For the past two weeks, WDET Creative Producer Sam Beaubien has graciously stepped up as the fill-in host on Visions after Kaleigh Wilder announced she’ll be stepping away to attend to some personal health matters. (See her full statement here.)

We at WDET fully support Kaleigh and are committed to keeping her program rolling and ready for her eventual return. To that end, we have some exciting news about who will be standing in as temporary host going forward.

A familiar name to many WDET listeners, W. Kim Heron previously hosted the show Destination Out on Sunday nights during the 1990s and early aughts, going on later to host The Kim Heron Program, celebrating the vanguard tradition in jazz from Louis Armstrong to John Zorn.

He has been a newspaper editor, copy editor, writer and photographer for Detroit Metro Times, Detroit Sunday Journal, Detroit Free Press and Lansing State Journal; was inducted into the Michigan Journalism Hall of Fame; was a TV co-host on the former “Backstage Pass” on what is now Detroit PBS; and was named a Detroit Jazz Hero by the Jazz Journalists Association in 2017.

We’re excited to welcome him back into the WDET fold, and we think you’re going to love what he brings to the airwaves each Monday night.

“I’ve been a big fan of Kaleigh’s Visions show since its debut,” Heron said. “It’s an honor to be invited to keep her seat warm and her audience engaged until she returns.”

Heron’s first show will be on Monday, Dec. 23.

Tune in to Visions every Monday from 8-10 p.m. ET on Detroit Public Radio 101.9 WDET.