Doug McConnell

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Doug McConnell is a television journalist who has focused on environmental issues, with programs on the air continuously since 1982. He has created, produced and hosted many series, special programs, and news projects for local, national and international distribution. His broadcast awards include multiple Emmys, an Iris, and a Gabriel.

Since 1993, McConnell has been the host and senior editor of the Bay Area Backroads television program in the San Francisco Bay Area. He has also authored a book by the same name. "Backroads" explores the paths less traveled in northern California and beyond. "Backroads" is consistently the highest-rated locally produced, non-news program in the nation's sixth-largest market.

In addition to "Bay Area Backroads," McConnell's TV programs include:

Mac and Mutley, Producer and Host, KPIX-TV, Discovery Channel USA, Discovery International, and Westinghouse International
The Adventurers, Host, Discovery USA and Discovery International
Wild Things, Host, Discovery USA
Wild Guide, Narrator, Westinghouse International and Discovery’s Animal Planet Channel
Petline, Co-Host, Discovery’s Animal Planet Channel
Preview Vacation Bargains, Co-Host, NBC stations in eight cities
Pacific Currents, Producer and Host, KPIX-TV
KING 5 Magazine, Producer and Reporter, KING-TV in Seattle

McConnell’s national specials and mini-series include:

Discoveries of a Lost Voyage, Co-Host, Discovery USA
Secrets of Alcatraz, Producer and Host, Discovery USA
Secrets of Alcatraz: Return to the Rock, Producer and Host, PBS
Secrets of the Gold Rush, Producer and Host, PBS
Secrets of the Wine Country, Producer and Host, PBS
Big Cat Tales, Host, Discovery USA
Prime Time Primates, Host, Discovery USA
The Crusaders, Pilot, Producer and Reporter, Buena Vista Television

McConnell received a Master's degree in Political Science from the Eagleton Institute of Politics at Rutgers University (1968), and a Bachelor's degree in Government from Pomona College (1967).

Since 1983, McConnell has lived in the Bay Area with his wife, two sons, and a bevy of pets. He maintains a busy schedule of community activities and has been honored recently by the Marin Humane Society as "Humanitarian of the Year," by the San Francisco Bay Trail Project as "Volunteer of the Year," and by California State Parks as "Honorary Ranger of the Year."

McConnell's most recent venture is the creation of an online travel community called "OpenRoad.TV with Doug McConnell - The Traveler's Video Guide to the American West." OpenRoad.TV will be stocked with all the video, knowledge and insights that McConnell has compiled over the years and continues to collect. The professionally produced video content will be organized into easily accessible geographical and categorical contexts, with users being invited to vastly enrich it by adding their own stories, photographs and videos. The goal of OpenRoad.TV is to provide a website that's extensive, deep, entertaining and informative, and becomes a valuable resource to help people imagine, plan and book travels and get to know intriguing fellow travelers in the process.