PODCAST NEWS DAILY – July 17, 2026
When Taylor Swift announced her Eras Tour documentary and surprise album drops last summer, most podcast producers scrambled to find an angle. John McDermott and Mark Francis of Caloroga Media had already built one.
Their Taylor Swift-focused podcast, part of the Caloroga Media network, experienced a 17-fold surge in listenership over a 10-day window from June 28 through July 7 — the result of a breaking-news publishing approach that had the team dropping more than 10 episodes in rapid succession as Swift-related stories broke.
Listeners during the spike spent 70% more time with the show than in a typical week, and the audience skewed notably older and more female — 57% — than the baseline. The numbers underscore what McDermott calls the studio’s ‘live’ philosophy.
‘We love to bring that live feel to podcasting by dropping episodes when the content is there but keeping a regular schedule for the daily or weekly fans,’ McDermott told Podcast News Daily. ‘When something big happens, you have to be ready to move quickly.’
Caloroga Media, which McDermott co-founded in 2023 with Mark Francis, operates more than 30 short-form audio shows across entertainment, comedy, true crime, royals, and more. Its Palace Intrigue show on the British Royal Family is in its sixth season. The studio has surpassed 12 million total downloads.
The company uses AI tools for brainstorming and scripting while relying on human editorial judgment for final decisions — an approach McDermott credits for their ability to react quickly to breaking news without sacrificing quality.
Originally published at podcastnewsdaily.com on July 17, 2026.