He sits down with 45 minutes on the clock inside Crypto.com Arena. As the seconds melt away Carlo Jiménez pulls out his two highlighters. Tonight he picks yellow and blue. It is fitting with the Mavericks in town. He looks down at the two oversized pieces of paper that sit in front of him, soon to be filled with blue and yellow markings indicating key notes and points that cannot be forgotten.
The papers, which sit stapled inside a legal size manilla folder, are his notes on the two teams and all the players in tonight’s game. It’s a big game – game one of the NBA Playoffs – Los Angeles Clippers taking on the Dallas Mavericks. But Jiménez is relaxed, singing along to the music that echoes around the arena as the clock dips under 40 minutes.
Most would be nervous, but not Jiménez. The youngest radio voice in the NBA is excited for his playoff debut. He keeps his cool, reminding himself that it is like any other day. The prep is the same, the game is the same and his routine remains unchanged.
While most broadcasters would take the remaining 40 minutes to focus solely on the game at hand, Jiménez has another task that requires his attention: filming. He will be gathering as much content as he can to include in a TikTok detailing his “day in the life.” Jiménez’s 170,000 TikTok followers await a behind-the-scenes look into exactly what he did to get ready for the game that day.
“I started making TikToks in college because I enjoyed it. However, it also helped me gain a following of sorts, but to think that it would lead me here is crazy to think about,” Jiménez said. “But I think it does help gain the attention of people and it can showcase a little bit of what you can bring to the table.”
For Jiménez, it requires a balance of his time. Making broadcasting the priority but also filming enough content so when he goes home, from his eight hours at the arena, he has enough to put together a TikTok or two from that day.
As the clock closes in on 30 minutes to tip-off, Jiménez has enough video for now of the pregame. It is time to lock in mentally for the game at hand. As he stares down at his spotting charts, filled with information on every player from both teams, he cracks open an “Enlighten Mint” Guayakí Yerba Mate and takes a long sip. The caffeine will help him stay focused for all 48 minutes of basketball.
As the clock hits five minutes to tip, he sets his phone in place to record himself throughout the game. That will be crucial if he wants to post a TikTok with any highlights later that evening. He includes not just the action on the floor, but the video of himself as he makes the call as well.
Finally, tip-off arrives and the game is underway. From there it is back and forth as the Clippers claim Game 1. Following a post-game interview with Clippers forward Terance Mann he passes the postgame duties off to the postgame host Adam Ausland and takes the headset off.
While it may seem like the night is over for Jiménez, there is still plenty of work to be done.
No, not the prep for the next game, which will come later the following day, or listening to the game he just called to critique himself, which will also have to come at another time. Now, Jiménez will take his content idea from that day, using the video that he recorded before and during the broadcast and creating a TikTok.
It is one of the avenues that helped get him to this place and an aspect that Jiménez enjoys.
As the youngest broadcaster in the NBA, Jiménez has used TikTok as an asset to help break through. Despite the long hours he spends working on every video, he feels the app’s impact both for him and for others. Jiménez has become another example of the power that the social media app has on life beyond the screen.
Sitting at home in late December of 2021, Jiménez scrolled through TikTok. After a long fall semester of his junior year, where along with being a student, he called every sport from football to volleyball and even water polo, he finally had a second to breathe and a chance to unwind with his family.
He continued to mindlessly work his way through the social media app until he stumbled upon a TikTok montage of a 2021 recap playing to the tune of “Paradise” by Coldplay. As the video played out, he thought back on the whirlwind of adventures he had taken the past 12 months from Indianapolis for the NCAA Tournament to Cape Cod for summer baseball.
With a rare moment of free time, he figured he would try and use the song to create a 2021 highlight of his past year. Something he thought would be a fun time capsule of his year.
“I just thought it would be a fun thing to put together,” he said. It didn’t take very long but I liked the idea and I figured why not.”
A few days later, as he prepared to return to school, he posted another TikTok. This time highlighting his voice appearing in Uninterrupted’s Top Class: The Life and Times of the Sierra Canyon Trailblazers, a show created by Lebron James’ production group, SpringHill Company.
Jiménez thought that the moment was cool and wanted to share it. He figured TikTok was the right place to do that. Despite the time it took, Jiménez enjoyed making the TikToks and as a junior, increasingly aware that in less than a year he would be on the job hunt, he figured that the app could potentially help him grow his brand as an aspiring broadcaster, So, he kept on making videos.
First 10, then 30 and before he knew it he had made over 50 TikToks. The problem, while he thought the content was good, he wasn’t gaining much traction on his videos. His videos weren’t doing poorly – he was averaging nearly 1,000 views per video – but none were going viral.
“There was never a guarantee that it was going to work out,” Jiménez admits. “I was very aware of that but I wanted to give it a chance and I was willing to commit to it and see where it led.”
The patience, however, paid off. After over 70 videos, a TikTok in August of 2022, eight months after his first video, gained over 10,000 views. Then it happened again and again.
To this day, Jiménez is not sure exactly why that video, about the lack of lights at a baseball diamond, was the one to go viral. But viewers kept coming back for more and as they did he kept creating more videos.
“I figured if I was going to commit to this I really had to,” Jiménez said. “I couldn’t just make videos when I wanted to. I had to make videos all the time.”
Robert Kozinets, a professor of journalism at USC agrees.
“The people who are good at [TikTok] are eating, sleeping and breathing the influencer ecosystem all the time,” he said.
As he continued to produce content, Jiménez was starting to gain not only views but also followers.
And the success kept coming. As his focus turned to football, he drew people in with a behind-the-curtain look at USC football and the Heisman-winning season of quarterback Caleb Williams.
“I found a niche in TikTok that helped me grow my brand. I was putting out USC football content and with the resurgence of the program people were interested in it, he said. “When you draw people in then it is about making sure the content is enjoyable and something that they will come back for more.”
While TikTok fame has elements that are unpredictable, Melanie Cherry, the Associate Director of the Public Relations and Advertising program at USC says that Jiménez found his avenue and by being authentic he was able to draw in an audience to his content.
“He found his niche and he also has just been himself with a great personality,” she said.
As his senior year rolled on he kept producing TikToks and people kept watching. By the time he graduated in May 2023, Jiménez wasn’t just getting thousands of views on every TikTok, he had over 50,000 followers.
He knew he had something special. It started becoming common for people to ask for a photo with him postgame. As he began the job hunt Jiménez showed off his broadcasting ability, but he also highlighted the audience that he built and that he could bring if he was hired.
Finally, he got his shot. On September 30, after a summer of posting tips and tricks for broadcasting, highlighting some of the junior college games he was calling and other summer activities, he posted a TikTok announcing he was the new voice of the Los Angeles Clippers.
“It was such a cool moment to be able to make it to the NBA right out of college,” Jiménez said. “So few people get that chance and to be one of them was awesome and unexpected.”
With the Clippers he inevitably tailored his content to be NBA-focused and once again his following grew. This time at an exponential rate. By the time January rolled around, he had over 100,000 followers and added over 50,000 to that total by April.
He was now posting TikToks daily, and people were loving what they were getting. Not only could they listen to him calling Clippers games live on the radio, but could also follow his journey through the season on TikTok, getting behind-the-scenes access that so rarely can be found.
Jiménez had become a shining star both in broadcasting and on TikTok.
Nicholas Espalin-Pardo stands up from behind the table in Ronald Tutor Hall on the campus of the University of Southern California. Ready to head home following his panel discussion with admitted students for the Viterbi School of Engineering, he slides his laptop into his bag and tosses his quarter zip sweater over his shoulder as he strolls towards the door.
As he reaches the doorway he hears someone call his name. Expecting to see one of his coworkers or his boss he turns and to his surprise it is one of the admitted students standing with his parents.
The son, Dylan, is the first one to speak.
“You’re the one who makes the TikToks, right?” he asks.
Espalin-Pardo is a content creator and TikTok manager for the Viterbi Student Ambassadors, a group of USC Students who help represent the Viterbi School of Engineering at admissions events. While he participates in panels to talk to admitted students, the role he enjoys the most is the content creation.
He said when he first started making TikToks the template was to create informative videos using fun ideas but one after another, the same problem arose: low engagement.
So Espalin-Pardo decided to make a change.
Instead of making videos that were solely informative, he decided to intertwine current TikTok trends that he and his friends found enjoyable.
“I was looking to create content that I would watch at home, whether or not I wanted to be an engineer, or I wanted to go to USC, but I was hoping to find those people by gaining more popularity on the videos I made,” he said.
As with most content creators, he hoped people would then open the page and find the more informative TikToks that existed. Ultimately the goal was to help engage those interested in applying to the engineering school at USC.
Now as he answers a potential future USC student, he wonders what will follow. He expects to hear that his ideas are funny. Instead, he gets an answer with a much greater impact. Dylan tells him that he wasn’t thinking about applying to USC until he stumbled upon the TikToks.
“The college admissions process is hard,” Espalin-Pardo said. “There are so many schools out there and trying to weed through it all is not fun. So the goal is to try and land our content in front of the right people to help them learn about USC and however we can do that is what we want to do.”
The process of creating successful content that can reach the masses is one that remains consistent regardless of the niche or avenue, according to Cherry. She says it starts and ends with being your authentic self and being willing to put that out in the public domain.
“I think it is so important to show the personality or culture of whatever space you are in and being comfortable with that,” she said. “I think that can be scary for some people … but anything on social media opens you up for critique and criticism.”
Cherry adds on that not every piece of content will be enjoyed by everyone, but she says that is ok. She says it is important to double down on what your niche is and the ability to showcase that helps create success.
Both Espalin-Pardo and Jiménez have found success in their own avenue and that success has impacted not only them but also others.
For Jiménez, his impact can be seen in arenas around the country.
At nearly every stop this season, Jiménez has had the moment where he is approached by a fan who tells him that his TikToks have inspired them to pursue a career in sports broadcasting.
A quick peak in the comments on Jiménez’s page and the same sentiment can be found. Jiménez is pulling back the curtain of sports broadcasting, using TikTok, and allowing everyone to better understand his experience.
“It is really cool that so many people enjoy the content but also that there are people who find it impactful because they potentially want to do this,” he said. “I like that I can show them more about this job because not everything is common knowledge.”
His TikToks continue to draw people in and grow his audience. In turn, he is bringing in a new generation of fans. Which, in an industry like radio, is vitally important.
“Radio as a [medium] is sort of dying,” Cherry said. You want to draw in a younger audience in order to keep it going … and he is hitting the perfect medium to draw people in.”
Jiménez has found success on the app both by highlighting his journey and also by offering advice for those hoping to one day make it in the industry as well.
“Jiménez has become one of the more well-known broadcasters by the younger generation because of his presence on TikTok,” MJ Newsom, a junior at USC and aspiring broadcaster said. “I have friends from back home in Alabama who ask me about [Jiménez] because he is always popping up on their social media.”
For Jiménez, it is his niche on the app that he has used to build his brand and his following as a young broadcaster.
The TikTok Revolution
While TikTok has played a role in how he arrived at this point, no one in the broadcast industry questions the talent Jiménez has. In fact, legendary sports broadcaster Jim Nantz, the namesake for the award given to the top collegiate broadcaster every year, considers Jiménez an “excellent” broadcaster. Jiménez received the honor in 2023.
But his platform on TikTok has brought in new fans and helped him gain recognition as one of the top young broadcasters in the country.
Jiménez is not alone in how he has utilized TikTok. As one of the blossoming social media platforms, many people have taken advantage of the opportunity to increase their notoriety, gaining thousands of followers who watch their video content. It helps that TikTok is the fastest-growing social media platform in the United States.
According to data from ByteDance, the company that owns TikTok, the app has grown by over 12 percent since 2021, the most of any social media platform during that time. It is also the most used social media platform by teenagers according to a research poll conducted by Common Sense Media and the University of Michigan C.S. Mott Children’s Hospital.
That result has allowed individuals like Jiménez to capture lightning in a bottle and use TikTok to exponentially increase their platform.
Cherry says that success on TikTok also proves that you have other valuable skills that can be used in a variety of ways.
“By showing you understand that space, it shows that you understand the audience that you’re talking to and you understand how to get the messaging across in a good way that’s effective,” Cherry said.
In a niche field like broadcasting Jiménez has found a following from those inside and outside the industry.
“It is incredible to see how many people enjoy and respond to the content I post. Both aspiring broadcasters but also sports fans,” he said. “I love that even casual sports fans are interested in the process of being a broadcaster.”
But even in broadcasting, he is not the first to find fame on TikTok.
Sam Levitt is the first broadcaster to find a following on TikTok. As a minor league broadcaster for the Amarillo Sod Poodles, he began posting videos during the start of the pandemic in 2020 with the uncertainty of his season. He quickly went viral posting a mixture of behind-the-scenes broadcasting videos along with other viral trends at the time.
As 2021 began, his behind-the-scenes content of broadcasting gained him a huge following and after a successful summer with the Sod Poodles he won the 2021 Minor League Broadcaster of the Year partially because of his innovation in using TikTok.
His most viral moment however, came in December when someone took his final call of the 2021 baseball season where he said, “And with that, the 2021 season comes to an end. Goodnight.” and turned it into a viral sound that was used by almost 200,000 people to post their end of year highlights.
Coincidentally it was the same sound that Jiménez listened to at home that winter and would use to begin his TikTok journey.
For Levitt, three years after he made his first TikTok and with well over 350,000 followers, he received the call-up.
After eight years of broadcasting in minor league baseball, he and his followers were heading to the big leagues to be the pregame and postgame host for the San Diego Padres Radio Network.
TikTok has certainly proven to be part of the success story for broadcasters like Jiménez and Levitt, but Jiménez recognizes however, that TikTok is not the only path to find success.
“It is far from everything and not for everyone,” Jiménez acknowledges. “Everyone has their thing that helps them separate themselves. TikTok is one of those things for me.”
Sitting in his apartment at 2 AM, he puts the finishing touches on the two TikToks he plans to post the next day. Closing his laptop for the night, he yawns and heads to bed.
48 hours from now, the Clippers will play the Mavericks in game two and Jiménez will do it all again.
He wouldn’t want to have it any other way.