosystem, favoring short-form digital conten typically under 15 minutes per episode—over longer narratives. In less than three years, the network has surpassed 10 million downloads across its portfolio of more than 30 short-form audio shows and dramas.
Mr. McDermott is also an adjunct professor of radio and podcasting at two universities near his New Jersey home—Fairleigh Dickinson and Montclair State universities. He credits much of his success to skills cultivated at St. John’s.
“Thinking back to the Strategic Management classes that I took, one thing that served me well is the idea of surrounding yourself with good people and trusting them,” Mr. McDermott said. “That was reinforced to me. Do that and people will make you look good.”
“Also, evolve,” Mr. McDermott continued. “I learned how to edit audio with a razor blade and tape. Now, we use computers and even AI. Technologies change, but the basics remain. We are still communicating, building community, and trying to build an audience.”
Mr. McDermott spent more than a decade as a producer with WOR in New York. But with traditional radio facing increased competition from satellite services, he was laid off in a cost-cutting move. After a short stint at a local radio station on Long Island, NY, he moved to satellite radio as Vice President of Comedy Programming for SiriusXM.
Laid off again after 10 years, this time Mr. McDermott passed on corporate opportunities for a podcast startup, Cadence13, which produced podcasts by actress Gwyneth Paltrow; model and influencer Emma Chamberlain; and Crooked Media, home of the popular Pod Save America show hosted by four former members of President Barack Obama’s administration.
“I use the baseball manager analogy for radio: One day they tap you on the shoulder and you are out of work,” Mr. McDermott joked. “But I went to Cadence13 and taught myself about podcasting. I have been in podcasting for 11 years now, which seems strange when I look at the back of the baseball card of my career.”
If anything, his four years at Cadence13 only convinced Mr. McDermott that the highly specific, on-demand nature of podcasts was the future of audio production. He left Cadence13 in 2023 to start Caloroga Shark Media with Mr. Francis. Based in New York City, the name is a tribute to his late dog, Shark.
The studio features a diverse lineup of programming, including shows on the British royal family, comedy, sports, the paranormal, romance, spirituality, and true crime. Palace Intrigue, its signature show on the royal family rooted in Mr. McDermott’s fondness for the Netflix series The Crown, is in its sixth season with more than 2,500 episodes posted. Programming can be found across most major podcast platforms, including Apple Podcasts, Spotify, and Overcast.
The company’s calling card is its ability to integrate AI into the production process. Caloroga uses the technology to brainstorm episode ideas, outline stories, and massage scripts based on news developments. That allows Mr. McDermott and Mr. Francis to concentrate on creative directing and emotional storytelling.
It also uses text-to-speech AI technology to narrate shows and employs a first-of-its-kind podcast story generator that enables listeners to create an original story tailored specifically to them. The tool¬—called “Podbotz”—offers six story themes—horror, murder mystery, romance, science fiction, western, and children’s stories—each with six distinct genre variations for a personalized user experience.
“Resources in any industry include time, money, and humans,” Mr. McDermott explained. “So, we use AI narration on some shows for reasons of speed or who does the best read of the script. When it seemed likely that Pope Francis would die and we wanted to do a series about what happens when the Catholic Church selects a new Pope, we created a series called White Smoke. My voice was not right for it; Mark’s voice was not right. So, I wrote the scripts, then had AI read them, and it sounded fine. It became a much bigger series when an American—Pope Leo—was elected.”
The company’s two leaders divide work evenly, with Mr. McDermott concentrating more on script writing and Mr. Francis focusing more on production and postproduction issues. Work often extends beyond a 9-to-5 timetable, which is not necessarily a bad thing, Mr. McDermott said.
“Over the years, I have gotten in the habit on Sunday evenings, especially in the summer, of sitting on the back deck, taking the laptop out, and getting in front of the week,” he said. “But I also might take a ‘Beach Friday.’ We are adults; we are professionals. Nobody is going to drop the ball.”
Mr. McDermott sees in his career arc a story that might be helpful to students at St. John’s and at the two universities in which he teaches.
“I encourage students to look at their own lives, look at their peers’ lives,” he said. “Look at how they are consuming media. My business partner and I are aligned and we will try different things. If we see something working, we will double down and expand on it. If it does not work, we stop doing it. Our understanding is that when something stops being fun, we will not do it.”