DjWheat

Last updated
Marcus Graham
DjWheat at QuakeCon 2023.jpg
Graham at QuakeCon 2023
Born1977or1978(age 46–47)
Alma mater University of Nebraska–Lincoln
Occupation(s)VP of Community Development at Fortis Games
Shoutcaster
Website djwheat.com

Marcus Graham, also known as djWheat, is an American shoutcaster and the former Director of Creator Development at Twitch, where he worked at from 2011 to January 2022. [1] [2] [3]

Contents

Graham is considered to be one of the earliest shoutcasters, doing play-by-play commentary at video game tournaments since the late 1990s, and has commentated over more than 50 titles. He has been referred to as the "John Madden" of esports commentating. [1] [4] He has hosted major gaming events, including The International and the World Cyber Games. [1] [5]

Early life

Graham grew up in Omaha, Nebraska. [1] He graduated from the University of Nebraska–Lincoln.[ citation needed ] After graduation, he worked in IT management and coached Quake III in his free time. [1]

Career

Graham was the leader of Clan 519, one of the top-ranked North American Quake II team deathmatch teams. [4] [5] His nickname was Styles519. [5]

djWheat (left) and wife Jade at QuakeCon 2002 while working for TSN DjWheat and Jade from TSN at QuakeCon 2002.jpg
djWheat (left) and wife Jade at QuakeCon 2002 while working for TSN

Graham won $1,500 playing Quake III Arena. When he was unable to attend a Quake III tournament in Sweden in 1997, Graham relayed updates from his teams via RealAudio to a small audience listening online. [1] However, RealAudio had an audience cap of 25, so he later transitioned to hosting his shows on SHOUTcast, which allowed for up to 1,000 listeners at a time. [4] His broadcasting career was considered unprofitable for a long time, [4] with a live event he broadcast in 2006 costing $18,000 in bandwidth. [6] He broadcast on SHOUTcast seven days a week for four years. [7] He was later invited to do live commentary in Texas in 2002 and World Cyber Games 2002 in Korea. [1] He has since broadcast World Cyber Games 2009 and World Cyber Games 2010. [8]

Graham later joined Team Sportscast Network (TSN) as their Quake broadcaster. [4]

Around 2005 and 2006, Graham was working with DirecTV on the Championship Gaming Series. Shortly after DirecTV co-produced Friday Night Lights with NBC, they shuttered their gaming division and Graham moved back to Lincoln, Nebraska from Los Angeles to resume his old job in IT. [4]

Twitch

In 2009, Graham restarted his old Inside the Game show on the live-streaming video website Stickam, which allowed him to host for free. From there, he would hop between streaming sites like Ustream and Justin.tv (and later Twitch). On Twitch, he hosted the Live On Three show with GameSpot esports reporter Rod "Slasher" Breslau and Scott "SirScoots" Smith. [8] After Twitch created its Twitch Partner program in 2011, Graham signed up and created his Onemoregame.tv network, a parent network of other shows such as Inside the Game, Live on Three, Weapon of Choice, and Kings of Tin. [8] [7] In 2011, Twitch brought Graham onboard their esports partnership program. [8] [1]

Graham during his time at Twitch has served as director of programming, Director of Twitch Studios and Director of Creator Development. [1] [9]

In November 2021, Graham announced his departure from Twitch in January 2022 via his Twitter account. [10]

Fortis Games

In September 2022, Graham announced his position of Vice President of Community Development at Fortis Games via his Twitter Account. [11]

Influence

Graham cites radio broadcaster Art Bell of Coast to Coast AM as an early influence. [1]

Paul "Redeye" Chaloner said, "His influence on me and many others that worked alongside him helped shape the way we commentate on esports today." [1]

Personal life

Graham lives in the Mission District of San Francisco with his wife and son. [1]

Related Research Articles

<span class="mw-page-title-main">G4 (American TV network)</span> American television channel

G4 was an American pay television and digital network owned by NBCUniversal and later Comcast Spectacor that primarily focused on video games.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Paul Chaloner</span> Esports commentator

Paul "Redeye" Chaloner is a British former esports broadcaster.

Gamestah, also referred to as Gamestah Radio, is an Australian Shoutcasting and media organisation, best known for their role as the commentators of the "Roffle Cup" segment of the Australian gaming television show Good Game. They have also covered many large electronic sports events such as World Cyber Games and Electronic Sports World Cup. The organisation is currently made up of more than 25 volunteers who use the Shoutcast plugin for Winamp, developed by Nullsoft, to broadcast commentary of online computer game matches, as well as LAN events. Recently, Gamestah was interviewed by Good Game as well as Tektime Radio, a radio station dedicated to gaming news and interviews in Melbourne.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Championship Gaming Series</span> Defunct esports league

The Championship Gaming Series (CGS) was a professional esports league based in the United States, that operated from 2007 to 2008. It was a global league that featured teams representing cities from around the world. The CGS aimed to bring a traditional sports league format to competitive gaming, with teams, franchises, and a regular season leading to playoffs and a championship. The CGS was preceded by the 2006 Championship Gaming Invitational, a television pilot featuring several future CGS players. The league was founded in 2007 and was owned and operated by DirecTV in association with British Sky Broadcasting (BSkyB) and STAR TV. Games played in the CGS included titles such as Counter-Strike: Source, FIFA, Dead or Alive 4, Project Gotham Racing 3, and Forza Motorsport 2. The league had a television broadcast deal, and matches were aired on various networks. Despite initial hype and investment, the CGS faced financial challenges and eventually ceased operations in 2008.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Live streaming</span> Live broadcasting via the Internet

Livestreaming, live-streaming, or live streaming is the streaming of video or audio in real time or near real time. While often referred to simply as streaming, the real time nature of livestreaming differentiates it from other forms of streamed media, such as video-on-demand, vlogs, and YouTube videos.

Michele Morrow is an American television presenter, host, actress, writer, producer and video game personality. She is the co-creator, executive producer and lead actor of the single camera sitcom, Good Game, a YouTube Original with Dan Harmon's Starburns Industries and Game Grumps, and is the voice over artist for Alleria Windrunner in Hearthstone.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Joe Miller (commentator)</span> British esports commentator

Joe Miller or JOEE is a British commentator. He started his career as an esports caster at gaming tournaments, working his first event shoutcasting Battlefield 1942. The 3D World War II first-person shooter (FPS) video game was coincidentally also the first game Miller played at a competitive level. At age sixteen, he began to commentate BF1942 games at home in the UK, pushing out as many audio commentaries as he could. In an interview with JP McDaniel, Miller revealed that it was a "big jump" from the audio commentaries he initially produced to the audio-video commentaries we are accustomed to today.

Michael Lamond, more commonly known by his online alias Husky or HuskyStarcraft, is a former sports commentator, YouTuber, director, producer, and voice actor. He is best known for his work in esports, most notably for his commentating on StarCraft II, a video game published by Blizzard Entertainment. He regularly appeared as a commentator at StarCraft tournaments, with his commentary being viewable through various YouTube channels.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Artosis</span> American esports commentator

Daniel Ray Stemkoski, better known by his nickname Artosis, is an American professional esports commentator and Twitch streamer. Stemkoski moved to Seoul, South Korea to commentate competitive Starcraft games in English. Together with Nick "Tasteless" Plott, he provides commentary for AfreecaTV StarCraft League games.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Nick Plott</span> American esports commentator

Nicolas Plott, known by his alias Tasteless, is an American esports commentator. He moved to Seoul, Korea in 2007 to give commentary to esports competitions. He has provided commentary for multiple Starcraft and Starcraft 2 tournaments. Together with Dan "Artosis" Stemkoski, he currently provides commentary for Global StarCraft II League and AfreecaTV StarLeague games.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Summit1g</span> American Twitch streamer (born 1987)

Jaryd Russell Lazar, better known as summit1g, is an American Twitch streamer and former professional Counter-Strike: Global Offensive player. After retiring from competitive esports, Lazar became a well-known streamer on Twitch by streaming CS:GO and WarZ. He streams a variety of video games, such as Escape from Tarkov, Grand Theft Auto V, Sea of Thieves, Overwatch, DayZ, iRacing, Foxhole, Hearthstone and Rust.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">MonteCristo</span> American esports personality

Christopher Kjell Mykles, better known by his nickname MonteCristo, is an American esports executive and former color commentator, analyst, and organization owner.

The live streaming of video games is an activity where people broadcast themselves playing games to a live audience online. The practice became popular in the mid-2010s on the US-based site Twitch, before growing to YouTube, Facebook, China-based sites Huya Live, DouYu, and Bilibili, and other services. By 2014, Twitch streams had more traffic than HBO's online streaming service, HBO Go. Professional streamers often combine high-level play and entertaining commentary, and earn income from sponsors, subscriptions, ad revenue, and donations.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">OfflineTV</span> American online media collective

OfflineTV is an online social entertainment group of content creators based in Los Angeles, California. They produce a wide range of content, from prank videos to vlogs to the housemates playing games together. The group maintains a large following on their social media platforms.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Asmongold</span> American Twitch streamer and YouTuber (born 1990)

Asmongold, also known as ZackRawrr, is an American Twitch streamer, YouTuber, and content creator. His content primarily focuses on World of Warcraft, but he has covered other video games and topics related to gaming culture. Asmongold is a co-founder and co-owner of the streaming, gaming, and content creation organization One True King (OTK), based in Austin, Texas. He is also a co-owner of Starforge Systems, a computer company specialized in selling prebuilt gaming PCs.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">VikkiKitty</span> Esports match commentator

Victoria Perez, known professionally as VikkiKitty, is an American esports match commentator who has worked in Super Smash Bros. for Wii U, Super Smash Bros. Ultimate, Overwatch, Arms, Pokkén Tournament, and Apex Legends. She was the first woman to commentate a major Super Smash Bros. event.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Mizkif</span> American Twitch streamer and YouTuber (born 1995)

Mizkif, also known as Matthew Rinaudo, is an American Twitch streamer and YouTuber. He is a founding member and co-owner of the gaming organization One True King.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">AustinShow</span> American Twitch streamer and YouTuber

AustinShow is an American Twitch streamer, YouTuber, podcaster, and media personality. He is known for hosting various talk and dating shows on Twitch, including Love or Host. He currently co-hosts the podcast "Fear&" with Hasan Piker, QTCinderella, and Will Neff which features various guests.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Esfand (streamer)</span> American Twitch streamer and YouTuber

Tim Esfandiari, known online as Esfand or EsfandTV, is an American Twitch streamer and YouTuber. He is a founding member and co-owner of the gaming organization One True King.

References

  1. 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 11 12 Slusser, Susan (2018-01-13). "Marcus 'DJ Wheat' Graham is the John Madden of gaming". San Francisco Chronicle. Retrieved 2021-05-05.
  2. ↑ Glaze, Virginia (2019-04-10). "DJWheat explains reasoning behind Twitch's most notable bannings". Dexerto. Retrieved 2021-05-05.
  3. ↑ Shrivastava, Aarnesh (2022-03-05). "djWHEAT talks about his experience working at Twitch as an Executive". sportskeeda. Retrieved 2022-03-06.
  4. 1 2 3 4 5 6 Grubb, Jeff (2013-09-09). "How Marcus 'djWheat' Graham became one of the voices of esports (Page 1)". VentureBeat. Retrieved 2021-05-05.
  5. 1 2 3 Esanu, Andreea (August 14, 2018). "djWHEAT Joins The International 2018 Hosts List". VPEsports. Archived from the original on 2021-05-05. Retrieved 2021-05-05.
  6. ↑ Statt, Nick (2015-10-02). "Twitch wants to snatch YouTube's audience — without sacrificing its soul". The Verge. Retrieved 2021-05-05.
  7. 1 2 Gaudiosi, John. "Pro Gaming Expert Marcus "djWHEAT" Graham Believes TwitchTV iPhone App Will Further Expand eSports". Forbes. Retrieved 2021-05-05.
  8. 1 2 3 4 Grubb, Jeff (2013-09-09). "How Marcus 'djWheat' Graham became one of the voices of e-sports (Page 2)". VentureBeat. Retrieved 2021-05-05.
  9. ↑ Perez, Sarah (February 23, 2018). "Twitch's first live game show 'Stream On' debuts March 8". TechCrunch. Retrieved 2021-05-05.
  10. ↑ ci@djWHEAT (November 4, 2021). "ACHIEVEMENT UNLOCKED: Worked at @Twitch for 10 years. My time here has been amazing and a major milestone of my 22-year Esports/Livestreaming journey. It is time to hang up my hat and start a NEW GAME+. In January, I'll be leaving my job at Twitch to take a much-needed break" (Tweet) – via Twitter.
  11. ↑ ci@djWHEAT (November 4, 2021). "Time to embark on my next community journey... I'm excited to announce today that I've joined @PlayFortisGames as the VP of Community Development. I see it as an incredible opportunity to break down the walls between game communities and development teams" (Tweet) – via Twitter.
This page is based on this Wikipedia article
Text is available under the CC BY-SA 4.0 license; additional terms may apply.
Images, videos and audio are available under their respective licenses.