Rick Westover

Contact Rick Westover:
📧 westo1rr@cmich.edu 📞 989-774-3105

Rick Westover leads WCMU Public Media from a simple point of view: serve the communities of central and northern Michigan with programming that connects, educates and reflects the people who call this region home. Today, he oversees a public media service that reaches half the state via radio, television, and digital platforms, ensuring WCMU remains a trusted source of news, storytelling, and shared experience.

His connection to public media started as a kid watching Sesame Street. What began as a childhood routine eventually turned into a career as he rose through the WCMU Public Radio ranks. To this day, Rick leans into the kindness and empathy he saw from Mr. Rogers who said, “You are special and so is everyone else in this world.”

Rick believes public media works best when it feels both essential and personal. You’ve felt it yourself sitting in the car waiting for the story to finish on All Things Considered, when you see your child making a new connection watching PBS Kids, or when you speak with one of our incredible producers at a community event.

When he’s not thinking about the future of public media, you can usually find him enjoying it. His favorites include Wait Wait… Don’t Tell Me! and Fresh Air on the radio, Antiques Roadshow and Destination Michigan on TV, his latest Masterpiece binge of The Forsyte Saga on WCMU Passport, and podcasts like Pop Culture Happy Hour and Between the Lakes.