Since 1989, Valerie has been invited to appear on local and regional television news and radio programs sharing new shipwreck discoveries and what is being learned from them. She has appeared as a special guest on episodes of several television series as well as CNN, Al Jazeera, and local news features.
NATIONAL TELEVISION SERIES’ EPISODES
EXPEDITION UNKNOWN: THE VANISHED AIRLINER
Debut: February 2020
Josh Gates joins Valerie and the MSRA team to search for the wreckage of Northwest Airlines Flight 2501, lost in Lake Michigan in 1950.
DRAIN THE OCEANS: CHICAGO
Debut: July 2020
Valerie shares her research about the Lady Elgin, the worst shipwreck incident on the Great Lakes with the loss of over 300 people in 1860. In addition to her appearance she worked with artists to craft the sinking animation on this as well as the Chicago Cribs.
EXPEDITION UNKNOWN: THE VANISHED AIRLINER
Debut: February 2020
Valerie travels to Manitoulin Island to work with Cris Kohl and Josh Gates in search of Le Griffon, gone missing in 1679.
A CITY AT WAR: CHICAGO
Debut: October 2017
Valerie is interviewed about shipbuilding and vessel traffic on Lake Michigan during WWII for this hour-long documentary, the first in a series developed by John Davies and Brian Kallies and produced by Captain David Truitt of the Chicago Marine Heritage Society.
SECRETS OF THE UNDERGROUND
March, 2017
Episode: The Michigan Triangle
In an episode in the premier season of the series, Valerie collaborates with host Rob Nelson to investigate the strange disappearance of the schooner Thomas Hume lost in Lake Michigan in 1891. Their works begins in the archives and takes them 150 feet beneath the lake to explore this very intact shipwreck.
THE STRANGE TRUTH
January 17, 2016
Episode: Shipwrecks Spotted From Air
In an episode of this series, Valerie serves as an historian to provide information about several shipwrecks spotted in the shallow water of Lake Michigan by a Coast Guardsman during an aerial training mission in the area of the Manitou passage in upper Michigan.
MYSTERIES AT THE MUSEUM
September 2014
Episode: The Michigan Triangle (Northwest Flight 2501)
In this episode of a long running series, Valerie van Heest explores the origins of an artifact at the Michigan Maritime Museum at South Haven, Michigan—a peach-color men’s shirt—found floating on Lake Michigan in June 1950 that belonged to a victim of Flight 2501, a DC-4 that crashed into Lake Michigan.
CITIES OF THE UNDERWORLD
March 17, 2008
In an episode first aired on March 17, 2008, Cities of the Underworld travels to Chicago to explore beneath the city and beneath the lake visiting the wreck of the 3-masted schooner Wells Burt. Host Don Wildman, a diver, joins Valerie van Heest, who led the original survey of the vessel in 1989 right after its discovery, to take a closer look at what sank this once proud cargo vessel in May 1883.
MISSING REWARD
Hosted By Stacy Keech
Summer 1989
Valerie is interviewed about the theft of artifacts from the schooner shipwreck Wells Burt. The State of Illinois offered a reward for any information leading to the arrest of the divers responsible.
ILLINOIS ADVENTURE
Illinois Valley Public Television. Company Segment.
1992
Valerie is interviewed about the work of the Underwater Archaeological Society of Chicago and the theft of artifacts from the Wells Burt shipwreck.
ON THE BENCH
Cable Talk Show
May 30, 1989
In Valerie’s first television appearance, she is interviewed about the documentation of the shipwreck Wells Burt by her team from the Underwater Archaeological Society of Chicago.
SELECT TELEVISION NEWS AND RADIO APPEARANCES
2020-July WZZM feature on the shipwreck R. Kanters on Garden Peninsula
2020-June 23 WZZM 70th year anniversary of the loss of NWA Flight 2501
2018- May 25 WZZM Search for Flight 2501 resumes
2018- March 25 WZZM Schooner Lizzie Throop Found
2018- Feb 24 WZZM Proposed Exhibit on Fugo Balloon
2018-Dec 18 WZZM feature on schooner Contest revealed at White River
2017-June 27 WZZM – Fugo Balloon discovered
2016–July 9 KTKK K-TALK AM 630
2016–March The Pledge
2015–Nov. 11 WZZM Feature on Armistice Day Storm
2015–Nov. 10 WWMT Feature on Lake Michigan Mysteries
2015–August WWMT Live on the beach South Haven, Michigan
2015–November PLEDGE RADIO Zeeland Michigan – Armistice Day Storm
2015–July 2 WZZM Grand Rapids Brent Ashcroft: Flight 2501 grave Found
2015–March 12 WZZM Divers Solve Mystery of William B. Davock
2015 March 10 The Pledge Radio
2014–June 24 KSTP Minneapolis Tom Hauser: Flight 2501
2014–June 27 WKAR Current State Peter Wholfe: Flight 2501
2014–March 30 CNN Atlanta – Flight 2501
2014–March 25 FOX News Indiana- Flight 2501
2014–July 24 WZZM Grand Rapids Brent Ashcroft: Flight 2501 grave Found
2014–March 12 WZZM Divers Solve Mystery of William B. Davock
2014–June 24 KSTP Minneapolis Tom Hauser: Flight 2501
2014–June 27 WKAR Current State Peter Wholfe: Flight 2501
2014–March 30 CNN Atlanta – Flight
2014–March 25 FOX News Indiana- Flight 2501
2014–March 24 WDIV Detroit Roger Webber – Flight 2501
2014–March 22 Al Jezeera Network – Flight 2501
2014–March 20 FOX News: Flight 2501
2014–March 21 WHBY Appleton Newstalk 1150: Flight 2501
2014–March 19 WPNW Holland: Flight 2501
2014–March 18 Lakeshore Public Radio Steve Walsh PBS: Flight 2501
2014–March 18 WTCM Newstalk 580 Traverse City Ron Jolly: Flight 2501
2014–March 17 WDEO Ann Arbor Ava Maria Radio with Steve Clark: Flight 2501
2014–March 17 Newstalk 1010 Toronto with Jerry Agar: Flight 2501
2014–March 15 KARE 11 Minneapolis: Flight 2501
2014–March 15 CNN National News: Flight 2501
2014–March 14 WGN Radio 720 am Chicago Talk Radio: Flight 2501
2014–14-Mar-14 Fox Philly 9 Minneapolis: Finding a Flight
2014–March 10 Milwaukee Journal Meg Jones: Apperance at Ghostships
2013–June 20 Michigan Radio Stateside with Cynthia Canty: Flight 2501
2013–Spring Diver Down Blogspot
2013–June 13 WZZM Take 5 with Catherine Behrendt-Book Fatal Crossing
2013–June 13 WWMT Saturday Morning News: New Book Fatal Crossing
2013–June 19 Michigan’s Big Show Michael Patrick Stewart: Flight 2501
2013–March 13 WZZM 13: Exposed Grand Haven Wreck LL Barth
2013–Dec. 13 FOX NewS Chicago: Exposed Shipwrecks Low Lake Water Levels
2013–Dec. 3 WZZM 13 Brent Ashcroft: Exposed Grand Haven Shipwrecks
2012–May 12 WZZM 13 Brent Ascroft: Northwest Flight 2501
2012–April WWMT: Discovery of a deep schooner
2012–April WOOD TV 8: Discovery of a deep schooner
2010–April FOX News: Two Schooners Found
2009–Sept. 20 FOX TV News: Griffon Court Case
2008–Sept. 18 NPR: Flight 2501 Mass grave found
2008–Sept.16 Michigan Public Radio Charity Nebbe: Flight 2501 grave found
2008–Sept. 12 WGVU Radio David Moore: Flight 2501 mass grave found
2008–April 8 WZZM Take 5 Stepahnie Webb: New Book Icebound
2008–March 19 WZZM Take Five: Icebound Book and Program
2008–March 19 WGVU/ NPR Radio Interview Shelly Irvine: Icebound Book
2008–Feb. 21 Radio Interview Minneapolis: Icebound Book and Program
2007–May WWMT Kalamazoo: Search for Northwest Flight 2501
2006–May WWMT Kalamazoo: Search for Northwest Flight 2501
2006–July WWMT Kalamazoo: Hennepin, Barge, Schooner Discoveries
2006–July WZZM Grand Rapids: Hennepin, Barge, Schooner Discoveries
2006–March 16 WZZM Grand Rapids. Real Life/Real People: Woman Diver of Fame
2005–July WWMT Kalamazoo: Michigan and Ann Arbor Discoveries
2005–May 7 WXMI Fox with Dan Krauth: Flight 2501 Search
2005–May WOOD Grand Rapids with Jam Sardar: Flight 2501
2005–May WZZM Grand Rapids with Linda Paige: Flight 2501 Search
2005–May WWMT with Leslie Randall: Flight 2501 Search
2002–June WOOD Grand Rapids with Mia Shay: Akeley Discovery
2002–June WZZM Grand Rapids with Chris Tye: Akeley Discovery
2001–September WWMT Kalamazoo with Kelsey Carlson: Shipwreck Discovery
1998–July WWMT Kalamazoo with Kelsey Carlson: Chicora Search
1993–Summer CBS News Chicago with Bill Curtis: Under Lake Michigan
1990–Summer WFLD TV Fox Chicago: Wells Burt Theft
1989-Summer WMAQ Chicago with Jackie Bang: Wells Burt
