How SAC Gave Birth to an Accidental Critic

Arch Campbell has had a broadcast career that most people dream about. He’s been paid to give movie reviews on newscasts. He’s interviewed Hollywood stars like John Travolta and became friends with Patton Oswalt. And he was a popular television personality for 40 years in his adopted hometown Washinton D.C.

He’s had a long and storied broadcast career that started in radio, transitioned into television, and continues with podcasts. During that time, he was won eight Emmy awards for his work, been named Washingtonian of the Year, and given a lifetime achievement award by a D.C. broadcasting museum.

And he will be quick to point out that it was all possible because of San Antonio College and, more importantly, his teacher Jean Longwith.

Campbell grew up in San Antonio and attended Jefferson High School where Longwith was a teacher at the time.

“I met her because I tried out for the talent show. She told me my act stunk,” remembers Campbell, laughing. “But then she asked me to emcee the talent show.”

Later, about the time Campbell was ready to graduate, he learned that Longwith had been hired by San Antonio College to teach radio/TV classes.

He decided to follow her and enrolled at SAC.

Once on campus, Campbell took broadcast courses taught by Longwith, his mentor.  He also acted in a few drama productions.

“In class, Jean Longwith tossed aside the textbook, telling stories about her life and career,” remembered Campbell. 

She also invited local station announcers, ad agency people, and television station managers to speak to her students.

At the time, the college had a radio station called WSAC, which was only heard on campus. Campbell learned how to become a disc jockey by playing easy listening music from performers like the Mantovani Orchestra or Henry Mancini. rock ‘n’ roll was not allowed. He was later hired to be the program director for the station.  

His time at the SAC station helped him to form ties with local broadcasters and he  found work at KITY-FM, one of the stations finding a home on the FM side of the dial, when AM radio was still king.

He would later leave KITY-FM and return to college enrolling at the University of Texas at Austin and earning a bachelor’s degree and a master’s in radio/television. He also found work as a disc jockey at KTBC-AM radio, continuing his new broadcasting career.

He was hired by WFAA-TV in Dallas to help write a history of the station and found a job in the newsroom. His beat was sidebar stories, human interest reports that usually helped end a newscast on a light note.    

In 1973, Campbell heard the news director bellow into the newsroom, “I want a movie reviewer! Who wants to do it?”

Campbell said he took a breath, raised his hand, and said, “I’ll do it.”

“Because I raised my hand, I’ve been writing and broadcasting, and podcasting about movies, entertainment, unusual people and oddball places ever since,” he said. 

Mr. Campbell Goes to Washington
In 1974, Campbell left Dallas and brought his talents to Washington, DC and WRC-TV, the NBC affiliate, where he quickly settled into being a movie reviewer and features reporter with a huge following at the station. People would tune in to see what he would do next.

Early at WRC-TV, he learned that the U.S. Department of Agriculture was selling miniature pigs that had previously been used for research. The department was promoting the pigs as delightful house pets.

Campbell bought one and named it Spot and for several on-air stories reported on his new pet. He even took Spot on walks by the Washington Monument.

Another time he brought some Christmas cheer to the local rapid transit train system.

“I got dressed up as Santa Claus and we got on the Washington Metro,” he recalls. “We went all over town doing silly stuff.”

From 1985 until 1991, he hosted “The Arch Campbell Show,” a late-night comedy forum that was a ratings hit and earned more than a dozen Emmy awards.

Since Washington was one of the largest television markets in the nation, Campbell had his off-beat stories and movie reviews offered to NBC stations across the country. He became a familiar film critic on television, along with other reviewers such as Gene Siskel, Roger Ebert, and Gene Shalit.  

After more than 32 years at WRC-TV, Campbell’s career took another turn when he joined WJLA-TV and its sister station News Channel 8. He brought his signature movie reviews to the ABC station and started a new version of “The Arch Campbell Show,” a comedy program that once again grew into a much-watched television show.

He worked at WJLA-TV for eight years.

During his 40-year career in Washington, he became a beloved celebrity. In 2015, Washingtonian Magazine crowned him “Washingtonian of the Year” for his work as one of the city’s leading arts advocates.

The National Capital Radio TV Museum honored him with the Ed Walker Lifetime Achievement Award in 2016

New Horizons
After spending most of his life in traditional broadcasting – from working at both radio and television stations – Campbell has moved comfortably into the digital age and now hosts his own podcast and has a website archcampbell.net.

At an age when most people are slowing down, he has embraced new forms of communication to continue to entertain and engage his audience.

And he remains deeply devoted to both San Antonio and San Antonio College.

When the college began planning to build a new home for the radio-television-film department, he took a passionate stand to make sure it was named for Jean Longwith. When the Longwith RTF building was finished in 2005, he spoke at its dedication.

He sponsors two scholarships for SAC students: the Jean Longwith Endowed Scholarship, for students studying in the RTF program; and the Arch Campbell Scholarship Honoring Professor Jean Longwith, which provides funds to students who attend SAC and helps pay for their education once they transfer to a university.

Campbell still visits the city and when he does come to town, he makes it a point to come back to the SAC campus.

“I had the good luck to have a pretty good career and I had a really good start here and I’m very fond of San Antonio College,” he said.

“I come back here about once a year and I generally wander over to the campus for one reason or another,” he said. “And I still know how to get into the side door of McAllister Auditorium and go backstage,” he said with a soft chuckle.

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Arch Campbell recently published a book about his broadcasting career, titled The Accidental Critic: A Television Memoir. The book also contains details of his life in San Antonio, his years at SAC, and a tribute to his mentor Jean Longwith.