Mike Walcher
Reporter, WGCU NewsMike Walcher knew as early as high school that he wanted to do one thing in his career: to tell people what was happening in their community. He graduated from Northwestern University and Columbia University. He holds a Bachelor's Degree in Journalism from Northwestern, and a Master's in Journalism from Columbia.
He began his career in small-market radio news in Illinois and Iowa, and then moved into TV news at the CBS affiliate in Cedar Rapids, Iowa.
He began covering city and county government there, and worked as weekend anchor. Then he moved to WCCO-TV in Minneapolis-St. Paul. He worked in the Twin Cities market for nearly 21 years as both an anchor and reporter. WCCO was owned by CBS during some of that time. Over the years he won a number of industry awards, including for his time in Israel, covering missile strikes during the first Gulf War in 1991. He also was part of the team at WCCO when the station won a national Emmy award for news coverage of a taboo subject: child sex abuse. That was in the early 1980's.
In 1998 he decided to make a big move, coming to the warm weather of Southwest Florida, and working as a reporter and anchor at WINK-TV in the Fort Myers-Naples-Port Charlotte market. He covered Hurricanes Charley and Wilma for WINK, and also specialized in political and government reporting.
In early 2017 he made another big change: Leaving broadcasting to teach Journalism at Florida Gulf Coast University. He became an instructor for a time, then a visiting professor. Later he started splitting his work hours between teaching and helping the news department at WGCU. In 2024 he joined WGCU as a full-time employee, reporting on radio and TV and writing for the website. He still teaches as an adjunct in Journalism at FGCU, and supervises the news fellows, or editorial interns, at WGCU.
-
A Southwest Florida college student is one of the recipients of the prestigious Diana Award, named for the late Princess Diana. Nineteen-year-old Natasha Agarwal of Estero won the award, along with about 190 other young people world-wide. -
Armor Persons, chair of the Lee County School Board, was defeated by Crystal Johnson in Tuesday's election. Veteran board member Debbie Jordan also won another four-year term. -
The Guadalupe Center in Immokalee is collecting unwrapped toys for a holiday gift shop. And this toy drive has a bit of a twist: Parents get to pick the gifts their child or children really want. -
The Southwest Regional Manufacturers Association said that more than 24,000 people make their living by making products for government agencies and the consumer marketplace. Those jobs exist now in Charlotte, Lee, Collier, Hendry and Glades counties. -
President Trump's appearance in Southwest Florida brought small but vocal groups of protestors to FGCU. -
A new business has opened at Edison Mall in Fort Myers to help smaller enterprises grow. It's called the Business Growth Gallery. -
Lee County leaders have accepted $50 million in federal money to address storm damage and improve resilience at Mike Greenwell Regional Park, where the Lee Civic Center is located.Commissioners want to see revised plans for the park. Demolition of the 48-year-old center is put off, but still remains a possibility. -
Amanda Cochran won a seat on the Lee County Commission in the August Primary, defeating Trish Petrosky. She promises to be transparent and accessible while serving the last two years of the late Mike Greenwell's term. -
One of the most closely-watched local races this election year is for a seat on the Lee County School Board. Incumbent Debbie Jordan is facing off against Tony Beougher to represent District 4 — which includes parts of Fort Myers, North Fort Myers and Cape Coral. -
The property tax rate is set in Collier County for the coming year, but the Conservation Collier program will lose about $5 million to make the numbers work out.
