R.I.P.: Phil Valentine, WWTN Nashville Talk Host, Vaxx Doubter

Outspoken vaccine skeptic Phil Valentine has died a month after his COVID-19 diagnosis captured national attention and led to a public change of heart on vaccines, according to his employer. 

Valentine, 61, announced on Facebook on July 11 he had COVID-19 and predicted he would survive. Days later, Valentine's relatives said he was very sick, and he wanted listeners to get vaccinated against COVID-19.

"I know if he were able to tell you this, he would tell you, 'Go get vaccinated. Quit worrying about the politics. Quit worrying about all the conspiracy theories,'" his brother Mark Valentine told The Tennessean on July 25.

"He regrets not being more adamant about getting the vaccine. Look at the dadgum data," Mark Valentine said.

“The Phil Valentine Show” debuted over 24 years ago and remained a top-rated program on Cumulus Nashville’s WWTN-FM, Middle Tennessee’s leading news talk radio station. The show airs weekdays from 3pm-7pm on 99.7 SuperTalk WWTN-FM.

A prominent voice on Nashville radio waves, Valentine broadcast his conservative talk radio show from outside the state Capitol, encouraging listeners to come by and make noise. He gained national attention in 2000 for organizing a number of horn honking protests against a proposed state income tax in Tennessee. He later wrote a book on the protests called, “Tax Revolt.”

Although his greatest influence was in Nashville, “The Phil Valentine Show,” was so popular that it became syndicated, airing on stations across the country.