Editor's Note (courtesy of Mr. Campbell himself.) Arch was not working on the day of the JFK assassination; he was still in high school at the time, but he came to know and work with many of those in Dallas who did cover that event. He joined the Dallas newsroom in 1971, and volunteered to be the movie critic in 1973.
Before getting into this book, a little background. I first heard of Arch Campbell when he was a frequent guest of Tony Kornheiser's on TK's old radio show. Campbell was a golf partner of Kornheiser's at their Washington DC country club, but he was also a long time Washington television personality who reviewed movies and the DC arts scene and also served as the "resident zany" on the local NBC station's newscasts. During those guest appearances, I loved hearing Arch's deep voice and booming laugh as he talked about current movies which often included this summary: "Didn't see it, don't want to see it."
Anyway, Campbell moved on from working after over 40 years at two different DC television stations and now does a movie themed podcast, which I highly recommend to any movie buffs out there.
He has now published a memoir of his life in television news, and I highly recommend it. Now you might ask "Why should I read a book about local television newspeople from a city where I do not live and whom I have never seen?" Good question, but one thing that I have learned from listening to the Kornheiser radio show and subsequent podcast, and Campbell's podcast is that every community, every city has a cast of characters in local broadcasting, newspaper, and the arts that become interwoven into the fabric of community that they serve. They almost become a part of the family and when something happens to them, they move to another city, they retire, they pass away, you feel the loss on a personal level.
In this book, you will learn about a TV news team consisting of news anchors Jim Vance and Doreen Gentzler, sports anchor George Michael, weatherman Bob Ryan, and resident zany Arch Campbell who dominated the local television news scene in the nation's capital for over thirty years. For those of us in the greater Pittsburgh area, I am guessing that similar stories could be told about people such as Bill Burns, Paul Long, Adam Lynch, Ray Tannehill, Marie Torre, Sally Wiggin, Sam Nover, and, well, you get the idea. My point is, don't let the fact this book may be "local" to Washington DC keep you away from it.
Campbell tells his story from his days growing up in San Antonio, Texas where he started as a broadcaster at San Antonio College and the University of Texas, which led to position in radio and TV newsrooms in Dallas - he was working at a Dallas TV station on November 22, 1963 - and on to his move to Washington where he worked for forty-three years and where he remains to this day.
That is the bare bones of the book, but Arch fills the narrative of the stories, both on screen and behind the scenes , that are hilarious and poignant, but mainly hilarious. For example, one day in the newsroom in Dallas, the news director charged in and in desperation yelled "I need someone to review a movie." After a brief silence, Arch raised his hand and said "I'll do it." Thus, both a career and a book title were born. There are stories about how the sausage gets made in delivering the nightly news into you living rooms, and tales of the days when most local TV did live programming You will see names of people you will know who's paths crossed with Arch's over the years (Willard Scott, Katie Couric. Savannah Guthrie, Howard Stern, Nancy Reagan, and I could go on and on). And did I say funny? A story is told about a trained monkey making an appearance on a live children's show called Claire and Coco that had me shrieking with laughter and had tears rolling down my cheeks. I won't begin to tell it here, but all Pittsburghers of a certain age, try to imagine the same thing happening on the Ricki and Copper Show.
You'll also read about how Arch once raised a pet pig for a feature story, and about how he had a monkey randomly pick stocks for investments and how it fared against noted economists, a wonderful story about Arch revisiting his home town of San Antonio (for which h won an Emmy Award), and movies. Lots and lots off stuff about the movies.
You can get the book by ordering it online through the DC bookstore Politics and Prose. That's how I did it. You should also check out The Arch Campbell Podcast if you enjoy the world of movies and entertainment, available wherever you get your podcasts.
This one gets the full Four Stars from The Grandstander.
The Man himself.
Unfortunately, I think the podcast is on hiatus.
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