Arch Campbell
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.
Impact
Arch Campbell created the Arch Campbell Endowed Scholarship Honoring Professor Jean Longwith, For Arch, this scholarship is more than financial assistance—it is a way to say thank you to a teacher who believed in him and to ensure that Jean Longwith’s impact continues to inspire generations of students. Please see her bio below:
Professor Jean Longwith brought a big idea to San Antonio College when she joined the Speech and Drama faculty in 1964. Agreeing to teach the one course offered in Radio/TV, Jean proposed an entire Radio/TV/Film department with a public on the air radio station as centerpiece.
Within two years, Jean obtained grants, mastered the government paperwork, hired a broadcast engineer, and put station KSYM-FM on the air, one of the first public radio stations licensed to a Community College. Jean designed and developed the curriculum for the San Antonio College Radio-Television-Film Department, serving as Chairman until her retirement as Professor Emeritus in 1983.
A native of San Antonio, Jean discovered theater at Brackenridge High School. Performing on stage, and learning theater craft behind the scenes, helped Jean overcome her childhood shyness. Early in life, Jean endured several surgeries to correct a curved spine and malformed neck and shoulder. Her physical problems confined her to a wheelchair and to various casts for some periods of time. Working on stage helped her overcome her physical problems.
She continued her education at San Antonio College, receiving an Associate of Arts degree with the highest-grade point average of her class. Transferring to the University of Texas at Austin, Jean earned a Bachelor of Arts with high honors and a Masters of Education in Speech and Drama.
Returning to San Antonio at the beginning of World War II, she managed a local theater company, writing and directing plays and producing radio drama for local radio stations. Interested in the emerging technology of television, Jean joined the staff of educational television station WOC-TV at the University of Iowa, working as a director of television production, while studying for a PhD. She received a Master of Fine Arts from the University of Iowa in 1950.
Her mother’s serious illness brought Jean back to San Antonio. She worked as an advertising copywriter, taught briefly at Mark Twin Junio High, and joined the faculty of Thomas Jefferson High School where she rose to the position of Chairman of the Speech and Drama Department. Her years at Jefferson (1951 – 1964) created a golden age of performing, with productions reviewed in the local newspapers, attended by theater goers at large, well as students and parents.
Jean’s drive and initiative arrived at San Antonio College at an opportune time. The broadcast profession was growing. Interest in the new medium of FM, and the expansion of local television news organizations created new jobs. Jean proposed a department dedicated to training candidates for emerging opportunities in radio and television. Enrollment increased from a handful of students in 1965 to almost 400 students per semester when Jean retired in 1983.
In retirement, Miss Longwith remained active in civic and media affairs, including consulting, and serving on the San Antonio fine Arts Commission, and Chairing the San Antonio Cable Television Advisory Committee. She facilitated workshops for the public and private sector in cable and video production and authored workbooks for seminars. Her many civic awards include induction into the Texas Women’s Hall of Fame in 1989.
Jean kept in touch with her many students, and their careers. Word of her death from Parkinson’s in 2003 and news of plans for a new 30,000 square foot Radio/TV/Film campus center brought a groundswell of support to name the building for Jean. In April, 2005, San Antonio College held ceremonies at the corner of Courtland and Main Avenues officially dedicating the Jean Longwith Radio/TV/Film building.
Former student Arch Campbell delivered this tribute opening day:
I had a dream about Jean Longwith. I went over to her house on Quentin Drive - the way so many of her former students did—-and I said ‘Jean—-they built a big new radio/tv building at SAC and named it for you.’ And in my dream Jean says ‘What took them so long?’
Jean spoke her mind. We loved that about her. She had a theater background—-lots of presence. She could project her voice to the back of an auditorium or classroom. And she had a look: If she didn’t like something you did or said, she had a look that burned through you like a laser. But she also had a gift. She could really see her students. In the months since she died, I’ve heard dozens of stories from students Jean pulled aside to say—-’you should broadcast, or you should teach, or direct, or write, or manage.’ Once she sized you up, she made it her mission to help you unlock your potential.
She taught me her final year at Jefferson and her first two years here at SAC. I saw the beginning of her vision for this school. She got the job because the president of the college walked into the student union and heard a Beatles song coming over the campus radio station WSAC. He hated the Beatles. He blew his stack—-and told the instructor of the radio course ‘no more rock and roll.’ The guy who taught the radio course quit—-creating the opening for Jean.
Most of us would have taken the job prepared to fight the battle over ‘let the kids play their music.’ Jean never backed away from a fight. In fact, she LOVED a good fight. But she went along this time—-she had a bigger idea. She talked that same President into building a real radio station—-an educational FM that went out over the air, not just to the student union. Jean worked day and night——she filed the application, got an engineer, got a grant, and within two years KSYM went on the air. Once that happened, students poured into the school. They sensed something special.
One year I stopped by to visit. Jean told me NPR really wanted to affiliate with KSYM. Before I could say anything, she said ‘They’ve got too many rules—-they’ll come in here and take my station away from my students.’ She wasn’t about to let that happen. Now, when I come home and turn on KSYM, I hear a unique, creative, free voice—-one that reflects Jean’s vision.
I want you to know one other thing about Jean. She believed in equal opportunity—-especially for women. In those early days, she called in everyone she knew working on broadcasting to speak to our class. The question always came up—-what about jobs for women? The speakers gave the 1965 answer——something like ’Oh, if she wants to work in broadcasting, she might get a job in the front office or as a secretary.’ Jean would fold her arms and roll her eyes and let out a groan, traumatizing the poor speaker. When she did that, she planted a seed in all of us that everybody deserves an equal chance. She gave us a life lesson.
Jean Longwith never married. She never had children. She put her heart in this department at this school. I think today she would say ‘Students and teachers, use this building, unlock your potential, follow your dream.’ As one of her many former students, I ask: When you come into this great new space, remember the woman who started it all—-our teacher jean Longwith.