About Us
It always starts with a history marker . . .
Every day thousands of motorists pass by countless history markers and say to themselves, "One of these days I'm going to stop and read that."
Well, that day has arrived…
On Drive By History, host Ken Magos doesn’t just slow down for roadside history, he digs in. With the support of staff researcher Anthony Bernard and a wide range of historians, authors, and subject-matter experts, Ken goes beyond the sign to uncover the hidden stories behind the people, places, and events that shaped our world. Together, they reveal fascinating details you won’t find in textbooks, bringing history to life one stop at a time.
Ken Magos, Host and Series Creator
Ken brings a lifelong love of storytelling—and more than 30 years of experience as a performer, director, and producer—to every episode of Drive By History. His rich and varied performance career spans film, television, opera, concerts, and musical theater, with appearances across the U.S. and abroad. He holds a Bachelor’s degree from the University of Washington and a Master’s from the prestigious Manhattan School of Music.
Before returning full-time to the arts, Ken led global infrastructure development projects in the corporate world. Today, he’s President of South Mountain TV, part of the production company he founded in 2005, South Mountain TheaterWorks, Inc.
The idea for Drive By History was sparked by a hard-to-read roadside marker near Ken’s home, and his curiosity has been driving the show ever since. His passion for uncovering the forgotten stories behind familiar places, and for the historians who preserve them, makes Drive By History must-see public television for history lovers of all ages.
Anthony Bernard, Staff Researcher
Anthony graduated magna cum laude from Columbia University with a Bachelor’s degree in History, with a special concentration in early to mid-20th century warfare, and holds Master’s degrees in both Education and History from Brooklyn College.
His media credits include scores of television commercials, host of a travel program for MSNBC.com entitled Ultimate Getaway, and he was featured on Dateline NBC. As a model, he has appeared in numerous worldwide advertising campaigns for brands such as Levi’s, Nivea, Nine West, Puma, Hanes, Sony and Target.
Lee Howard
Executive Producer
Lee is a veteran TV producer with over 25 years of experience. He was honored with a 2007 Daytime Emmy Award for the A&E documentary A Question of Life or Meth. He also received an Emmy Award for his coverage of the New York theater scene in Live from Broadway with Pat Collins.
He has a wide range of lifestyle credits which include mega-popular marquee hits such as Trading Spaces and Entertainment Tonight, as well as niche programs including the culinary delight Reservations Required with Jacqui Malouf, the picture perfect home design show UltraSpace, and the show that became must-see TV for everyone fashionable, Behind the Label.
During his tenure at The History Channel, he developed and produced a wide range of historical hits including the widely acclaimed Behind the Scenes: Flags of Our Fathers with Clint Eastwood and the award winning History’s Business.
Dr. Libby O’Connell
Academic Advisor
Libby is a cultural historian and author of The American Plate: A Culinary History in 100 Bites. She is the Chief Historian Emeritus at History Channel and former Senior VP, Corporate Social Responsibility at A&E Television Networks. As part of her responsibilities at History, she produced over 60 on-site films for organizations such as the Smithsonian, the Statue of Liberty, and Gettysburg. Her work in education and television has received 4 EMMYs. Before joining A&E Networks in 1993, she taught history at Long Island University and worked in historic preservation.
Libby serves on several boards including the Thomas Jefferson Foundation at Monticello, and the Kitchen Cabinet at the National Museum of American History, where she is also an alumna of the museum board of directors. In 2014, the White House appointed her to be a Commissioner on the US World War I Centennial Commission.
Libby received her M.A. and Ph.D. in American history from the University of Virginia after graduating from Tufts University magna cum laude.
Dr. Michelle Craig McDonald
Academic Advisor
Michelle has spent nearly three decades as an educator and administrator in university settings as well as museums and historic sites. She holds a Ph.D. in history from the University of Michigan, an M.A. in Museum Studies/American Studies from George Washington University, an M.A. in Liberal Arts from St. John's College, Annapolis, and a B.A. in History from UCLA. Her work with public history institutions includes the Colonial Williamsburg Foundation, the National Trust for Historic Preservation, and the American Philosophical Society.
Michelle's research focuses on trade and consumer behavior in North America and the Caribbean during the eighteenth and nineteenth centuries, and has been supported by grants from the National Endowment for the Humanities, the Fulbright Foundation, the Harvard Business School, the Library Company of Philadelphia, the McNeil Center for Early American Studies, and the Winterthur Museum & Library. Her most recent book is Coffee Nation: How One Commodity Transformed the Early United States, published by the University of Pennsylvania Press in 2025. Learn more about her research at her author website.
As an Academic Advisor and Scholar for Drive by History, Michelle researches potential subject matter and identifies scholars, and contributes to grant initiatives. She is also a frequent guest historian on the series.
Dr. Camilla Townsend
Academic Advisor
Camilla is Distinguished Professor of History at Rutgers University, New Brunswick. She specializes in colonial American and Native American history. The author of five books, she has been the recipient of a Public Scholar Award from the National Endowment for the Humanities as well as a Guggenheim Fellowship. In her work she has focused on bringing to light relatively unknown sources and on developing narratives that render scholarly insight meaningful to broad audiences.
In her role as Advisor and Scholar to the Drive By History team, she provides behind-the-scenes guidance and insight into topical narratives.