Radio and television news broadcaster Johan Gunnar Back, better known as J. Gunnar Back and later as Gunnar Back, was born in Escanaba, Michigan, on August 9, 1907, the son of John S. Back. After graduating from high school he taught at a rural school at Watson in the Upper Peninsula. Back later worked his way through the University of Wisconsin, in part by writing articles for the Collegiate Digest about Wisconsin. He completed his degree in 1931, and received an MA. in English in 1934.
After graduating, Back worked in radio in Madison (WHA and WIBA), Minneapolis (WTCN), Lincoln, Nebraska (head of continuity for KFAB-KFOR beginning in 1936); Palm Beach, Florida (WJNO); and Detroit before moving to Washington in 1939. During the next seventeen years he covered the Washington news scene first for WJVS (CBS) and later for WMAL (ABC). In these positions Back had contact with many world leaders and he covered national news such as President Roosevelt's Fireside Chats, the 1948 Presidential inauguration and the Army-McCarthy headings. While at WMAL Back served as moderator of the nationally-broadcast America's Town Meeting of the Air, and he was featured on nightly local radio and television news programs, as well as ABC broadcasts on a free-lance basis such as This Week Around the World, News of Tomorrow, and Crossfire. He was also the moderator for the latter program.
Early in his career Back developed a knack for interviewing and announcing special events, and he eventually established a reputation as a leader in the field of radio documentaries. At WMAL he produced The Undiscovered, an award-winning radio documentary about venereal disease. A subsequent series on the same subject, The Lonesome Road, was widely syndicated. Back produced another local series, also known as The Lonesome Roadabout alcoholism.
In 1956 Back moved to Philadelphia to head the WFIL news and special events team. In this capacity he continued to interview many national leaders, and he visited Germany, Russia (with Vice President Richard Nixon in 1959), and Vietnam. Back retired during the mid-1970s and died on November 27, 1983.
