Alix Kendall, a fascinating case study

How long have we known you, Alix Kendall?

Here’s what I remember about Alix, accurate or not: She started on the new Fox9 morning news/chatfest when it launched more than a decade ago. Eventually she added the couch chat hour to her morning news recaps. She started on a show called “Good Day (Good Grief) Minnesota,” a show that simply came to be known as the Fox9 Morning Disaster, or something like that. She once accidentally referred to the show, during its initial incarnation, as Good Morning America, and then gasped as she realized her gaffe. (Did I imagine this?)

At one point she got married, had a child and got divorced.

I remember her fiancée being trotted out onto the set prior to her marriage. I think the dude picked her up during this awkward moment in local broadcasting.

Her daughter made an on-screen cameo at last once. I remember she was sitting on the couch next to Jason Matheson, and she seemed annoyed to be there.

You learn a few things about local “celebrities” if they hang around long enough.

Among the nuggets: Alix lives somewhere in Minneapolis, I’m certain, based on anecdotes about her life. Perhaps she said so in so many words.

She’s over 50 years old. She doesn’t trumpet her age, but she doesn’t hide it. I think I gleaned this nugget via Facebook. I’m not connected to Alix, but she didn’t hide her age.

All it takes is a little online searching of her name and you’ll learn a few other nuggets about her. The most bizarre, bar none, is that there is/was a blog named after her. It’s a blog dedicated to news anchors and reporters wearing boots. The curator of these screen shots/pics of broadcast news professionals is amusing, and creepy.

Alix is not her real name. (I’m shocked!)

She is suing government agencies for more than $75,000.

She’s a local gal, I think.

So what does all this mean?

Alix does a good job doing what she does and avoids being a nauseating “celebrity.”

I don’t hold anchors in high regard. It’s a talent to anchor a broadcast, no doubt, and you have to be able to think on your feet. You can’t be an uninformed idiot, either, but anchors have it cushy in comparison to reporters. Anchors are typically compensated to be the face of a newscast or station, and therefore you rarely see them doing any of the legwork. That’s not to say they don’t, but you don’t see it. Typically anchors cut their teeth as reporters, but the anchor's chair is an overrated gig, and a good gig, if you can get it.

Alix isn’t flawless as an anchor, nobody will mistake her for Today Show talent, but she has been a solid presence for more than a decade.

Years ago the local affiliate added couch chat to its morning news, an hour dedicated to opinions and commentary by the on-air staff, because we all really want to know what Alix and the gang think about the news of the day and other water cooler topics. I have no idea if Alix volunteered for the gig or was told it was part of her job. It’s harmless, but the idea that our local talking heads from all the local affiliates are so precious and special that we should care what they think about the hot topics of the day is a bit nauseating. Unfortunately it’s the world we live in.

I may not care to know what Alix thinks about the news of the weird, but once again she handles the job without being annoying or pompous. God bless her for that.

I don’t envy women in broadcasting, now more than ever. There are enough weirdos out there that you can’t assume you’re safe from all of them when you anchor a morning newscast. You know that’s part of the deal when you choose the career path, and it has been for decades. Nowadays, however, you’re not only subject to scrutiny from anonymous blogs like this one, you’ll inevitably end up being critiqued like a piece of meat from the anonymous depths of the Internet. While it might be flattering to be heralded as an attractive woman when you wear knee-high boots during a morning newscast, it can’t be pleasant to know perverts are salivating over you, even in an industry where image is highly important, especially for women.

I think the thing that rubs me the wrong way regarding Alix is that she’s suing government agencies for a nice payday. I’m not saying she shouldn’t be compensated, but Alix and others in the media are ready to pocket cash for violations of their privacy by government officials with access to driver’s license data. I’m not convinced they deserve a fat settlement.

I won’t break down the current data privacy issue being debated here in Minnesota, but here’s what I can say in brief: Public officials shouldn’t be using the driver’s license registry to look up personal information about public figures. Compensating victims of that privacy violation shouldn’t be automatic, especially for those who choose careers in broadcasting. It’s creepy, sure, but being a public figure who trades on his/her public image shouldn’t be surprised when they become the subject of public fascination.

That doesn’t make it right for public officials to look up an anchor or reporter’s home address, but is it that traumatizing? Perhaps so if your data has been accessed for years, hundreds of times. But isn’t it  as traumatizing to know that somebody is fixating on you as an anchor when you wear boots to work? I can’t say which is more traumatizing, but I have a definite opinion.

So a boots blog isn’t an invasion of privacy. Fine. What does suing government agencies accomplish. I think it has been made clear through scrutiny of the practice, and settlements paid for such invasions, that driver’s license data is not a de facto Facebook for cops and other public officials. Is Alix’s lawsuit for $75,000+ (according to the Pioneer Press) aimed at punishing those who abused their access to driver’s license data? Or is it punishing the taxpayers that support those agencies?

How does $75,000+ alleviate the trauma caused by the privacy violations? How is it that $5,000 isn’t enough? The settlement isn’t about alleviating Alix’s trauma, it’s about punishing agencies responsible for the violations, punishing them to the point it hurts. I get that.

But I can’t get past the fact that there seems to be a bit of a cash grab at play. I understand the temptation. I could rationalize doing the same thing if I were in that situation.

It’s hard to make a judgment about Alix’s motivations without knowing the salient details. Perhaps cops were routinely driving by her home for years, hoping to get a glimpse of her washing her car in a bikini. But what if she had no idea she has been “checked out” repeatedly by public officials. Why does finding out you’ve been checked out 30 or 3,000 times suddenly freak you out when you didn’t know it was happening. It’s gross, for sure. Is it so traumatic that it takes $75,000 or more to alleviate the trauma?

I don’t mean to pick on Alix. She’s not the only news anchorette looking to cash in on this government windfall. But her case is recent, and prominent. It gives me reason to think twice about who these people are, why we hold them in such high esteem and what they give up in order to do their jobs.

Thanks Alix, you’ve remained true to the Minnesota roots I want to believe you have.

Jason Matheson must have a drug addiction

As Jeff Dubay's broadcasting career ended with a spectacular thud last month, another bastion of Twin Cities broadcasting perseverance made a splash too. Just not as big of a splash. And that's the way it should be.

Jason Matheson, a local entertainment guru, is returning to local television at Ch. 4, where Don Shelby once famously proclaimed in a commercial, "We all really like each other," or something close to that.

I've seen Matheson now and again over the years, and as best I know, he worked in some capacity, perhaps as an intern, for Ch. 4 prior to his long tenure at Ch. 9, our local Fox affiliate.

Years ago he was known as Buzz Boy, a doughy, young looking, enthusiastic entertainment reporter. Over the years he grew up to be a fixture for Fox9. He did his "Buzz Boy" weekly entertainment show, participated in the cheesy coffee talk hour the station created in lieu of another nationally fed male-female gab fest to follow the hard hitting news of the 8 a.m. hour and anchored a little news in the wee hours of the morning before the stars of the morning news took over the anchor desk.

And somewhere along the way he added chick talk radio co-hosting to his resume. After a long morning in Eden Prairie he drove to the Hubbard compound in St. Paul for girl talk. Sorry Jason, I haven't listened to more than 15 minutes of your radio career, so for all I know you could have been talking politics all day.

The dude wasn't building houses, but he was putting in long hours five days a week. As we're seeing here in the Twin Cities, radio, TV and newspaper gurus are double dipping whenever they can. Again, a topic for another night.

Matheson left Fox9 a little over a year ago, unable to get paid what he so richly deserved for wearing multiple hats on a daily basis. That coincided with his move to morning drive radio.

For a year he has sat on the television sidelines, presumably because of a non-compete clause in that fat contract from Fox9, and talked the talk on the FM dial. A little over a year later and we get the big news that Matheson is taking his talents to downtown Minneapolis.

I was mildly surprised.

Our little afternoon male-female gab fest on the Hubbard TV station was in need of a new male anchor last spring. The era of the housewife may be a novelty of the past, but the show is geared toward a female audience, now more than ever. When "Twin Cities Live" lost its testosterone in John Hanson around the same time as Matheson was readying to leave Fox9, Twin Cities Live gave up any pretense that the show was for a mixed audience. Yes, men enjoy "food, fashion and fun," or however they bill it, but it's clearly a show geared toward women, and perhaps gay men.

Because of that non-compete, I suppose, Matheson was unable to take the male reigns of TCL last spring. So KSTP poached one of its news guys to fill that void. That guy, who is so forgettable I've practically forgotten his name, conveniently left the show less than a year later to take a seat at the morning news desk. It was as if Chris Egert (see, I remember,) was filling the seat on a temporary basis until Matheson could legally fill it. And given that Matheson was already drawing his paycheck from the Hubbard empire doing morning drive on chick talk radio, it seemed like an almost perfect marriage. Even gossip maven Cheryl Johnson thought so when Matheson was preparing to leave Fox9.

And then Matheson sold his soul to his original Twin Cities mistress, Ch. 4.

I was mildly surprised, but not completely. Had he taken the male throne of TCL, it would have meant starting work before sunrise and sticking around until 4 p.m. daily. For the right money, I'm sure he'd have said yes. But he was pretty much stuck in morning drive on the radio, as TCL's cheerleader, Elizabeth Ries, is already double dipping at Hubbard, filling the morning slot after Matheson.

So Matheson is off to Ch. 4 and TCL is still looking for a man that loves food, fashion and fun.

The gossip maven claimed that multiple stations were clamoring for Matheson's talents. I'm not sure why he's such a hot commodity, but clearly he is.

There's value in familiarity, so Matheson has that going for him. And while his love of entertainment and coffee talk are not my cup of tea, there's a need for that in local television. Our country has never been more obsessed with celebrities and the millions of non-celebrities that are vying for 15 minutes, and if you want to draw viewers to your station's local news programming, you'd better be able to shill for the network's entertainment offerings. Death, taxes, gun control, those are news topics to some. For others, you'd better talk about American Idol, a Kardashian sister or Lady Gaga's current concert tour.

And there's Matheson to cash in on it.

Who knows, perhaps they'll actually have him do news reports on non-celebrity topics, but I'm guessing that a station that employs Heather Brown to go out and ask people for a "good question" on a nightly basis isn't a station that is hiring Matheson for his coverage of Hennepin County District Court proceedings.

We will soon find out.

I'm not a fan of Matheson. I'm not that interested in pop culture topics, or the opinions of TV reporters, anchors and/or meteorologists when it comes to current events and pop culture.

Despite that, I find it hard to dislike the guy. Like his good friend Jeff Dubay, Matheson has worked hard to build a career in broadcasting covering topics that he seems to love. Unlike Dubay, Matheson hasn't derailed his career or lashed out against the online negativity that lurks in dark, and no-so-dark, corners of the Internet, as far as I know.

I'm not his target audience, but obviously I've seen his stuff more than a few times on Fox9. He went from a doughy, slightly awkward entertainment reporter to a polished broadcasting professional. I may not enjoy his work, but I admire the hell out of his work ethic and professionalism.

And about that professionalism. I think if there's anything I can criticize him for, he has been professional to a fault.

Did I mention Matheson is gay? I don't know where I first heard mention of it, but it probably wasn't by Matheson. Unlike some local "celebrities," (talk show hosts, anchors and reporters are not celebrities,) Matheson doesn't need to appear on the cover of our local gay periodical three times a year, as far as I know. I don't think he hides the fact that he is gay, but just like his non-gay counterparts who don't need to vomit tidbits about their personal life, Matheson avoids it too, as best as I can tell.

Years ago a KSTP reporter and fill-in anchor use to drop harmless little references to the fact he was Jewish. I don't care what religion an anchor or reporter is. Likewise, I really don't care if a reporter or meteorologist is gay. Yet it use to bug me that when the coffee talk hour would feature stories about gay issues, Matheson seemed to be going out of his way not to reference his life or his experiences during the dialogue. Yes, I eventually caught him making a reference to his own life, but it seemed to take a long time.

On the one hand, I couldn't care less what religion or sexual orientation a reporter or meteorologist is. On the other hand, if you're going to engage in on-air coffee talk, and share opinions about the topics of the day (because it's important to know what Alix Kendall thinks about current events,) then doesn't it look curious when you don't share personal experiences about news topics that you probably can relate to during your life?

I can argue that he was too professional while sitting on the Fox9 couch, but there's no rule that says he has to cut open a vein when giving an opinion about current events or pop culture nonsense.

And that's the only thing I can find to criticize him for.

I've never met the man, I never will. I don't listen to him on the radio, and I'm not going to start. I likely won't be fascinated by the topics he covers for Ch. 4, but I'll get a chance to see his work occasionally, and I'll probably watch it.

He's good at what he does. Very good. Plenty of public figures on radio and TV in the Twin Cities rub me the wrong way. But Matheson isn't one of them. There's nothing to dislike about him.

So why must he have a drug addiction? He must be hooked on some sort of stimulant, because there's no way the guy can log that many hours week after week simply on the strength of a good night's sleep. The man might be a machine.

What would Jeff Dubay think?

I don't know Jeff Dubay, I've never met Jeff Dubay and I don't think I know anyone who knows Jeff Dubay.

But I know more than a few things about Jeff Dubay, because he chose a profession that makes him a public figure. (He is not a celebrity, but the word often is used to describe folks who appear on air at a local radio or television station.)

So, what does Jeff Dubay think about a blog that is named after him? I can only guess. Ultimately I don't care, but I couldn't help but wonder.

Thanks to Dubay's one-year tenure at 1500ESPN he had a chance to pimp his morning radio gab fest by talking about the latest sports headlines for a few minutes on the Hubbard-owned KSTC45 morning newscast.

The man chose a career that depends in part on people like you and me to love or hate him. Ultimately he needs us to listen to him, regardless of how we feel about him. And even if thousands of people listened to 1500ESPN strictly because of him, it wasn't enough to keep him employed. We don't know if his dismissal was purely a financial decision or if there was another reason, significant or insignificant, and we never will.

As chronicled previously, Dubay craves the spotlight and all the perks of a pretty cushy job: talking about sports on the radio. Who can blame him? I'd take that gig.

Also detailed previously: Dubay has a short fuse and can be arrogant at times. (Yes, he can be very self-deprecating, but don't kid yourself, there's more than a tinge of arrogance.)

Put the two together and you have the title of a blog featuring copious quantities of Twin Cities commentary and analysis, with a bit of a focus upon those who consider themselves the créme de la créme of the local media.

On the one hand, naming a blog after a Twin Cities broadcaster is an affirmation of his "celebrity" status. Dubay should be pleased with such an honor. It validates his opinion of himself. On the other hand, naimg a blog after one of his biggest personality flaws is something nobody wants to shine a spotlight on. I wouldn't want the warts on my other hand to be memorialized in the title of a blog, so why should Dubay? 

I'm not a celebrity. I don't work in television or radio. I have never made a dime talking about sports on the radio or appeared on the company-owned morning newscast to talk about sports. It doesn't matter who I am. I'm not trying to make a dime off my name or persona.

Dubay's career, however, is based upon his name and persona. Despite that, there is no doubt that Dubay would not be flattered by a blog named in his honor. His thin skin has been exposed numerous times in his post-KFAN career.

And as honest as Dubay wants to pretend he was when it came to owning up to his mistakes as he attempted to resurrect his broadcasting career, there is no doubt he would hate me for providing my  analysis and criticism of his very public career.

There's no doubt about it: Jeff Dubay hates me.