Advertising is the greatest art form of the twentieth century.

Marshall McLuhan

John Vrba turned 90 on March 29, 2009. Three days later, some of Orange County’s and LA’s finest advertising and marketing professionals gathered at the Ritz Restaurant in Newport Beach, CA to celebrate with him. On one hand, it was recognition of the chronological achievement of becoming a nonagenarian (someone who is 90 years old.) On the other hand, it was testimony to a great man whose professional career is shaped by so many outstanding accomplishments. What’s more, colleagues and friends assembled to be part of a precious moment, to bask in the warmth of an elder statesman whose propensity to give back and whose avid thirst for knowledge inspires everyone who knows him.

Early Career

The inauguration of John’s illustrious career dates back to the pre-color TV era. When John started at KTTV in Los Angeles, the sun-blessed city was small, the Valleys (the San Fernando Valley, in particular) were underdeveloped, unincorporated groves blanketed by olive and walnut trees and prone to massive seasonal flooding, the San Gabriel Mountains and foothills sported thick chaparral beards that trapped unpolluted air in the basin, and downtown LA was the nucleus for the city’s power-elite.

A case in point is the Los Angeles Times, a cultural and economic bastion at the time and headquartered on Spring Street in downtown. Owner/publisher Norman Chandler had added to his newspaper empire by acquiring a 51 percent interest in television station KTTV. In the book Fridays With Art,[1] John recalls a meeting with Chandler sometime after John had returned from a grocer’s convention in San Diego, CA.

“When I entered [Chandler’s temporary office at KTTV] he looked up at me with a smile and said, ‘When do you think we will get title to the properties you bought in San Diego?’” I didn’t understand. Then he said, ‘I’ve seen copies of your expense report from that convention, so you must have bought something.’”

John says he didn’t have a suitable reply, and was left a bit confused by the exchange, given that he had attended the grocer’s convention on behalf of KTTV on a “meet and greet” with grocery executives and had not been lavish with his expense account, and definitely hadn’t purchased any real estate. Plus, Chandler was not known as a prankster.

Chandler was the publisher of the Los Angeles Times from 1945 to 1960. His leadership spearheaded the masthead to national prominence. Dorothy Buffum Chandler, his wife, was instrumental in helping Los Angeles revitalize its cultural standing in the 50’s and 60’s, as she was responsible for the restoration of the Hollywood Bowl, the nation’s preeminent outdoor amphitheatre, and for the construction of the majestic Music Center (which includes the Dorothy Chandler Pavilion, The Mark Taper Forum and the Ahmanson Theater) in downtown.

As it turned out, the Times had previously had a small cadre of younger employees see an industrial psychologist in downtown, and had dangled the opportunity to get promoted as an incentive for their consent to being psychoanalyzed. Chandler was connecting John’s past performance with a future career move. John took the bait and saw the psychologist.

The responding KTTV employees were scheduled for the type of Industrial and Organizational (commonly referred to as I/O psych testing) psychology testing that had become popular in the late 50’s and early 60’s. The goal of I/O testing is to improve the performance and happiness of employees. The I/O psychologist tries to identify the optimum balance of employee behaviors and attitudes relative to the current job to better match the employee to the job. A present-day example of that kind of personality-to-job matching typology is Myers-Briggs testing.

John remembers, “After ten minutes or so, the good doctor … returned asking, ‘Did you complete the test?’”

John said, “I had trouble with question number five and have written in an answer.”

The test was a fifty question exam, comprised of questions that allowed a “yes” or “no” answer only.

“I don’t know the question by number,” the doctor had replied. “What was the question?”

“Do you ever worry about sex? And I have written, Constantly.”

To this day, John is still known for his calm sense of humor and ability to defuse even the tensest situations.

A Witness to Television History

John’s professional career is an orderly continuum from the invention of television to today’s nationalization/commercialization of the digital and high definition signal spectra.[2] He has always been closely entwined with television. In fact, he was there when “television” was invented, if you accept the prevailing definition of television as being not only an electronic device but also an interrelated system for the live transmission and reception of moving images. With that precondition, television was invented on January 26, 1926 by John Logie Baird when he demonstrated a working TV system to members of the Royal Institution and a newspaper reporter at his laboratory in London, England. This was the world’s first public showing of transmitted moving images with acceptable scan rates and black/white tonal gradation. At the time, the other John (then a teen) could have enjoyed the show had he been in London.

John Vrba was involved in the “Biz” before the advent of color television, and was there when many of the technological innovations that have made TV so socially omnipresent were first introduced. The first live national TV broadcast in America transpired on September 4, 1951, when President Harry Truman’s speech at the Japanese Peace Treaty Conference in San Francisco, CA was transmitted over AT&T’s transcontinental cable and microwave radio relay system to broadcast stations in regional and local markets.[3] John was in his early thirties at the time.

Time-shifting radio broadcasts (and later live television shows) was not efficiently feasible until the Ampex Corporation, originally based in San Carlos, California, figured out a way to do so while achieving “broadcast” sound quality. It began when celebrity entertainer Bing Crosby became interested in pre-recording his radio programs. This was circa 1944-1946, near the end of World War II and Crosby was pretty much radio’s preeminent personality. His renown forced him to travel a lot, performing for fans that included servicemen at home and abroad. Pre-recorded shows could be distributed locally, reducing the strain on Crosby of having to keep up a very demanding performance schedule. Crosby was introduced to tape recording technology by an Ampex representative. Crosby was so impressed with the technology that he invested $50,000 of his own money in the startup company, and later helped convince the network to which he was contracted to allow him to pre-record his radio shows for later playback. Eventually, Ampex advanced beyond audio technology to video technology, introducing various broadcast video recorders in the 50’s and 60’s.

John recounts how he had been involved with Ampex’s broadcast technology from the very beginning. “When Ampex first introduced videotape to the television industry, this revolutionary new product created a sensation,” John says. “Now stations could pre-record their local shows with a clarity and brilliance that equaled the look of live television. And advertisers could do the same with their commercials.” John worked at KTTV at the time and the station was among the first to acquire Ampex’s video broadcast machines. As with so many of the most seminal events in television history, John was a witness to that one as well.

Advertising’s Patriarch

Many consider John Vrba to be the dean of broadcasting, media and advertising in Southern California. Time has not diminished his enduring work ethic—John goes into the U.S. International Media Irvine regional office everyday. He is happy to have rejoined Dennis Holt, another of advertising’s luminaries, and former Western International Media colleagues. Indeed, over 80 percent of USIM's current employees are Western International Media Corporation alums, which provides significant knowledge continuity and competitive advantages. After only five years of operation, U.S. International Media has grown to become one of the largest independent media agencies in the business, serving more than 200 clients from 17 U.S. and 9 international offices. To this mix, John adds his 60+ years of media expertise.

From 1986 to 1998, John was Senior Vice President-Managing Director of Western International Media, Orange County office. He was personally responsible for media planning and placement of $265 million in all media. Major clients included: Air Touch Cellular, Ralph’s, Food 4 Less, Thrifty Drug Stores, Smart & Final, Yamaha Motorcycles, EMulex, Toshiba Electronic Components, Clothestime, GT Bicycles, Oakley, Simple Green, McPherson Automotive, Raging Waters, FHP Healthcare, O.C. Toll Roads and LA Cellular. Media included network and cable TV, local TV, radio, OOH, newspapers, FSI’s, direct mail, consumer and trade magazines, Internet and call centers.

Accomplishments

John graduated Phi Beta Kappa from UCLA (where he was elected head yell leader in his junior year). He holds a BA degree in history, having graduated with highest honors (Summa cum Laude). John is a member of Delta Upsilon.

John is a commissioned U.S. Naval Reserve officer. During the war years, he was assigned Secret and Confidential files, was Chief of Naval Operations, Washington DC.; Gunnery Officer, USS Laffey (DD459); and Communications Officer, Comsopac, US Naval Base, Newport, RI.

John’s numerous professional accomplishments were recognized by the Orange County Advertising Club when they awarded him their Lifetime Achievement Award.

Dennis Holt, U.S. International Media’s Founder and Chief Executive Officer, says that “John is an inspiration to us all. He is the consummate professional—smart, experienced and he cares about people.”

John describes himself as an “information guru.” He is amazingly well-read (Fortune, Portfolio, Inc., Business Week, the Orange County Business Journal, Advertising Age, Television Week, OMMA, MEDIA, AdWeek, Website, Target, Fast Company, DM News, Streaming Media and Baseline). Early on, John saw the untapped potential of the Internet and World Wide Web as mediums of information exchange, and uses all the key business and social websites to stay informed. Favorite sites include LinkedIn.com; ryze.com; MarketingProfs; Classmates; MarketingSherpa; YouTube; Zoominfo; ziggs.com; ziki.com; Facebook.com; JackMyers.com; AtThe Roundtable.com; XING.com; Squidoo.com; Orkut.com; Plaxo.com; spoke.com; Ning.com; Variety.com/thebiz; and Godtube.com.

John seeks every opportunity to pay his knowledge forward, helping young admen and adwomen understand the business better. Clients know John as a human encyclopedia that never gets tired of giving back.