With more than 25 years of diversified experience in TV broadcasting, a background in food and dining reporting and a burning passion for food, wine, spirits, and travel, Emmy award-winning producer and host Dave Eckert created “Culinary Travels with Dave Eckert.”   Eckert’s extensive knowledge of food, wine, and spirits, and his desire to take viewers “to the source” of indigenous products and personalities around the globe, has made “Culinary Travels With Dave Eckert” a huge success.

Recognized twice by the Academy of Wine Communications for his work, Eckert has built a loyal audience for “Culinary Travels,” which airs on some 150 Public Broadcasting affiliates across the country.   With 130 half-hour episodes, and hundreds of thousands of miles, under this belt, Eckert is considered among the pre-eminent food, wine, and spirits experts in the world.

Eckert has an undeniable passion for food, wine, and spirits.   For starters, he has a collection of some 3,000 bottles of wine and spirits in his home cellar.  Indeed, many of the bottles are from regions he visits when filming “Culinary Travels with Dave Eckert,” including Napa, Sonoma, Italy, France, Australia, New Zealand, Chile, Scotland, Mexico, and Kentucky.   In addition to producing and hosting Culinary Travels with Dave Eckert, Eckert enjoys cooking and pairing wine with great cuisine-a true passion and talent.   He also teaches cooking and wine classes at the Culinary Center of Kansas City, writes a regular column for the nationally-distributed Kansas City Bullsheet, the official publication of the Kansas City Barbecue Society, and contributes articles to the James Beard award winning Food section of the Kansas City Star newspaper.

Eckert graduated with honors from Southern Illinois University in Carbondale, with a degree in Radio/Television in 1980. As a student, Eckert worked as an assistant news director and anchor at the school’s WSIU-TV and WSIU-FM stations.  After graduation, he was quickly snatched up by WTHI-TV in Terre Haute, IN.

After holding positions as a news reporter, sportscaster, weatherman, news writer and producer at TV stations from Little Rock, Ark., to Pittsburgh, Eckert was hired as a reporter and anchor at ABC affiliate KMBC-TV in Kansas City. Over the next five years, Eckert helped to make the 5 p.m. and 10 p.m. news programs No. 1 in this Top 30 market. As a matter of fact, he won two regional Emmies for his work.

In 1994, Eckert was hired by Chicago’s superstation WGN-TV, owned by the Tribune Broadcasting Co. In addition to reporting news, Eckert proposed, developed, produced, reported and edited “What’s Cookin’ Chicago,” a groundbreaking TV segment.

In 1996, Eckert realized he was most fulfilled professionally when he was working on “What’s Cookin’ Chicago.” Because food and wine had become such an important part of his personal life, Eckert was driven to create “Culinary Travels with Dave Eckert,” a 30-minute weekly TV program that features the most significant culinary destinations in the world.