Rick Brewer
News DirectorRick Brewer has been news director at WCMU since February 2024.
Before leading the newsroom, Brewer was WCMU's general assignment reporter covering central and northern Michigan.
Before landing in Mount Pleasant, he was a producer for Iowa Public Radio’s two daily talk shows, Talk of Iowa and River to River, where he produced hundreds of interviews with guests ranging from hog farmers to presidential candidates for the 2020 Iowa caucuses.
His work has been featured on NPR, Harvest Public Media, Here & Now, WFIU, WFYI and Northeast Public Radio.
Brewer fell in love with radio and podcasts in graduate school at Indiana University in Bloomington after attending Denison University.
Send your story ideas to rick.brewer@cmich.edu
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In partnership with Central Michigan University’s College of Liberal Arts and Social Sciences, WCMU's “The Sanford Voices Project” documents the personal histories of those affected by the disaster, and how they recovered. -
Five years after historic rainfall destroyed the Forest Lake spillway, the community is on the verge of getting their lake back after cobbling together a series of grants. -
Employees at the Delfield manufacturing plant in Mount Pleasant took to the streets Wednesday morning in protest of the company locking its doors after a third tentative contract agreement with the local United Steel Workers Union fell through. -
Weeks before the ice storm pummeled Alpena and Montmorency counties in late March, local officials were discussing sharing an emergency manager. Now, it's uncertain if the proposal will go into effect. -
Some people across northern Michigan were without power for 18 days following a historic ice storm that blasted through the region in late March. In recent days, workers have repaired or replaced hundreds of utility poles in remote areas of Michigan wilderness to bring people back online. -
Northern Michigan utility companies say power will not be restored in some areas impacted by last week's ice storm for the next four to five days. -
U.S. Rep. John Moolenaar (R-Caledonia), who represents Michigan's 2nd Congressional District, will host a virtual town hall this Thursday at 2 p.m. -
Roughly 200 people packed into a room at the Isabella County Commission on Aging on March 21 to show their frustration with Michigan's 2nd Congressional District Representative John Moolenaar and President Donald Trump's administration. Despite Moolenaar not attending, several speakers still spoke out against the representative. -
Central Michigan University students have played a vital role in helping WCMU report news on central and northern Michigan for years. Student Press Freedom Day is a national celebration for their contributions and raise awareness about the challenges they face. -
The U.S. Coast Guard estimates between 10,000 - 13,000 gallons of mineral oil were discharged from an electrical transformer that caught fire Monday afternoon and spread to a power plant outside of Bay City. It's unclear if mineral oil landed in the nearby Saginaw River.
