C.J.: Jason Matheson shops for next TV station that'll become home

During the summer Jason Matheson could talk only to KSTP about his next TV job because Channel 5 had the first right of refusal in the bidding war for his talents.

Summer is over, and now Matheson's in conversations with absolutely everybody. And by everybody I mean I'm hearing that there have been casual overtures about him possibly returning to Fox 9, the place Matheson called home for 13 years.

As you'll remember, Matheson left Fox 9 earlier this year when he and the station could not come to terms on a new contract. He was co-anchor of the Fox 9 early morning news show, co-host of "The Buzz" and anchor of "Weekend Buzz," the entertainment show.

Matheson's been sitting out his television noncompete over at MyTalk FM107.1, where he co-hosts a morning drive radio show with Alexis Thompson. FM107.1 is owned by Hubbard Broadcasting, which also owns KSTP.

My information is that despite talking with various stations, Matheson's heart may be at WCCO-TV. He would consider that going home since he started his TV career there in 1997 as a dispatcher.

He remains a close friend of WCCO-TV anchors Frank Vascellaro and Amelia Santaniello. Matheson calls her his "Big Sister."

The welcome mat seems to be getting rolled out to Matheson by WCCO staffers. Staffers who don't do the ­hiring, it should be noted.

"@jasonmatheson always room at the big 4! @ninamoini sits next to me now …" tweeted @DeRushaJ in response.

It would be fun to see those Jason egos in the same newsroom, although maybe not quite as much amusement as I think. I'm hearing that ­DeRusha has made the transition to the relative big time of mornings very nicely. ­DeRusha is not the pain in the butt his colleagues feared he might become, although the same ­cannot be said of others on that recently revamped show.

Back to Matheson. I don't suspect he wants to be on WCCO's early morning TV show. He's likely to continue his 5-9 a.m. radio shift, so there'd have to be something else in the works.

My boys on ESPN's "Pardon the Interuption" speculate that Kris Humphries may see $500,000 from auctioning off the engagement ring he gave to Kim Kardashian to wear ­during her made-for-TV marriage.

"It's a great move" to auction the ring, Tony Kornheiser said. "You make big money right away, because now there's more of a celebrity factor."

The approximately 2 carat ring was allegedly worth $2 million. The $500,000 figure tells you something about how jewelry gets marked up in value.

You won't hear Humphries' name when the ring is auctioned off in October; he's being identified as an anonymous gentleman. He's giving the proceeds from the ring to charity, I hear.

And I'm going to have a few words for Us Weekly next time they call me wanting something. Us Weekly is giving RumorFix.com credit for first reporting the story. Not true. I broke that story two days before RumorFix, while I was supposed to be on vacation.

I messed up again. Since being at the Olson ad agency to interview Soledad O'Brien at the North by Midwest conference, I'd been meaning to drop the agency's founder, John Olson, a note.

Just wanted to tell him the place was not the same to me without him being around. I didn't get that note in the mail, and Olson died while I was on vacation.

John was a great guy, an advertising world giant and a terrific spirit. Most of us have spirits that probably will be enhanced by death. John's spirit, however, reached full enhancement on Earth.

Right about now he'd want me to tell you about Olsonville.org, where you can read about the album he made in the final year of his life.

C.J. can be reached at cj@startribune.com and seen on Fox 9's "Buzz." E-mailers, please state a subject; "Hello" does not count. Attachments are not opened.