Dave Preston’s first foray into sports broadcasting came as a nine-year old announcing a miniature golf game he and his cousins were playing. He shot a 75 for third place, was told to be quiet multiple times and suffered a mild sunburn (Cape Cod in August).

Always a big fan of the NFL and college basketball, Dave grew interested not just in the games but in their presentation during the 1980’s – when Brent Musburger was always “looking live” and the NCAA Tournament’s opening weekend became mandatory sick days in March.

Dave studied broadcast journalism at Syracuse University… and worked at the student radio and TV stations while there. His first job out of school was at WGIR-AM in Manchester, NH– where he spent four years covering the Boston teams as well as local college basketball.

Dave’s passion is college hoops– you’ll often see him courtside locally covering Maryland, Georgetown, George Mason, George Washington, American and Howard games. He writes a weekly college basketball column for WTOP.COM and has been a voter in the Associated Press Top 25 for five years. Dave has also been a part of the Maryland Women’s Basketball broadcasts since 2006 and traveled to cover the Terps in their most recent two Final Four appearances.

Dave has been in the D.C. area since 2000, and in addition to working at WTOP since 2002 has also been on the air at Westwood One/CBS Radio as well as Red Zebra Broadcasting (Washington Football Team Network). Dave hosted the “Heineken Halftime Show” for two years and tried to convince ex-Hog Joe Jacoby to try out for a bit part on “24” – to no avail. He’s also met 007 actor George Lazenby, seen the Moody Blues in concert multiple times, and has served as a Bus Captain for University Row at Virginia Gold Cup. Dave does the crossword in pen.

You can email Dave at dpreston@wtop.com