Sherman Kaplan

I got my start in broadcasting, spinning records as a DJ during lunch time in my high school cafeteria. How could I know then, where it would lead. By sheer good luck, the father and uncle of a girl I was dating at the time were opening a small FM radio station as an offshoot of their TV Repair business and Ham Radio hobby. They needed people, and I was one of them.

That job lead to another lucky break during college, when I was hired as the all night Disk Jockey of my home town’s most popular Top 40 Radio station. I was on my way to “the big time.” Well, as it turned out, a year or two out of college, I tired of radio completely and went to work in sales for IBM Corporation. It was a good, but short career. Almost every time I would turn on the radio, I would hear someone and know I could do that.

I reentered the business, but as a news broadcaster, which I saw as more challenging and interesting than spinning records. A succession of two to three year stints from one city to another, and by 1969, I was lucky again, this time to be selected by WBBM to join their staff of reporters and anchors for the new format of All News Radio.

Over the years, I have covered stories ranging from the Crash of the Lake Street Elevated in the Loop, the resignation of President Nixon, and the deaths of Mayors Daley and Washington. I have collected my share of awards ranging from spot news coverage to arts criticism for my movie, theatre and restaurant reviews. Among them were Associated Press Awards, an International Radio Festival of New York Gold Medal, a handful of Peter Lisagor Awards from The Chicago Headline Club, and the one which brings the most pride, a nomination for Best Radio Food Program from The James Beard Foundation.