David Kaplan (radio)

Early life and career

Kaplan grew up in Skokie, Illinois and is a graduate of Hamline University in St. Paul, Minnesota, where he received a bachelor's degree in English.

Basketball career

He was an assistant on head coach John McDougal's staff at Northern Illinois University from 1983 to 1986. He was also a scout for two NBA teams: the Indiana Pacers and the Seattle SuperSonics.

Broadcasting career

Kaplan worked at Chicago sports radio station WMVP-AM before joining WGN (AM)'s sports staff as a reporter in 1995.

He became the host of Sports Central at WGN in 1995 and it quickly became Chicago radio's #1 rated sports talk show. He and former Chicago Bears star Tom Waddle co-hosted the show for just over 10 years which at the time was the longest on air sports talk duo in Chicago radio history. After Waddle left to join ESPN Radio in February 2007, Kaplan hosted the show on a solo basis until March 2010. It was the longest-running sports talk show in Chicago (began in 1982), until March 2010 when the former Program Director Kevin Metheny, who was characterized in the Howard Stern movie Private Parts as Kenny "Pig Vomit" Rushton opted to replace the program with a non-sports oriented talk show. In December 2010, after the removal of Metheny, Kaplan signed a new long term contract to stay at WGN Radio as the primary host of a new evening talk show called WGN Sports Night.

In January 2008, Kaplan was named the host of Chicago Tribune Live on Comcast SportsNet. In November 2009, he and the staff of "Chicago Tribune Live" were awarded the prestigious Emmy Award for Best Interview Program for their work on CTL.

He has also appeared as a guest on The Oprah Winfrey Show and he was in the documentary Hoop Dreams during his basketball scouting days.

In November 2012, Kaplan was hired by the NBC Sports Network to call college basketball games after a long stint as a basketball announcer for ESPN.

He was the co-host of the Kap and Haugh show on Comcast SportsNet Chicago which aired from 2013 to 2015. He partnered with longtime Chicago Tribune lead sports columnist David Haugh on this show.

Kaplan is the pre and postgame host for CSN's Chicago Cubs broadcasts where he partners with former Chicago Cubs outfielder David DeJesus. He also calls college basketball and football games for various conferences including the Horizon League, the Mid American Conference and the Missouri Valley. He has also been the announcer for the Chicago Machine and Chicago Shamrox.

ESPN

In 2011, Kaplan played a prominent role in the ESPN documentary Catching Hell which chronicled the story of the 2003 Chicago Cubs and fan Steve Bartman who was thrust into the spotlight when the Cubs failed to win Game 6 of the National League Championship Series after leading 3-0 in the 8th inning at Wrigley Field.

He has worked extensively as a basketball game analyst for ESPN.

After a 21-year career at WGN Radio, Kaplan signed a multi-year deal with ESPN in 2015 and is now the host of Kap and Co., a daily sports radio show that airs on ESPN 1000 in Chicago from 9:00 AM CT till Noon.

Awards

Kaplan has won three Emmy Awards for his television work including 2 at Comcast SportsNet and 1 for hosting the highly successful A Piece of the Game which is a sports memorabilia show that airs nationally and has received multiple awards for excellence. In addition, he co-authored the award-winning "Around Town" column in the Chicago Tribune with longtime writer Fred Mitchell from 2009-2011.

He is the only person in Chicago media history to host a daily TV show, a daily radio show and write a regular column in a major newspaper all at the same time.

Personal life

Kaplan is married to Mindy Kaplan, the marketing director of the Lou Malnati's chain of Chicago style pizzerias. Kaplan has a son Brett (22) and three stepsons in 27-year-old Nicholas, 25-year-old Alexander, and 23-year-old Garret. He also has 3 dogs: a yellow Labrador named Rocky, a mixed breed named Yoshi, and a Siberian Husky named Sparky.