Five years have passed since Phil Valentine died, but the people who worked alongside him at SuperTalk 99.7 WTN in Nashville still speak about him in the present tense. His voice shaped the station for decades, and his influence still lingers in the building today. Colleagues describe a broadcaster who understood his craft, his community, and his audience better than almost anyone in the format.
Valentine passed away on August 21, 2021, after contracting COVID-19. Before his death, he shared deep remorse over his earlier skepticism toward the vaccine, urging his listeners to take the virus seriously and get vaccinated themselves. That transparency, those who knew him say, was simply who he was.
Three people who worked closest to Valentine agreed to reflect on his life and legacy. John Bozeman, known to many in the industry as “Johnny B,” produced Valentine’s show for more than 30 years. Dan Mandis, now host of Nashville’s Morning News on the station, served as Valentine’s final program director. Mike McVay, who spent years as Executive Vice President of Content and Programming at Cumulus Media, worked with Valentine during the final stretch of his career.
A Nashville Radio Legend
Bozeman put Valentine in rare company when discussing his talent behind the microphone.
“I’ve always put him up there with Rush Limbaugh,” said Bozeman. “He had the same kind of connection to his audience. He was a great radio man like Rush was… He understood theater of the mind.”
Mandis pointed to longevity as the defining trait of Valentine’s career.
“The thing about Phil is longevity,” Mandis said. “He was in Nashville for years and years and years. He had a brief stint in Philadelphia, but then he came back home. He was instrumental in what Nashville remains today, which is a state that does not have a state income tax.”
McVay’s history with Valentine stretched back even further, to the days before either of them arrived at Cumulus.
“He just always was a guy who knew how to connect to an audience and how to connect to a community,” the former Cumulus executive stated. “He cared about the community. He cared about people, and he cared about providing a viewpoint that he was passionate about.”
Mandis also credited Valentine with shaping SuperTalk 99.7 WTN‘s identity long after his passing.
“I think the station still gets some of that glow from the Phil Valentine years,” Mandis said. “When people ask me what I do, and I say, ‘I work at WTN,’ they’ll look at me kind of quizzically, and I’m like, ‘The station that Phil Valentine was on.’ Oh, yeah, Phil.”
Mandis added that the station still uses Valentine’s voice in its legal IDs. “People still thank me for doing that five years later. That’s how much people loved him.”
Transparency in His Final Days
Valentine’s skepticism toward the COVID-19 vaccine defined the final chapter of his public life, and McVay didn’t shy away from that reality.
“Probably the most controversial thing was he was very much anti-vaccine as the pandemic began,” the former Cumulus executive stated. “As he got COVID and ultimately died, he changed his tune while he was in the hospital.”
That shift, according to McVay, revealed the same honesty that defined Valentine’s entire career.
“I believe some of the trade publications even printed words from him saying, ‘Take it from me, get the vaccine. Don’t go through what I’m going through,'” McVay shared. “That’s the transparency he had.”
Bozeman echoed that sentiment when discussing how Valentine should be remembered.
“That’s one thing I hope people take away from their memories of him — not how he died, but how the guy knew how to live,” said Bozeman. “I think that’s what endeared him to people, especially listeners, and even those that he worked with.”
The Man Behind the Microphone
Beyond the ratings and the political commentary, those closest to Valentine remember a man defined by generosity. Bozeman recalled how Valentine treated everyone at the station equally, regardless of title or position.
“The cleaning crew at the radio station, I don’t care who you were, he talked to everybody and treated you equally,” Bozeman shared. “When it was Christmas, Phil gave the cleaning crew a bonus. He didn’t have to, but he did. That was the kind of guy he was.”
Mandis experienced that same generosity firsthand when he first arrived in Nashville 12 years ago as WTN’s new midday host. Valentine, already a market legend, reached out with an offer few would expect from someone of his stature.
“Hey, if you need help moving into your new place, me and my sons would be right over,” Mandis said. “That just doesn’t happen. I was amazed.”
That humility, paired with genuine talent, is what made Valentine so respected across Nashville radio. Mandis described their working relationship as collaborative rather than hierarchical, even after Mandis became his program director.
“He never fought me. He’d say, ‘Have you ever thought about this or that or the other?'” said Mandis. “It was very collaborative in nature, and I always appreciated that about Phil.”
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Garrett Searight is Barrett Media’s News Editor, which includes writing daily news stories, features, and opinion columns. He joined Barrett Media in 2022 after a decade leading several radio brands in several formats, as well as a 5-year stint working in local television. In addition to his work with Barrett Media, he is a radio and TV play-by-play broadcaster. Reach out to him at Garrett@BarrettMedia.com.