Rick Brewer
News DirectorRick Brewer is the news director at WCMU Public Radio, where he has led the newsroom since February 2024.
Under his leadership, WCMU’s news team consistently delivers high-quality local journalism for communities across central and northern Michigan and regularly contribute stories to the Michigan Public Radio Network, Harvest Public Media, the Northern Michigan Journalism Project and NPR. The work on his team has also been recognized with a regional Edward R. Murrow Award from the Radio, Television and Digital News Association.
Prior to becoming news director, Brewer served as WCMU’s general assignment reporter, covering a diverse range of beats including breaking news, local politics, agriculture, the Great Lakes commercial fishing industry, Camp Grayling and more.
Brewer also leads the Michigan News Group Internship Program, which pairs students from Central Michigan University with partner newsrooms across the region, including Bridge Michigan, The Alpena News, and The Traverse City Record-Eagle. These student reporters contribute to a wide array of platforms—from WCMU’s radio broadcasts, newspapers to digital outlets and social media.
Before coming to Mount Pleasant, Brewer was a news producer at Iowa Public Radio, where he helped shape hundreds of interviews for the daily talk shows Talk of Iowa and River to River. While in Iowa Brewer helped organize special coverage of the 2020 Iowa Caucuses, served as a producer on multiple IPR podcasts and covered the first MLB baseball game on Iowa soil at the Field of Dreams movie site in Dyersville. Brewer's work on River to River was recognized with an Eric Sevareid Award from the Midwest Broadcast Journalists Association.
In 2025, Brewer was selected for the Public Media Champions fellowship through the University of Vermont’s Center for Community News. As part of the program, he established the CMU Reporting Project, a collaborative initiative between WCMU, CM-Life, and the students and faculty at Central Michigan University’s School of Communication, Journalism & Media, which helps publish student journalism and fill gaps in the local news ecosystem across the region.
He is an active member of the Public Media Journalists Association. He also sits on the host committee for Press Forward Northern Michigan, a coalition dedicated to strengthening the local news ecosystem in the region.
Brewer holds multiple master’s degrees from Indiana University Bloomington and is an alumnus of Denison University in Granville, Ohio.
📩 Send story ideas to rick.brewer@cmich.edu
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As many as 11 Great Lakes shipping vessels near Sault Ste. Marie have been delayed due to icy conditions since the shipping season got underway Wednesday morning with the opening of the Soo Locks. -
The senior center in the village of Atlanta will be closed for the foreseeable future after heavy amounts of snow accumulated on its roof from last week's blizzard. -
Democrat Chedrick Greene and Republican Jason Tunney both held campaign events in Midland on Wednesday to rally support for a special election on May 5 that will determine if Democrats in the Michigan Senate will be able to maintain their one-seat majority. -
The National Weather Service reports that some areas of the Upper Peninsula received up 4 feet of snow. -
State and local officials across the Upper Peninsula are urging people to stay home and not travel unless necessary as a major winter storm continues to wreck havoc on the region, causing white-out conditions and heavy snow. -
The Mackinac Bridge Authority said they've closed the bridge as a precaution as the winter storm heading towards northern Michigan has created low visibility for motorists. It's unclear when it will reopen. -
The National Weather Service says snow totals up to 4 feet are possible in some areas in the Upper Peninsula. Meanwhile, ice precipitation is possible for the northern Lower Peninsula. -
The vote in the U.S. House of Representatives fell mostly along party lines and failed by a handful of votes, 212-219. -
A case over the tax foreclosure of an Isabella County home in front of the U.S. Supreme Court this week could redefine how property owners are compensated by government bodies after they seize someone's property and resell it. -
In less than 15 minutes, Between the Lakes offers a quick round-up of the top stories impacting communities across central and northern Michigan.
