Wings Up and on air: How FGCU shaped WGCU’s newest journalist
- Laurie Dionne Babcock
- Student success
- Contributors: James Greco, Photos
7 – minute read
When Samuel Brucker talks about the power of public media, he leads with a cat.
On a day off from working part time at WGCU Public Media on the Florida Gulf Coast University campus, he had visited a veterinary clinic with his cat, Keeper Cronkite. The name is a nod to the broadcast journalist Brucker admires most — legendary news anchor Walter Cronkite.
A technician stopped him at the clinic’s door.
“She said, ‘Are you Samuel Brucker? Oh my gosh, I listen to you on NPR every weekend. You sound like one of my favorite anchors up north,’” Brucker says. “That’s when I realized that’s what sets us aside from everybody else.”
That “aha” moment captured the essence of public media — familiarity and trust — for Brucker, who graduated from FGCU this spring while also working as a multimedia journalist and weekend radio host at WGCU.
“NPR and PBS have this family culture,” he says. “We’re all in it together. We want to tell stories. We go above and beyond, not only with our story content, but with our personality and our care about our employees, our consumers and our sources.”
Since joining WGCU as an intern in February 2025, Brucker has published more than two dozen stories, covering everything from local government and the economy to environmental resilience and human‑interest features across a 12‑county region. He graduated with a bachelor’s degree in journalism and a minor in political science — and a full-time position at WGCU.
From the stars to stories
Southwest Florida’s newest public media journalist was shaped primarily at FGCU. But Brucker’s career path actually started with a different destination.
At Oasis High School in Cape Coral, he was a standout student in the Cambridge Advanced International Certificate of Education program and dual enrollment, with plans that reached far beyond Earth.
“I was a math guru, and I had my heart set on the stars, on astrophysics,” he says.
Then global events intervened. Russia’s invasion of Ukraine in 2022, followed by Hamas-led attacks on Israel the next year, changed his view of the world and his purpose in it.
“I was sitting in my Global Perspectives class, and I said, ‘We really need to get our stuff figured out down here before we can think about even going up there,’” he says, referring to astrophysics. “That’s when journalism knocked on my door, and I let it in.”
Learning the craft, live on air
Before 2024, Brucker had never written a word of journalism. News Literacy with instructor Glenn Miller was his first journalism class at FGCU. The course examines journalism’s role in society and how news is reviewed for relevancy and disseminated to the public.
A recipient of the Press Club of Southwest Florida Journalism Scholarship, Brucker credits FGCU’s smaller classes and close relationships with faculty for helping him overcome lifelong anxiety, especially when he sat at a microphone.
“Being live on air? It’s a lot harder than you think. You have to read fluently, know when to breathe, cue tracks, build newscasts, put them onto the website, all while looking for other news stories.”
Brucker ranks among WGCU’s best in a long line of interns, says Michael Braun, managing editor for news and digital news director. Braun has worked in journalism for nearly five decades in roles ranging from reporter to editor and chief of the design desk. He says Brucker showed an early willingness to learn the intricacies of radio and TV broadcast.
“Adding to that is his enthusiasm, quickness at conceiving how to work in radio, both on the news-gathering side and the host side, and his eagerness to learn more about the business,” Braun says.
It’s rare for students to move so quickly from intern to full-time contributor, Braun says, but Brucker stood out for his readiness and consistency — traits that made the decision to hire him an easy one.
“WGCU gives those with the willingness to learn, the dedication to make mistakes and keep coming back, and the talent to handle the sometimes-daily news grind, the chance to find themselves in the medium and the journalism profession,” he says.
The importance of local news coverage
Brucker’s admiration for public media is rooted in trust and its mission as an independent watchdog with the ability to influence public opinion and hold people in power accountable.
“I really have hope that it can come back to where it was with Cronkite, where everybody tuned in and didn’t question the authenticity of the content and used it in their decision-making,” he says.
Widely known as “the most trusted man in America,” Cronkite became synonymous with authoritative broadcast journalism as the “CBS Evening News” anchor from 1962 to 1981; he died in 2009.
Brucker aims to continue that legacy. As a local journalist, he sees community reporting as foundational.
“While national and state news is important, I would argue local is the most important,” he says. “If you’re not informed locally, how can you elect local officials to represent you? It all starts down at our level.”
‘Our Florida grit’
Brucker is particularly drawn to environmental reporting, shaped by his experience living through Hurricane Ian in 2022.
“I remember sitting on the floor in the closet with my parents and my dog, praying. People’s lives were just literally washed away. I want people to know how important resiliency is in maintaining our foundation, our Florida grit. We always seem to bounce back.”
One of his most meaningful WGCU stories followed a charter‑boat captain at a marina that suffered catastrophic damage during the storm. It prompted him to look deeper into the environmental impact of Ian and the role mangroves play in protecting coastlines.
“When I’m in my STEM brain and able to both occupy myself and better my community at the same time, it’s the perfect package.”
Looking ahead
As a full-time staff member, Brucker’s role at WGCU continues to evolve, combining on‑air hosting, reporting and marketing consultation. His dream, however, reaches far beyond Southwest Florida.
“In a perfect world, we wouldn’t have war,” he says. “But in my perfect world, I’d be a combat correspondent. I would go overseas to Gaza, to Ukraine, Kyiv. I would be boots on the ground, a correspondent in the thick of it.”
For now, Brucker focuses on telling stories where he is and, he hopes, earning trust one broadcast at a time.
“I don’t count my chickens,” he says. “But I feel like I’m on the right track.”
