Tom Valentine

Tom Valentine (born August 20, 1935) is the owner of a dietary supplement business, writer, commentator and radio host with an anti-establishment perspective, aligning himself with populist, libertarian and revisionist viewpoints.

His main journalistic interests have been True Health, Conspiracies and Christianity. All three of
these views are at odds with the mainstream press and the establishment.

He is the founder of Carotec, a mail-order seller of vitamins and alternative health products based in Naples, Fla.

From July 17, 1988 through August 22, 2004 he hosted a talk radio show, "Radio Free America". It was carried on a succession of shortwave radio stations, including WWCR and WHRI, as well as a handful of AM stations. The Spotlight newspaper was the show's sponsor for most of its run. Radio Free America was one of the first talk shows to give sympathetic coverage to the Branch Davidians during the 1993 Waco siege and to the family of Randy Weaver during the 1992 Ruby Ridge incident.

Frequent guests were Col. Fletcher Prouty, the retired intelligence officer and inspiration for the character "X" in Oliver Stone's film JFK; Chicago-based investigator Sherman Skolnick and U.S. Rep. Ron Paul (R-Texas). Valentine also gave considerable airtime to guests from the Christian Patriot movement such as Bo Gritz, as well as to alternative health practitioners and people with unorthodox views on science. Frequent callers to the program, including Ray Martin (AKA "Ray in Miami") and "Brian from Brooklyn" developed followings of their own and at times served as virtual co-hosts.

The only Hollywood celebrity ever to appear on the show was Valentine's lifelong friend Eddie Albert, who discussed tree conservation.

Valentine's "Radio Free America" opened and closed with a stirring rendition of John Philip Sousa's "Stars and Stripes Forever." He signed off each broadcast over the song's first bars with "They're playing my song! Good night everybody."

A long-time skeptic of the mainstream media (despite a brief stint with an arm of the Chicago Tribune), Valentine would often segue into network news breaks with the line "Back after the alleged news!"

Also during the 1990s he published a magazine, Search for Health, on alternative health subjects.

A frequent supporter of populist candidates, including the quixotic presidential run of Charles E. Collins in 1996, Valentine surprised many listeners in 2000 when he backed the establishment Republican George W. Bush in that year’s presidential race. Valentine, a Florida resident, said he did so because the born-again future president was “a repentant sinner.” However, he later became a strong critic of President Bush’s invasion of Iraq.

Valentine was on a long-planned vacation in Italy during the Sept. 11, 2001 terrorist attacks and could not return to the airwaves until several days after that event.

In the show's final years, Valentine embraced Fulfilled Prophecy Christianity and began incorporating religious themes and guests into his broadcasts. However, he rejected the idea of becoming a full-time religious broadcaster.

After a successful 16-year run, Valentine signed off "Radio Free America" in August 2004, citing the emergence of like-minded radio talk show hosts such as Alex Jones who were doing what he was doing "just as well."

He is the author of several books, among them:
* Psychic Surgery (H. Regnery, 1973)
* The Great Pyramid: Man's Monument to Man (Pinnacle Books, 1978, ISBN 0-523-00517-2)
* Applied Kinesiology : Muscle Response in Diagnosis, Therapy, and Preventive Medicine with Carole Valentine and Douglas Hetrick (Healing Arts Press, 1985, ISBN 0-89281-328-8)
* Medicine's Missing Link: Metabolic Typing and Your Personal Food Plan with Carole Valentine (HarperCollins, 1987, ISBN 0-7225-1031-4)
* Search for Health: A Classic Anthology (self-published, 1995, ISBN 0-9648325-0-X)

Main Menu

See Also

Main Menu