Ray Marcano is an American journalist, music critic, and musician known for his work as a medical reporter, and later a music critic, for the ''

Dayton Daily News The ''Dayton Daily News'' (''DDN'') is a daily newspaper published in Dayton, Ohio. It is owned by Cox Enterprises, Inc., a privately held global conglomerate headquartered in Atlanta, Georgia, United States, with approximately 55,000 employee ...

'' in the 1980s and 1990s. In 2000, he became president of the

Society of Professional Journalists The Society of Professional Journalists (SPJ), formerly known as Sigma Delta Chi, is the oldest organization representing journalists in the United States. It was established on April 17, 1909, at DePauw University,2009 SPJ Annual Report, lette ...

(SPJ), the largest journalism organization in the United States, only the second black president of the organization in its history. He was one of the directors of the Cox Media Group, which owns the ''Dayton Daily News''.

Early life and work

Marcano grew up in

The Bronx The Bronx ( ) is the northernmost of the five Boroughs of New York City, boroughs of New York City, coextensive with Bronx County, in the U.S. state of New York (state), New York. It shares a land border with Westchester County, New York, West ...

's Monroe housing project. He attended

The High School of Music & Art The High School of Music & Art, informally known as Music & Art (or M&A), was a public specialized high school located at 443-465 West 135th Street in the borough of Manhattan, New York, from 1936 until 1984. In 1961, Music & Art and the High Sc ...

, studying voice, percussion and piano, with the hope to become a R&B star. At school, he was in a band jazz band with jazz bass guitarist

Marcus Miller William Henry Marcus Miller Jr. (born June 14, 1959) is an American musician, songwriter, and record producer. He has worked with trumpeter Miles Davis, pianist Herbie Hancock, singer Luther Vandross, and saxophonists Wayne Shorter and David Sa ...

, who later worked with

Miles Davis Miles Dewey Davis III (May 26, 1926September 28, 1991) was an American jazz trumpeter, bandleader, and composer. He is among the most influential and acclaimed figures in the history of jazz and 20th century music, 20th-century music. Davis ado ...

and

Herbie Hancock Herbert Jeffrey Hancock (born April 12, 1940) is an American jazz musician, bandleader, and composer. He started his career with trumpeter Donald Byrd's group. Hancock soon joined the Miles Davis Quintet, where he helped to redefine the role of ...

, but felt that he did not have the talent to make it as a professional jazz musician. Marcano began his career as a journalist in the early 1980s. Around 1981, he began working for a newspaper in

Vinita, Oklahoma Vinita is a city and county seat of Craig County, Oklahoma, Craig County, Oklahoma, United States. As of the 2020 United States census, 2020 census, the population was 5,193. History Vinita was founded in 1870 by Elias Cornelius Boudinot. In 1 ...

, and after a two-year stint he joined ''

Tulsa World The ''Tulsa World'' is an American daily newspaper. It serves the city of Tulsa, Oklahoma, and is the primary newspaper for the northeastern and eastern portions of Oklahoma. The printed edition is the second-most circulated newspaper in the sta ...

''. A year later, in 1984, Marcano began a long term working for the ''Dayton Daily News'', specializing in medicine. His first news story was a report on the state analysis of hospital charges and how some hospitals overcharge patients. In 1993, the US government reported that when the

Ohio Department of Health The Ohio Department of Health (ODH) is the administrative department of the Ohio state government responsible for coordinating activities for child and family health services, children with medical handicaps, early intervention services, nutritio ...

"turned over floppy disks with hospital admission information", Marcano "easily turned

hem A hem in sewing is a garment finishing method, where the edge of a piece of cloth is folded and sewn to prevent unravelling of the fabric and to adjust the length of the piece in garments, such as at the end of the sleeve or the bottom of the ga ...

into revealing stories on discrepancies in health care costs and procedures". He has worked for newspapers as a reporter and editor in New York, Ohio and Oklahoma and is also an editor of the book ''Back in Orbit''. Writing for ''Dayton Daily News'', as its news manager for sports, he observed: "I think it's important for newsrooms to be diverse....newspapers have to be able to reflect things that go on in the whole community."

Later work

In 2000, he became president of the

(SPJ), the largest journalism organization in the United States with 300 chapters and 10,000 members. He was only the second black president in the history of the organization, which was founded in 1909. He became the director of digital audience growth for Cox Media Group, a company which owns the ''Dayton Daily News''. He is currently a lecturer at

Wright State University Wright State University is a public research university in Fairborn, Ohio, United States. Originally opened in 1964 as a branch campus of Miami University and Ohio State University, it became an independent institution in 1967 and was named in ...

. Marcano received a

Fulbright The Fulbright Program, including the Fulbright–Hays Program, is one of several United States cultural exchange programs with the goal of improving intercultural relations, cultural diplomacy, and intercultural competence between the people ...

Special Grant at the

University of Iceland The University of Iceland ( ) is a public research university in Reykjavík, Iceland, and the country's oldest and largest institution of higher education. Founded in 1911, it has grown steadily from a small civil servants' school to a modern co ...

in 2013. In 2014, he became editor of the sports websit
FanBuzz.com
where he served for three years. Starting in 2017, he began freelancing for some of the country's largest brands as an editor, including CNN and the Southern Poverty Law Center. As a writer, his editorial work has appeared i
USA Today
th
Columbus (Ohio) Dispatch
an

He has writte
a weekly Sunday opinion column
in the

since 2021 and continues to write freelance news articles for a number of publications. In 2025, he was named the best columnist in Ohio by the Ohio Society of Professional Journalist

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Marcano, Ray Medical journalists American music critics Living people Journalists from the Bronx Writers from Dayton, Ohio Wright State University faculty Dayton Daily News Journalists from Ohio The High School of Music & Art alumni Year of birth missing (living people) Presidents of the Society of Professional Journalists