KUSI-TV in San Diego is something of a vanishing breed:
It’s an indy.
That means KUSI is an independent television station, the sole property of McKinnon Broadcasting Company (MBC), based in San Diego.
That means no network affiliations, so no programming or news from ABC, NBC or et cetera.
That means there’s lots of airtime to fill with programs like these:
And programs like these:
And lots of time for locally produced news programs.
This post is about the former co-anchors of two of those KUSI news programs, Andrea Maas and Allen Denton:
Mass started at KUSI as a morning anchor in 2004. Denton joined KUSI in 2010. The pair co-anchored the station’s afternoon and evening news broadcast for six years. Denton retired in early 2019, and in May 2019 Maas was informed that MBC would permit her employment contract to expire.
Which is another way of telling Maas…
The backstory:
According to various articles, in 2017, Maas began to suspect Denton was being paid more than she was. A former manager confirmed Maas was making at least $80,000 less a year than her co-anchor, who was earning $240,000 a year.
In April 2018 Maas wrote a letter to management highlighting her 35-year broadcasting career and “more than a dozen Emmy nominations.” Maas said no reason existed that “my compensation should be less than multiple male counterparts at KUSI.”
Shortly after her departure from KUSI in June 2019, Maas sued KUSI’s owner for $10 million, alleging her contract wasn’t renewed because she sought the same salary as her recently retired co-anchor, Allen Denton.
Now the story is back in the news because Maas’ lawsuit trial has begun. She alleges gender and age discrimination, and accuses KUSI-TV of violating California’s Equal Pay Act:
What caught my attention in various articles were the reasons for not renewing Maas’ contract. Here are some of those reasons from depositions, lawyer statements and et cetera:
“The company argued that it treated and paid her fairly, and said that in her last few years at the station Maas was ‘not a good team member or journalist.’”
“Maas’ on-air performance was excellent, but that off camera she was ‘disengaged, difficult, and disinterested.’”
“The company said in filings that Denton had more experience, more awards and worked harder.”
“Maas had less experience, worked fewer hours and was ‘not as dedicated to the news’ as Denton.”
“KUSI was moving toward a fresh news format, with more banter and conversation, and the news director decided ‘she was not right for the role.’ It was a ‘casting decision based on her style.’”
Let’s take a look at that last reason.
It appears that Maas wasn’t up to snuff when it came to the “banter and conversation” that KUSI wanted in its “fresh news format.”
“Banter and conversation.”
If you watch local news, you know what they’re talking about.
It’s when two news anchors stop reading the news from the teleprompter and start chatting like they’re Best Friends Forever. All topics are welcome – their personal opinions, their personal lives, their personal hygiene.
It sounds like this:
Melody: Jack, that story you just did about the double murder in Sanford Park? Have you been to the merry-go-round in Sanford Park? I took my daughter there – right after we moved here!
Jack: Really! Did she enjoy it?
Melody: Oh, she loved it! But then the merry-go-round stopped and she started to cry and she was all, you know, boo-hoo and…
Jack: How old is your daughter?
Melody: She was five then.
Jack: That’s such a cute age.
Melody: Oh, it is. She’s eight now, and – wait… (reaches under the news desk for her phone) …Here are some pictures! Yeah, I know – I’ve got a Mom’s Brag Book on my phone. Oh, here’s my daughter in her soccer uniform!
Jack: Aw, what a sweetie! They grow up so fast, don’t they? It seems like one day my son was learning to walk (Jack starts to tear up) and the next day he was off to college. And speaking of college…
Melody: Yeah, Jack, that awful mass shooting at Michigan State University…
Jack: That’s right! Stay with us, and we’ll have that story and more right after this break.
(The break concludes with a commercial I expect you’ve seen – the bent-carrot-standing-in-for-a-bent-penis/Peyronie’s disease commercial:)
Melody: Ooooh, that Peyronie’s stuff sounds so painful – it gives me the shivers! And I don’t even have a…uh…you know, a…a…ummm…
Jack: And Melody, do you know where Peyronie’s disease got its name? It’s named after French surgeon François Gigot de la Peyronie, who described the condition in 1743!
Melody: Wow, Jack – you seem to know a lot about it!
Jack: I do, Melody. And I’m now sharing with you and (nods toward camera) our viewers – for the first time – that I have Peyronie’s disease, or PD, as it’s also known. I was diagnosed about two years ago, and…
This is why I – and I suspect others – are watching less and less local news:
“Banter and conversation.”
And apparently this is one of the reasons Sandra Maas lost her job as a KUSI news anchor.
She lacks that banter-and-conversation ability that news directors and TV station owners think is so appealing to local news viewers:
“Honey, I wish Melody shown us the pictures of her daughter!”
“Gosh, I love when they do stuff like that!”
“Honey, she almost said ‘penis’ on the air!””
“Gosh, I love when they do stuff like that!”
What the jury will decide in Maas’ lawsuit trial of her banter-and-conversation deficiency – and the other reasons for her being let go – remains to be seen.
And as for me, I’ll stick with these folks:
They don’t have anyone to banter and et cetera with.
I Hate Houseguests 