Today we’d like to introduce you to Ray Carsillo.
Hi Ray, it’s an honor to have you on the platform. Thanks for taking the time to share your story with us – to start maybe you can share some of your backstory with our readers?
I grew up in New Jersey and unlike a lot of kids, figured out pretty early on what I wanted to do in life and that was to be in front of a camera or microphone. I had a huge love of sports but also figured out pretty early that I was not destined for third base for the New York Yankees. So, at the age of 11, I decided I was going to be a sportscaster and maybe I could do play-by-play for the Yankees instead.
I was very fortunate that my high school was also where our local access TV station was run out of, and I began to volunteer there at 14 to begin my media education. I hosted my own local access TV sports show, was cameraman for all the basketball games and pep rallies for the school and ended up getting accepted to nearby Montclair State University’s Broadcasting Department to start my proper education in Broadcast Journalism. While this was all happening, I also had a big role in the school play, but my mother, who originally was wary of me going into broadcasting, got a sniff I might want to go into acting and so she changed her tune and pushed me harder than anyone to continue in broadcasting. Heaven forbid I try to be an actor, haha.
I again co-hosted my own sports show on campus and graduated from Montclair State Cum Laude. I ended up interning at 95.5 WPLJ-FM, at the time a Top 40 radio station in NYC, as part of the Scott & Todd in the Morning show. While it wasn’t sports, the station was broadcast out of Madison Square Garden and also shared a floor with nearby ESPN Radio. The internship turned into my first job, but then WPLJ, which was owned by Disney at the time, was being sold. Fortunately, I had made enough friends at neighboring ESPN Radio that when the deal went through, I got to move over to ESPN Radio as a Technical Producer/Board Operator and left 95.5 WPLJ behind.
I thought I had done it. I was on the path to my dream job. Within six months, I had even been given a column on the website for ESPN Radio NY. They were desperate for content; I was desperate to be heard. They didn’t need another baseball or football guy, though. I have also always been huge into video games. So, they wanted me to cover sports video games and the burgeoning esports scene. I was thrilled to marry two of my loves together in such a way. My column was twice a week, but I quickly found out that creating content on the subject matter assigned to me was easier said than done. So, I pitched that my column should expand to video games in general. I was fairly confident that our 18-34 male target demo would react positively, and I was right.
After doing this for about two years, I realized I had gone as far as I could at ESPN. My dream of being a sportscaster hadn’t fully died, but it had changed. I realized I could still be very happy talking about video games all day, doing play-by-play if you will for the industry as a whole. And with things shifting at ESPN at the time, I decided to take my talents elsewhere. I bounced around YouTube and freelanced for a variety of outlets, before I was called west to Los Angeles in 2011.
Electronic Gaming Monthly, at the time the longest running video game magazine, needed a new editor. My background in sports was a huge boon because even though sports video games are massive money makers, there are very few in the industry who know how to talk about them. The office at the time was in Agoura Hills (later it would move to Sherman Oaks), and so I settled in Tarzana, a spot that I felt wasn’t too far from the office but also wasn’t too far from all the goings-on in Los Angeles. It was a new city, and I wanted to be primed to explore as much as possible.
I spent seven years at EGM, moving up the ranks from an associate to the reviews/previews editor. Basically, every opinion in the magazine and the website had to go through me at some point. But print media isn’t exactly thriving nowadays, and so I took my journalistic background and went to DC Entertainment where I helped write and produce over 200 episodes of DC Daily, the flagship news show of the DC Universe streaming service (a precursor to what is now Max).
After a year and a half there, I went back into video games and became the community and social media manager for Boss Team Games, the publisher behind Cobra Kai: Card Fighter (iOS/Android) and Evil Dead: The Game (XBX, PS5, PC). I’ve bounced around since then and now look to continue my career in the games industry very soon.
Oh? Remember when I told you my mom never wanted me to be an actor? Joke’s on her. I ended up doing that, too. Utilizing my background in radio, and the love of being in front of a microphone never having left me, I started doing voiceover work, lending my talents to a variety of narrative podcasts and anime dubs. I’ve also acted in front of the camera in some shorts and indie films. I’ve also returned to the stage in a way, having started doing standup comedy and have been seen around town at such places as The Ice House in Pasadena, HaHa in NoHo, and Flappers in Burbank.
Alright, so let’s dig a little deeper into the story – has it been an easy path overall and if not, what were the challenges you’ve had to overcome?
Oh goodness, no! It has not been smooth at all! Haha. I feel like for much of my life I’ve been cutting against the grain. My family wasn’t exactly thrilled with me leaving New Jersey, so there was a lot of pressure there. The last time someone had made such a large move in my family was when my great-grandparents left Italy in 1912 to come to America to begin with. So, there’s that pressure, plus coming to a new city, to start a new job, where I don’t know anyone or the lay of the land. I looked at it as an adventure at the time, but looking back, it was not easy.
Then, of course, navigating the ever-shifting media landscape. Mergers and buy outs and decisions made far above my paygrade would always trickle down and usually facilitate me having to move on to elsewhere. And, of course, the video game industry is struggling on a much larger scale at the moment. I was very fortunate to recently find work because after I lost my job in 2023, even with contract and freelance work and my acting and comedy to take the edge off, I was near the end of my savings. I was looking at moving back to New Jersey and working at my uncle’s ice cream shop! (There’s nothing wrong with working at an ice cream shop, and my uncle makes the best damn ice cream you’ve ever had, but after a lifetime in media, it wasn’t for me.)
Can you tell our readers more about what you do and what you think sets you apart from others?
I feel like I answered this in previous questions. Oops, haha. Currently, I am an actor, writer, comedian, community manager, social media manager, Twitch streamer and affiliate, TikTok affiliate, and I play pickleball on Sundays.
It depends on who you ask in regard to what I’m known for. Some folks know me for the numerous narrative podcasts I’ve acted in with Voyage Media. Some folks know me as the sports play-by-play guy on Twitch. Some folks know me for the seven years I spent writing for Electronic Gaming Monthly. I’ve gone on a lot of job interviews lately and everyone asks what you specialize in, and the honest truth is I don’t know if I specialize in anything. I’m a jack-of-all-trades that has survived in this manic media world because I’ve been malleable, willing to do whatever it takes to get the job done at a high level. It just so happens to be that it feels like the job is different every time.
I think this is also what sets me apart. I hate to call myself a sort of Renaissance man because I don’t want to sound cocky or braggadocios, but, at least in regard to media, I have done a lot of different things.
The thing I’m most proud of, and I’m old enough to realize it now, is that I’ve lived a very full life and am blessed to have a wonderful group of friends in my life who support me no matter what.
What makes you happy?
Spending time with my friends and hopefully adding an extra element of joy to their life since they add so much to mine.
Playing video games still into the wee hours of the morning when you know you have nothing to do the next day since it makes me feel like a kid again.
A nice sandwich or cup of coffee from my local haunts (shoutout to The Carving Board – Tarzana and Laidrey Coffee – Tarzana). Taking a breath and having a nice meal while watching the world go by can be very refreshing.
Contact Info:
- Website: https://www.raycarsillo.com
- Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/raycarsillo
- Youtube: https://www.youtube.com/raycarsillo
- Other: https://www.twitch.tv/raycarsillo
Image Credits
2024.12.11-Revel-114 – Jill Petracek
XboxE32015 – Michael Stassus
