February 18, 2025 • 24 mins
Discover the inspiring journey of Dr. Bob Martin, whose early struggles with asthma and immune issues in Davenport, Iowa, led him to a life-changing encounter with chiropractic care. We explore how a seemingly simple adjustment transformed his health, igniting a passion for chiropractic that would shape his career. Dr. Martin's story highlights the profound impact this approach had on his own life, setting the foundation for his future as a pioneering radio host and advocate for holistic health. His tale is not just about personal healing but about the power of perseverance in the face of skepticism.
Join us for an engaging conversation about Dr. Martin's transition from a dedicated chiropractor to a celebrated syndicated radio show host with iHeartMedia. Despite facing resistance in the 1970s due to his lack of an MD, Dr. Martin's unwavering commitment to integrating nutrition and lifestyle medicine into his practice expanded his reach. We delve into the influence of figures like Chester Wilk and the strategies Dr. Martin used to confront critics and champion chiropractic care. As listeners, you'll gain valuable insights and inspiration from his dedication to advancing the field and his unwavering belief in the benefits of holistic health.
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Episode Transcript
Available transcripts are automatically generated. Complete accuracy is not guaranteed.
Speaker 2 (00:05):
Hi, I'm Dr Arlen Foer , the founder and chairman of
Activator Methods International,and today I have an old friend
that we're interviewing I'veknown for many years.
He's famous in the talk radioworld and so we're going to find
out all about that.
And Dr Bob Martin is his nameand he is a syndicated radio
(00:25):
host and we're going to learnmore about that.
And Dr Bob Martin is his nameand he is a syndicated radio
host and we're going to learnmore about that as we go.
Good afternoon, dr Martin.
How are you?
I'm doing well.
How are you, arlen?
Good to see you, sir.
Thank you, and same to you.
Now Dr Martin lives in Hawaii,so he says the weather is really
good the year round and so hedoesn't have any of the snow,
storms and other hurricanes thatwe have here in the US.
(00:48):
That's probably why you moved.
But anyway, tell me, bob, alittle bit about how you became
a chiropractor.
Speaker 1 (00:57):
Well, you know, some people say well, how did you
find chiropractic?
I think, basically chiropracticfound me.
And the way that it found me isthat at the age of 15, I
started working at a grocerystore in Davenport, iowa, which
is my home city and Iowa is thestate my sister was the head
(01:21):
cashier at a grocery store.
My sister was the head cashierat a grocery store and she knew
that at age 15, I was startingto become interested in cars and
girls, and so I wanted to findsome money so that when I did
turn 16 years of age, I couldbuy a car.
And there in the state of Iowa,you could not work until you
(01:44):
were 16 in this particular store.
So she went to the storemanager and said I have a little
brother who wants to work inthis store, but he can't because
he's not 16 yet.
Is there anything else he cando to earn money?
And the store manager said,well, let me check, got back to
her and said yes, as long as hestays in the back room and we'll
(02:07):
get a job for him, he can workat the store.
And so what I did in the backof this grocery store in
Davenport, Iowa?
I took these big boxes offrozen chicken and I stuffed
them in other bags, put them ina grocery cart and then they
tagged them and put them outonto the shelves.
(02:32):
And I did that for a year andduring that year that I was
working I had been sick myentire life, arlen with asthma
and bronchitis and eczema andsinusitis all kinds of immune
system problems.
So I was one day in the breakroom eating and this
chiropractic student was inthere and he noticed over time
that I had been out of work,calling in sick, constantly
(02:54):
blowing my nose, sniffling,sneezing, and he said have you
always been like this?
I said, yeah, I've been likethis my whole life.
And he goes well, that's notnormal.
What are you doing about it?
And I said well, I go to the, Igo to the.
My parents take me to a medicaldoctor.
They give me antibiotics, theygive me antihistamines, they
give me all these drugs, andthis is, isn't this the way it's
supposed to be?
(03:14):
And he said no, something elseis wrong with you.
Maybe it's your nervous system.
What's that?
And so what happened was,eventually he talked me into
lying down on these giganticboxes of Charmin toilet paper
that were in big boxes that werenot yet on the shelf of the
grocery store and he said I'dlike to examine you Now.
(03:37):
Keep in mind he's in clinicright now.
He's not even licensed, hehasn't graduated from Palmer.
So, being as naive as I was, Isaid, yeah, well, what the heck,
go ahead.
You seem like an honest person.
He laid me down on the table,checked me out, he goes oh, you
have some major problems in yourneck and that could be
interfering with your immunesystem.
That could be the reason whyyou're sick and that needs to be
(03:58):
taken care of.
And I said well, what do youmean?
Taken care of it?
He said, well, I can take careof it right now if you like.
I said, yeah, go for it.
So he turned me over and feltmy neck and was poking around in
my neck and gave me anadjustment of my upper cervical
area, my atlas, and it was likethis loud, massive cracking in
(04:22):
my neck and I got up off thetable.
I was actually a littlelightheaded, but I just felt
like there was somethingchanging in my system and so my
head felt lighter, my body feltlighter, and over the next year
he continued to treat me in theback room of this grocery store
and my asthma cleared up, mysinus problems went away, my
(04:43):
eczema went away and I hadn'tbeen.
And now all of a sudden myparents are saying, hey, why
aren't you sick anymore andwe're not having to every six
weeks, go to this doctor and getmore drugs.
I was hospitalized like threeor four times with walking
pneumonia and suddenly I'mgetting well and everybody's
noticing it around me.
And this particular chiropractorsaid, well, after about a year
(05:05):
of this, I was just gettingready to turn 16.
He said well, you know, youought to consider what are you
going to do after high school?
And I said, well, I'm going togo to work for JI Case or
Caterpillar, because there's alot of industry there in
Davenport, iowa no-transcriptthere and sit down with them and
(05:52):
tell them your story and see ifthey can do something for you.
Now, arlen, at the time theywere phasing in the pre-college
that you needed to get intochiropractic school the two
years of prerequisite you had tohave some.
You know liberal arts.
Well, I sat down and the guysaid well, you know, what would
you like to do?
And I said, well, and he goeshow's your grades?
(06:14):
And I go.
I wish you wouldn't have askedme that my high school grades
are horrible.
And he goes I'll tell you whatyour story is unique and we will
start you out, even thoughwe're phasing us in.
But it's going to be a hardschedule at first and those
classes that we had to take inconjunction with Palmer
Chiropractic College wereintegrated with Palmer Junior
(06:35):
College.
So we had to take English andterminology and all these other
classes and he said if you canget through that the first
quarter, we'll start you intothe regular curriculum at Palmer
Chiropractic College.
And it was tough.
I was actually 17 years oldwhen I started Palmer College.
I was one year out of highschool and I was still 17.
I turned 18 in a couple months,but that's sort of how I got
(06:57):
started in chiropractic.
And it was a rough go in thebeginning because I didn't know
how to study or anything.
Speaker 2 (07:09):
And then finally I caught on on and things became
fun for me.
Yes, Well, it sounds like afamiliar story because I kind of
went through that same thing.
I was sick and I went into thechiropractor with my mother and
she said I wish there wassomething you could do with this
.
12 year old and six adjustmentslater, my sore throats left and
all of the upper stuff I had inmy respiratory system, just
like you.
So now, when you get out ofschool, where did you go to
practice?
Speaker 1 (07:28):
I went to started in practice in Denver, colorado, in
1976, within literally a fewweeks of graduating.
I think I was like 20 at thetime, yes, just getting ready to
turn 21.
And there I was in Denver.
You know, I had taken the board, I passed the board and was
(07:49):
looking for something.
I was headed actually for NewMexico.
I actually had an offer down inRaton, new Mexico, with a
chiropractor who I was going tobe his associate and run one of
his offices, but I still didn'thave a New Mexico license.
He said come on down, I'll helpyou get your license.
Well, on the way down there, Iwent to a phone booth because I
already had a Colorado license,and I called into the
chiropractic association andsaid are there any
(08:11):
associateships available?
And they go yeah, there's achiropractor, there's an
emergency, he's going into analcohol rehab and his associate
left, and so there's this office.
They just want somebody to comein and take it over.
It's only been, and they hadone active patient in six months
(08:31):
and I said, all right, well,what do you have?
And everything was in place thetables, there was an x-ray
machine back there, and so Isaid, all right, I'll do it.
And so we signed papers and Istarted right there in Denver.
Speaker 2 (08:45):
Well, what did you do then to draw people to you?
Speaker 1 (08:50):
Well, I became part of the Chiropractic Association
of Colorado.
The president of theassociation, we used to have
luncheons and we got togetherand they wanted to try to help
educate the public there inColorado.
And we had heard that DrChester Wilk from Chicago from
the famed antitrust suit, he wasnow starting to teach what are
(09:13):
called Speaker's Bureau coursesaround the United States and so
the association bought hisentire cassette tape program.
We received it, we startedlistening to it and then we
invited him to come to Coloradoto actually teach us up in the
mountain courses where we'd goup there and we would play
devil's advocate One of us wouldplay the MD trying to defame
(09:37):
chiropractic and the other woulddefend chiropractic and we went
back and forth with thesemeetings.
He kept coming back out and itreally gave us a lot of
confidence.
And then we finally got a radioshow.
We purchased some time on aradio show there in Denver and
we took turns becoming guests onthis show and I was a guest and
I mean it was really traumaticfor me because I had never given
(09:59):
a lecture, I'd never talked togroups or anything and to be on
the radio was very scary.
So I did.
It felt good afterwards and wekept doing that and we started
to notice there were patientsthat were coming into the office
as a result of those broadcasts, which really excited me.
Then ultimately I went and gotmy own radio show on a Christian
(10:21):
station, bought and purchasedtime.
Then ultimately somebody heardme on the radio and a lady that
called my office one night.
She was setting up a new talkstation in Denver and I met her
in my office at like three inthe morning.
She had heard her back movingdown from Portland, oregon, to
set this station up and she sawa sign in my waiting room that I
(10:44):
had a radio show and she said,well, listen to your radio show,
we're just setting up a radiostation here.
And she listened to it.
And she came into the officefor another visit after I
treated here and she listened toit.
And she came into the officefor another visit after I
treated her and she goes well, Ilistened to your show and we
may be interested in having youcome over to our station.
I noticed you're on one hournow but we'd need a two hour
(11:04):
show and I said, well, hold on,I can barely afford to pay for
the one hour on radio and shegoes no, we need you for two
hours and we'll pay you to do it.
And I said oh, that works forme.
Speaker 2 (11:16):
And so I started the start of your radio career.
Speaker 1 (11:20):
That's exactly how it started.
It started over there with twohours, the downtown Denver, at
the top of the Tabor Center, andwith Sandusky newspaper, who
owned this radio station.
We went from two hours, we soldout advertising, expanded to
three hours, expanded to fourhours and they wanted to do five
hours on Saturday.
I was practicing the whole timethrough the week and then doing
(11:43):
this on the weekends.
Speaker 2 (11:46):
And so is it true that the Colorado Medical
Association or establishmentwould try to remove you from
providing consumer education.
Speaker 1 (11:54):
Oh, big time, Big time In fact.
I knew you were going to ask methat and so I still have the
letters here that they wrotethis campaign to the Denver Post
, the Rocky Mountain News.
They did everything they can.
This is from the AmericanCancer Society, the Denver
Medical Society, the ColoradoMedical Society, the Arthritis
(12:14):
Society.
They put a campaign together toget this quack by the name of
Dr Bob Martin off the airbecause he was telling people to
go to chiropractors, he wastelling people to exercise more
often, he was telling hislisteners to eat a better diet
and try to lower their stress,and they didn't like it.
(12:35):
These letters basically say thisguy's killing people, he's a
menace.
You need to get him off theradio.
Well, the good news is is thatthe general manager of this
radio station that I was workingfor at the time and the program
director had become patients ofmine.
They had all kinds of healthproblems that got cleared up.
So every nasty letter that wentto them, they wrote back and
(12:56):
said hey, uh, he's not comingoff the air and what you should
do if you really have some kindof an argument with him is call
him up, take him on uh, arguewith him or go in and be a guest
on his show.
Of course they didn't want todo that.
They wanted to do all the stuffbehind the scenes to try to get
me off the air, and it just, itemboldened me, arlen, to
continue to do this.
Speaker 2 (13:19):
When did you start using Activator in your practice
?
Speaker 1 (13:23):
I believe that was in the early 80s.
I think that's when we firstmet at the Denver Stapleton
Airport Hotel out there and thatwas my very first activator
seminar that I took and I'vebeen using it frankly ever since
.
Total miracle Completelychanged my practice in so many
(13:43):
ways that I can't even expressmy gratitude for that.
Speaker 2 (13:48):
Now you moved from Denver to Arizona.
Why did you do that?
Speaker 1 (13:53):
Well, this radio show that I was doing was highly
successful.
I was working for thiscorporation.
They had radio stations allover the country.
So I went to the generalmanager and I said look, if this
is working in a test market inDenver and we're sold out and we
can't even keep up with it, whydon't you roll my program out
in a national way?
(14:14):
Now, remember, this is in the70s, you know the mid to late
70s.
And so they went to thiscorporate person and said yeah,
we'd love to do it, but a lot ofour advertisers are drug
companies, so that wouldn't flyon this on a national basis.
And I said well, what do youmean?
Well, you just don't have thecredential to do that.
(14:36):
And I said what do you suggest?
I said this show is verypopular and it would work in
other markets.
They go.
Well, you know what, if you hadan MD, we would do that in a
heartbeat.
I said, well, have an MD.
I would never practice as an MD.
I'm a chiropractor.
So what I did, I figured out inorder to advance the whole
(14:57):
purpose of me getting out themessage of what I do
chiropractic lifestyle medicine,all of it.
I sold my practice to mybrother and I went to medical
school in the Caribbean after Iapplied for medical schools in
the United States and once theyfound out I was a chiropractor
and I was already in practicefor years, they said and had
(15:20):
five or six children said wedon't think so.
So I ended up going to anEnglish speaking foreign medical
school in Grenada, west Indiesto an English speaking foreign
medical school in Grenada, westIndies, and I enrolled in that.
And same thing happened as soonas I started in school.
All the teachers were up at myhouse getting care, all the
(15:42):
professors and they were fromHarvard and Penn State and all
these guys that were coming injust doing classes for a
semester and then living on thebeach and then going back to the
United States and finally, youknow, my children were suffering
because there were no schoolsthere that were worth anything
going to, and so my child thatwas in second grade was in the
same class as my child that wasin the seventh grade and finally
, after seeing that and theirbeing damaged by that, I said
(16:04):
you know, honey, I got to findanother way to do this besides
going through this.
So I was in medical school forabout a year, and so we decided
to move away from that and goback to the United States and
find another way to get anationally syndicated show.
Luckily I did.
I moved to Arizona because Icouldn't go back to Colorado
because my brother now had thatpractice and I didn't want to
(16:25):
interfere with that.
And so we moved to Arizona andI met somebody that had a small
syndicated program and I wentand I substituted for them when
they were on vacation.
And then finally this personjust wanted to give up and so I
took over that show and thatshow led to another expansion
(16:45):
and ultimately I got hired byiHeartMedia and I was an
employee until about two yearsago for 28 years with
iHeartMedia and then mysyndicated show has become
really large and expanded andwe're in about 200 radio
stations today all over theUnited States for three hours a
(17:08):
week.
And then I also do a standaloneshow on KTAR News there where
you're at in Phoenix, arizona.
That's a big station too.
It is Covers a lot of people,covers the whole state.
Speaker 2 (17:20):
Yes, covers the whole state.
Well, you know you're famous inthe radio talk world and it
took a lot of courage to hang inthere in the early beginning,
to get your feet into it, tofind out how it worked and so
forth.
And how do you think that youmanaged to keep the faith?
Speaker 1 (17:41):
Well, one, I was starving and my family depended
on me, you know succeeding.
And two, I have to give creditto the good Lord above and, of
course, chester Wilk.
I mean.
After that it was like, andwhen I took his courses and read
all his material, met with him,it was just a total turnaround
(18:06):
for me.
I said, yeah, I don't care,I'll go on any radio station,
any TV station.
If some MD wants to debate orcall in and find a way to argue
with me, I have no problem doingthat.
Now, however, I started to getpatients into my practice from
these radio shows.
Arlen, I'm talking sickpatients, I'm talking about
(18:26):
cancer patients, people withautoimmune diseases, all kinds
of stuff that you wouldn'ttypically see in a chiropractic
practice.
I had zero training in anyother field like nutrition,
lifestyle medicine.
So I said, geez, I better finda way.
I have to refer a lot of thesepatients out to the holistic DOs
and MDs in town.
(18:46):
I said, well, maybe I can helpthem somehow.
So I went back and did adiplomate program, a DACPIN
program, through the ACA, did athree-year program there.
I also went and did a diplomateprogram with the A4M, which is
the American Academy ofAnti-Aging Medicine.
So I built my knowledge base onlifestyle medicine to integrate
(19:10):
that with the chiropractic, andit was all about diet and
exercise and I went through anacupuncture training as well and
that's what kind of gave me theconfidence to say, okay, I can
do this and I can field thesequestions from all these
different angles, and if I don'tknow it, I'll just make
something up.
Just kidding on that.
Speaker 2 (19:31):
I remember, you know, several years ago, when I was
on a show with you for somethingI don't know, we were doing
something and you wanted us totalk about it.
But I have known you as anutritionist, I mean.
You know, that's the way I haveknown you and that's what.
I think you hit the right spotsbecause the public was your way
ahead of your time.
(19:51):
You know, now RFK is coming out, you know, with all of the new
things that natural health andeverything for the correct food
and all that kind of thing, andif you go on, I had a patient
here not long ago that came inand said they were trying to get
their blood sugar lowered.
And so they went on theinternet and they found all
kinds of different things andthey said is there anything
better?
And I said, listen to BobMartin's show.
(20:14):
And I don't know, have you everfound anything naturally for
lowering blood sugar?
Because that seems to be a bigthing today because there's so
many diabetics out there.
Speaker 1 (20:22):
It's huge.
It's huge.
About two thirds of the entirepopulation in the United States,
arlen, are either pre-diabeticor diabetic.
Two thirds wrap your headaround that one?
Wow.
So it's epidemic right now.
It's epidemic and it's acombination of things.
We're talking about type twodiabetes, which, uh, you know
that's what we're talking about.
It used to be called adultonset.
(20:42):
Well, we can't call thatanymore because kids are getting
it at an early age.
So, yes, there's lots.
You have to get back into anexercise pattern, because
without exercise, nothing elseis going to work, because it's
all about your metabolismslowing down the receptor sites,
becoming insulin resistant,having disinsulinism or
(21:05):
metabolic syndrome.
And once you start exercising,along with proper diet and
avoiding the simplecarbohydrates, the fast acting
carbohydrates, and then youintegrate with that the right
nutrients, which includeschromium and zinc, and B-complex
vitamins and botanicals thatcan absolutely solve the problem
, like bitter melon and alphalipoic acid.
(21:27):
There's so much to do fordiabetics.
It is easy to shut down theprogression of a diabetic cold
and reverse it.
We know how to do it today.
There's no question about it.
Speaker 2 (21:40):
Well, that's a big thing, I mean when two-thirds of
the country is suffering fromit.
Think of the metformin they'retaking.
Speaker 1 (21:48):
Exactly the side effects with these drugs.
And there are a lot of drugsthat are certainly effective at
lowering blood sugar, metforminbeing one of them, and, by the
way, that particular drug wasoriginally found in a plant, in
a botanical.
About 40% of the drugs on themarket today come from the
(22:09):
botanical kingdom, and theneventually they're synthesized,
metformin being one of them,called goat rue, which has been
used historically for a longtime, and they studied that.
And then they of course,synthesize and they pull it
through like that.
So there's a lot you can do, andI think the chiropractor can
absolutely be at the forefrontof this.
(22:30):
I mean, if two thirds of thepopulation is pre-diabetic or
diabetic, that's our population,that's our demographic, and why
shouldn't we be able to counselthem about exercise as part of
our training and counsel themabout nutrition?
I had some nutrition inchiropractic college way back in
the 70s.
It's expanded now and you canget these three-year diplomate
(22:52):
programs if you choose to expandyour practice.
So why shouldn't we do that forour patients, so that they may
not have to go on drugs and canavert the possibility of all the
harsh side effects associatedwith, you know, pharmacologic
agents?
Speaker 2 (23:11):
I'd like to know how my listeners here today can you
know, get you on syndicatedradio and you know people
watching the podcast if theywant to contact you, because I'm
sure there are people out theresaying, wow, I'm looking for
somebody to lower my glucose,and so what's the contact?
Speaker 1 (23:30):
Well, they can go to my website.
A lot of content there atdrbobcom spelling out the word
doctor, drbobcom.
And if a colleague wants tosend me an email, happy to
respond.
My email address is I would usethe R for Robert R Martin,
m-a-r-t-i-n.
The number two at Outlookcom.
(23:53):
R Martin, two at Outlookcom.
They can send an email.
Speaker 2 (23:59):
Well, what we'll do is we'll put that on the screen.
I'll have my producers here putthat on the screen when we hang
up and then that will be comingout so people can find out how
to get a hold of you and, youknow, find some of that wisdom
out.
So I can't thank you.
I know you're a busy, busy guyand to be on the podcast I
really appreciate it, and sothank you very much, my friend,
(24:22):
and we'll look forward totalking to you.
Speaker 1 (24:26):
Thank you very much for the opportunity.
It's been an honor to be onyour show.
Speaker 2 (24:30):
And please feel free to share this podcast with your
people because, you know,sometimes they want to know
about what chiropractors do andthis is a good chance for them
to learn.
Perfect, Thank you.
I will Thank you.
Hi, I'm Dr Arlen Foer , the founder and chairman of
Activator Methods International,and today I have an old friend
that we're interviewing I'veknown for many years.
He's famous in the talk radioworld and so we're going to find
out all about that.
And Dr Bob Martin is his nameand he is a syndicated radio
(00:25):
host and we're going to learnmore about that.
And Dr Bob Martin is his nameand he is a syndicated radio
host and we're going to learnmore about that as we go.
Good afternoon, dr Martin.
How are you?
I'm doing well.
How are you, arlen?
Good to see you, sir.
Thank you, and same to you.
Now Dr Martin lives in Hawaii,so he says the weather is really
good the year round and so hedoesn't have any of the snow,
storms and other hurricanes thatwe have here in the US.
(00:48):
That's probably why you moved.
But anyway, tell me, bob, alittle bit about how you became
a chiropractor.
Speaker 1 (00:57):
Well, you know, some people say well, how did you
find chiropractic?
I think, basically chiropracticfound me.
And the way that it found me isthat at the age of 15, I
started working at a grocerystore in Davenport, iowa, which
is my home city and Iowa is thestate my sister was the head
(01:21):
cashier at a grocery store.
My sister was the head cashierat a grocery store and she knew
that at age 15, I was startingto become interested in cars and
girls, and so I wanted to findsome money so that when I did
turn 16 years of age, I couldbuy a car.
And there in the state of Iowa,you could not work until you
(01:44):
were 16 in this particular store.
So she went to the storemanager and said I have a little
brother who wants to work inthis store, but he can't because
he's not 16 yet.
Is there anything else he cando to earn money?
And the store manager said,well, let me check, got back to
her and said yes, as long as hestays in the back room and we'll
(02:07):
get a job for him, he can workat the store.
And so what I did in the backof this grocery store in
Davenport, Iowa?
I took these big boxes offrozen chicken and I stuffed
them in other bags, put them ina grocery cart and then they
tagged them and put them outonto the shelves.
(02:32):
And I did that for a year andduring that year that I was
working I had been sick myentire life, arlen with asthma
and bronchitis and eczema andsinusitis all kinds of immune
system problems.
So I was one day in the breakroom eating and this
chiropractic student was inthere and he noticed over time
that I had been out of work,calling in sick, constantly
(02:54):
blowing my nose, sniffling,sneezing, and he said have you
always been like this?
I said, yeah, I've been likethis my whole life.
And he goes well, that's notnormal.
What are you doing about it?
And I said well, I go to the, Igo to the.
My parents take me to a medicaldoctor.
They give me antibiotics, theygive me antihistamines, they
give me all these drugs, andthis is, isn't this the way it's
supposed to be?
(03:14):
And he said no, something elseis wrong with you.
Maybe it's your nervous system.
What's that?
And so what happened was,eventually he talked me into
lying down on these giganticboxes of Charmin toilet paper
that were in big boxes that werenot yet on the shelf of the
grocery store and he said I'dlike to examine you Now.
(03:37):
Keep in mind he's in clinicright now.
He's not even licensed, hehasn't graduated from Palmer.
So, being as naive as I was, Isaid, yeah, well, what the heck,
go ahead.
You seem like an honest person.
He laid me down on the table,checked me out, he goes oh, you
have some major problems in yourneck and that could be
interfering with your immunesystem.
That could be the reason whyyou're sick and that needs to be
(03:58):
taken care of.
And I said well, what do youmean?
Taken care of it?
He said, well, I can take careof it right now if you like.
I said, yeah, go for it.
So he turned me over and feltmy neck and was poking around in
my neck and gave me anadjustment of my upper cervical
area, my atlas, and it was likethis loud, massive cracking in
(04:22):
my neck and I got up off thetable.
I was actually a littlelightheaded, but I just felt
like there was somethingchanging in my system and so my
head felt lighter, my body feltlighter, and over the next year
he continued to treat me in theback room of this grocery store
and my asthma cleared up, mysinus problems went away, my
(04:43):
eczema went away and I hadn'tbeen.
And now all of a sudden myparents are saying, hey, why
aren't you sick anymore andwe're not having to every six
weeks, go to this doctor and getmore drugs.
I was hospitalized like threeor four times with walking
pneumonia and suddenly I'mgetting well and everybody's
noticing it around me.
And this particular chiropractorsaid, well, after about a year
(05:05):
of this, I was just gettingready to turn 16.
He said well, you know, youought to consider what are you
going to do after high school?
And I said, well, I'm going togo to work for JI Case or
Caterpillar, because there's alot of industry there in
Davenport, iowa no-transcriptthere and sit down with them and
(05:52):
tell them your story and see ifthey can do something for you.
Now, arlen, at the time theywere phasing in the pre-college
that you needed to get intochiropractic school the two
years of prerequisite you had tohave some.
You know liberal arts.
Well, I sat down and the guysaid well, you know, what would
you like to do?
And I said, well, and he goeshow's your grades?
(06:14):
And I go.
I wish you wouldn't have askedme that my high school grades
are horrible.
And he goes I'll tell you whatyour story is unique and we will
start you out, even thoughwe're phasing us in.
But it's going to be a hardschedule at first and those
classes that we had to take inconjunction with Palmer
Chiropractic College wereintegrated with Palmer Junior
(06:35):
College.
So we had to take English andterminology and all these other
classes and he said if you canget through that the first
quarter, we'll start you intothe regular curriculum at Palmer
Chiropractic College.
And it was tough.
I was actually 17 years oldwhen I started Palmer College.
I was one year out of highschool and I was still 17.
I turned 18 in a couple months,but that's sort of how I got
(06:57):
started in chiropractic.
And it was a rough go in thebeginning because I didn't know
how to study or anything.
Speaker 2 (07:09):
And then finally I caught on on and things became
fun for me.
Yes, Well, it sounds like afamiliar story because I kind of
went through that same thing.
I was sick and I went into thechiropractor with my mother and
she said I wish there wassomething you could do with this
.
12 year old and six adjustmentslater, my sore throats left and
all of the upper stuff I had inmy respiratory system, just
like you.
So now, when you get out ofschool, where did you go to
practice?
Speaker 1 (07:28):
I went to started in practice in Denver, colorado, in
1976, within literally a fewweeks of graduating.
I think I was like 20 at thetime, yes, just getting ready to
turn 21.
And there I was in Denver.
You know, I had taken the board, I passed the board and was
(07:49):
looking for something.
I was headed actually for NewMexico.
I actually had an offer down inRaton, new Mexico, with a
chiropractor who I was going tobe his associate and run one of
his offices, but I still didn'thave a New Mexico license.
He said come on down, I'll helpyou get your license.
Well, on the way down there, Iwent to a phone booth because I
already had a Colorado license,and I called into the
chiropractic association andsaid are there any
(08:11):
associateships available?
And they go yeah, there's achiropractor, there's an
emergency, he's going into analcohol rehab and his associate
left, and so there's this office.
They just want somebody to comein and take it over.
It's only been, and they hadone active patient in six months
(08:31):
and I said, all right, well,what do you have?
And everything was in place thetables, there was an x-ray
machine back there, and so Isaid, all right, I'll do it.
And so we signed papers and Istarted right there in Denver.
Speaker 2 (08:45):
Well, what did you do then to draw people to you?
Speaker 1 (08:50):
Well, I became part of the Chiropractic Association
of Colorado.
The president of theassociation, we used to have
luncheons and we got togetherand they wanted to try to help
educate the public there inColorado.
And we had heard that DrChester Wilk from Chicago from
the famed antitrust suit, he wasnow starting to teach what are
(09:13):
called Speaker's Bureau coursesaround the United States and so
the association bought hisentire cassette tape program.
We received it, we startedlistening to it and then we
invited him to come to Coloradoto actually teach us up in the
mountain courses where we'd goup there and we would play
devil's advocate One of us wouldplay the MD trying to defame
(09:37):
chiropractic and the other woulddefend chiropractic and we went
back and forth with thesemeetings.
He kept coming back out and itreally gave us a lot of
confidence.
And then we finally got a radioshow.
We purchased some time on aradio show there in Denver and
we took turns becoming guests onthis show and I was a guest and
I mean it was really traumaticfor me because I had never given
(09:59):
a lecture, I'd never talked togroups or anything and to be on
the radio was very scary.
So I did.
It felt good afterwards and wekept doing that and we started
to notice there were patientsthat were coming into the office
as a result of those broadcasts, which really excited me.
Then ultimately I went and gotmy own radio show on a Christian
(10:21):
station, bought and purchasedtime.
Then ultimately somebody heardme on the radio and a lady that
called my office one night.
She was setting up a new talkstation in Denver and I met her
in my office at like three inthe morning.
She had heard her back movingdown from Portland, oregon, to
set this station up and she sawa sign in my waiting room that I
(10:44):
had a radio show and she said,well, listen to your radio show,
we're just setting up a radiostation here.
And she listened to it.
And she came into the officefor another visit after I
treated here and she listened toit.
And she came into the officefor another visit after I
treated her and she goes well, Ilistened to your show and we
may be interested in having youcome over to our station.
I noticed you're on one hournow but we'd need a two hour
(11:04):
show and I said, well, hold on,I can barely afford to pay for
the one hour on radio and shegoes no, we need you for two
hours and we'll pay you to do it.
And I said oh, that works forme.
Speaker 2 (11:16):
And so I started the start of your radio career.
Speaker 1 (11:20):
That's exactly how it started.
It started over there with twohours, the downtown Denver, at
the top of the Tabor Center, andwith Sandusky newspaper, who
owned this radio station.
We went from two hours, we soldout advertising, expanded to
three hours, expanded to fourhours and they wanted to do five
hours on Saturday.
I was practicing the whole timethrough the week and then doing
(11:43):
this on the weekends.
Speaker 2 (11:46):
And so is it true that the Colorado Medical
Association or establishmentwould try to remove you from
providing consumer education.
Speaker 1 (11:54):
Oh, big time, Big time In fact.
I knew you were going to ask methat and so I still have the
letters here that they wrotethis campaign to the Denver Post
, the Rocky Mountain News.
They did everything they can.
This is from the AmericanCancer Society, the Denver
Medical Society, the ColoradoMedical Society, the Arthritis
(12:14):
Society.
They put a campaign together toget this quack by the name of
Dr Bob Martin off the airbecause he was telling people to
go to chiropractors, he wastelling people to exercise more
often, he was telling hislisteners to eat a better diet
and try to lower their stress,and they didn't like it.
(12:35):
These letters basically say thisguy's killing people, he's a
menace.
You need to get him off theradio.
Well, the good news is is thatthe general manager of this
radio station that I was workingfor at the time and the program
director had become patients ofmine.
They had all kinds of healthproblems that got cleared up.
So every nasty letter that wentto them, they wrote back and
(12:56):
said hey, uh, he's not comingoff the air and what you should
do if you really have some kindof an argument with him is call
him up, take him on uh, arguewith him or go in and be a guest
on his show.
Of course they didn't want todo that.
They wanted to do all the stuffbehind the scenes to try to get
me off the air, and it just, itemboldened me, arlen, to
continue to do this.
Speaker 2 (13:19):
When did you start using Activator in your practice
?
Speaker 1 (13:23):
I believe that was in the early 80s.
I think that's when we firstmet at the Denver Stapleton
Airport Hotel out there and thatwas my very first activator
seminar that I took and I'vebeen using it frankly ever since
.
Total miracle Completelychanged my practice in so many
(13:43):
ways that I can't even expressmy gratitude for that.
Speaker 2 (13:48):
Now you moved from Denver to Arizona.
Why did you do that?
Speaker 1 (13:53):
Well, this radio show that I was doing was highly
successful.
I was working for thiscorporation.
They had radio stations allover the country.
So I went to the generalmanager and I said look, if this
is working in a test market inDenver and we're sold out and we
can't even keep up with it, whydon't you roll my program out
in a national way?
(14:14):
Now, remember, this is in the70s, you know the mid to late
70s.
And so they went to thiscorporate person and said yeah,
we'd love to do it, but a lot ofour advertisers are drug
companies, so that wouldn't flyon this on a national basis.
And I said well, what do youmean?
Well, you just don't have thecredential to do that.
(14:36):
And I said what do you suggest?
I said this show is verypopular and it would work in
other markets.
They go.
Well, you know what, if you hadan MD, we would do that in a
heartbeat.
I said, well, have an MD.
I would never practice as an MD.
I'm a chiropractor.
So what I did, I figured out inorder to advance the whole
(14:57):
purpose of me getting out themessage of what I do
chiropractic lifestyle medicine,all of it.
I sold my practice to mybrother and I went to medical
school in the Caribbean after Iapplied for medical schools in
the United States and once theyfound out I was a chiropractor
and I was already in practicefor years, they said and had
(15:20):
five or six children said wedon't think so.
So I ended up going to anEnglish speaking foreign medical
school in Grenada, west Indiesto an English speaking foreign
medical school in Grenada, westIndies, and I enrolled in that.
And same thing happened as soonas I started in school.
All the teachers were up at myhouse getting care, all the
(15:42):
professors and they were fromHarvard and Penn State and all
these guys that were coming injust doing classes for a
semester and then living on thebeach and then going back to the
United States and finally, youknow, my children were suffering
because there were no schoolsthere that were worth anything
going to, and so my child thatwas in second grade was in the
same class as my child that wasin the seventh grade and finally
, after seeing that and theirbeing damaged by that, I said
(16:04):
you know, honey, I got to findanother way to do this besides
going through this.
So I was in medical school forabout a year, and so we decided
to move away from that and goback to the United States and
find another way to get anationally syndicated show.
Luckily I did.
I moved to Arizona because Icouldn't go back to Colorado
because my brother now had thatpractice and I didn't want to
(16:25):
interfere with that.
And so we moved to Arizona andI met somebody that had a small
syndicated program and I wentand I substituted for them when
they were on vacation.
And then finally this personjust wanted to give up and so I
took over that show and thatshow led to another expansion
(16:45):
and ultimately I got hired byiHeartMedia and I was an
employee until about two yearsago for 28 years with
iHeartMedia and then mysyndicated show has become
really large and expanded andwe're in about 200 radio
stations today all over theUnited States for three hours a
(17:08):
week.
And then I also do a standaloneshow on KTAR News there where
you're at in Phoenix, arizona.
That's a big station too.
It is Covers a lot of people,covers the whole state.
Speaker 2 (17:20):
Yes, covers the whole state.
Well, you know you're famous inthe radio talk world and it
took a lot of courage to hang inthere in the early beginning,
to get your feet into it, tofind out how it worked and so
forth.
And how do you think that youmanaged to keep the faith?
Speaker 1 (17:41):
Well, one, I was starving and my family depended
on me, you know succeeding.
And two, I have to give creditto the good Lord above and, of
course, chester Wilk.
I mean.
After that it was like, andwhen I took his courses and read
all his material, met with him,it was just a total turnaround
(18:06):
for me.
I said, yeah, I don't care,I'll go on any radio station,
any TV station.
If some MD wants to debate orcall in and find a way to argue
with me, I have no problem doingthat.
Now, however, I started to getpatients into my practice from
these radio shows.
Arlen, I'm talking sickpatients, I'm talking about
(18:26):
cancer patients, people withautoimmune diseases, all kinds
of stuff that you wouldn'ttypically see in a chiropractic
practice.
I had zero training in anyother field like nutrition,
lifestyle medicine.
So I said, geez, I better finda way.
I have to refer a lot of thesepatients out to the holistic DOs
and MDs in town.
(18:46):
I said, well, maybe I can helpthem somehow.
So I went back and did adiplomate program, a DACPIN
program, through the ACA, did athree-year program there.
I also went and did a diplomateprogram with the A4M, which is
the American Academy ofAnti-Aging Medicine.
So I built my knowledge base onlifestyle medicine to integrate
(19:10):
that with the chiropractic, andit was all about diet and
exercise and I went through anacupuncture training as well and
that's what kind of gave me theconfidence to say, okay, I can
do this and I can field thesequestions from all these
different angles, and if I don'tknow it, I'll just make
something up.
Just kidding on that.
Speaker 2 (19:31):
I remember, you know, several years ago, when I was
on a show with you for somethingI don't know, we were doing
something and you wanted us totalk about it.
But I have known you as anutritionist, I mean.
You know, that's the way I haveknown you and that's what.
I think you hit the right spotsbecause the public was your way
ahead of your time.
(19:51):
You know, now RFK is coming out, you know, with all of the new
things that natural health andeverything for the correct food
and all that kind of thing, andif you go on, I had a patient
here not long ago that came inand said they were trying to get
their blood sugar lowered.
And so they went on theinternet and they found all
kinds of different things andthey said is there anything
better?
And I said, listen to BobMartin's show.
(20:14):
And I don't know, have you everfound anything naturally for
lowering blood sugar?
Because that seems to be a bigthing today because there's so
many diabetics out there.
Speaker 1 (20:22):
It's huge.
It's huge.
About two thirds of the entirepopulation in the United States,
arlen, are either pre-diabeticor diabetic.
Two thirds wrap your headaround that one?
Wow.
So it's epidemic right now.
It's epidemic and it's acombination of things.
We're talking about type twodiabetes, which, uh, you know
that's what we're talking about.
It used to be called adultonset.
(20:42):
Well, we can't call thatanymore because kids are getting
it at an early age.
So, yes, there's lots.
You have to get back into anexercise pattern, because
without exercise, nothing elseis going to work, because it's
all about your metabolismslowing down the receptor sites,
becoming insulin resistant,having disinsulinism or
(21:05):
metabolic syndrome.
And once you start exercising,along with proper diet and
avoiding the simplecarbohydrates, the fast acting
carbohydrates, and then youintegrate with that the right
nutrients, which includeschromium and zinc, and B-complex
vitamins and botanicals thatcan absolutely solve the problem
, like bitter melon and alphalipoic acid.
(21:27):
There's so much to do fordiabetics.
It is easy to shut down theprogression of a diabetic cold
and reverse it.
We know how to do it today.
There's no question about it.
Speaker 2 (21:40):
Well, that's a big thing, I mean when two-thirds of
the country is suffering fromit.
Think of the metformin they'retaking.
Speaker 1 (21:48):
Exactly the side effects with these drugs.
And there are a lot of drugsthat are certainly effective at
lowering blood sugar, metforminbeing one of them, and, by the
way, that particular drug wasoriginally found in a plant, in
a botanical.
About 40% of the drugs on themarket today come from the
(22:09):
botanical kingdom, and theneventually they're synthesized,
metformin being one of them,called goat rue, which has been
used historically for a longtime, and they studied that.
And then they of course,synthesize and they pull it
through like that.
So there's a lot you can do, andI think the chiropractor can
absolutely be at the forefrontof this.
(22:30):
I mean, if two thirds of thepopulation is pre-diabetic or
diabetic, that's our population,that's our demographic, and why
shouldn't we be able to counselthem about exercise as part of
our training and counsel themabout nutrition?
I had some nutrition inchiropractic college way back in
the 70s.
It's expanded now and you canget these three-year diplomate
(22:52):
programs if you choose to expandyour practice.
So why shouldn't we do that forour patients, so that they may
not have to go on drugs and canavert the possibility of all the
harsh side effects associatedwith, you know, pharmacologic
agents?
Speaker 2 (23:11):
I'd like to know how my listeners here today can you
know, get you on syndicatedradio and you know people
watching the podcast if theywant to contact you, because I'm
sure there are people out theresaying, wow, I'm looking for
somebody to lower my glucose,and so what's the contact?
Speaker 1 (23:30):
Well, they can go to my website.
A lot of content there atdrbobcom spelling out the word
doctor, drbobcom.
And if a colleague wants tosend me an email, happy to
respond.
My email address is I would usethe R for Robert R Martin,
m-a-r-t-i-n.
The number two at Outlookcom.
(23:53):
R Martin, two at Outlookcom.
They can send an email.
Speaker 2 (23:59):
Well, what we'll do is we'll put that on the screen.
I'll have my producers here putthat on the screen when we hang
up and then that will be comingout so people can find out how
to get a hold of you and, youknow, find some of that wisdom
out.
So I can't thank you.
I know you're a busy, busy guyand to be on the podcast I
really appreciate it, and sothank you very much, my friend,
(24:22):
and we'll look forward totalking to you.
Speaker 1 (24:26):
Thank you very much for the opportunity.
It's been an honor to be onyour show.
Speaker 2 (24:30):
And please feel free to share this podcast with your
people because, you know,sometimes they want to know
about what chiropractors do andthis is a good chance for them
to learn.
Perfect, Thank you.
I will Thank you.
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