Sports Is Education - Bios

David Kaplan
WGN Radio

David Kaplan has been with WGN Radio since April of 1995, as a sports reporter, and now, along with former Chicago Bear Tom Waddle, as the host of Sports Central, heard weeknights from 7:00PM—9:00PM. During that time, he has earned six Achievement in Radio (A.I.R.) Awards, including three for best sports talk show and two for best sportscast. He was named "Newsfinder of the Year" by the Associated Press for breaking several major stories.

During the basketball season, he is a play-by-play and color commentator on Comcast Sports and ESPN covering college basketball. He also does work for Comcast Sports and ESPN throughout the year. In Addition, he broadcasts the pre game and post game shows on the Chicago Cubs radio network throughout the baseball season and he hosts the Chicago Bears postgame show on WGN Radio. He is also an analyst on the Illinois High School Association (IHSA) state basketball championship telecasts.

Before coming to WGN Radio, David was a midday host on WMVP-AM in Chicago after it adopted an all-sports format in November of 1993. He has completed television work on ESPN 2, SportsChannel, Creative Sports, and Prime Network. He is a former college basketball coach at Northern Illinois University and was a regional scout for both the Indiana Pacers and the Seattle Supersonics of the NBA.

In 1988, Kaplan was the Player Personnel Director for the Chicago Express of the World Basketball League (WBL). His duties included drafting and signing all players as well as trades and contracts.

Kaplan appeared as a guest on The Oprah Winfrey Show, and appears in the movie Hoop Dreams which is a story of the dream of two Chicago area prep stars to reach the NBA. Raised in Skokie, Illinois, David attended Hamline University in St. Paul, Minnesota, where he received a Bachelor of Arts in English and played both football and basketball.