[msb-alumni] Former Detroit TV Anchor Bill Bonds Dies at 83
- From: Steve <pipeguy920@xxxxxxxxx>
- To: <msb-alumni@xxxxxxxxxxxxx>
- Date: Sun, 14 Dec 2014 13:02:16 -0500
BlankFormer Detroit television anchor Bill Bonds dies at age 83 Bill Bonds,
the legendary Detroit television reporter known for his on-air swagger as
much as his off-camera battles with alcohol that ultimately derailed his
career, died today, according to WXYZ-TV (Channel 7), the station where he
became one of the region's best-known news broadcasters. He was 83. The
station reported that he suffered a heart attack this afternoon. An editor
at the station confirmed the report and said a statement would be
forthcoming. For years, Bonds, along with co-anchor Diana Lewis, dominated
the Detroit television market. Bonds' private life was often as discussed as
his colorful newscasts, as he battled alcoholism, buried a daughter and went
through a divorce. In 1989, he challenged then-Mayor Coleman Young on air to
a boxing match, after which he made his first public admission of his battle
with alcohol. Channel 7 fired Bonds in 1995, months after a drunken driving
arrest. After the arrest, Bonds stayed several months in an Atlanta
treatment facility. As an anchorman at Channel 7 from the mid-1960s until
the mid-1990s, Bonds introduced an element of theater into the nightly
newscast. Depending on the inflection of his voice or the arch of his
eyebrows, he could telegraph any combination of anger, rage or humor to
punctuate a story. "People automatically thought Bonds when they thought
news," said Amyre Makupson, the former Channel 50 anchorwoman. "Whether you
liked him or not, whether you liked his opinions or not, he made news not
boring. It seemed as if nobody was neutral when it came to opinions of
Bonds. But there was no arguing with his numbers: In February, 1977, for
instance, the Arbitron ratings service estimated that 1 of every 5
television households in metro Detroit watched his newscasts. Arbitron
further estimated that he drew more than 40% of the television audience
watching at that hour. Said former Channel 7 general manager Jeanne
Findlater: "He could read the telephone book and make you pay attention. A
native of Detroit's west side, Bonds attended Catholic schools, including
Visitation on Woodward Avenue. Even then, he was known for arguing with
authority figures. "I had a few things to say about the way black kids were
treated," Bonds recalled in an interview. After a tour of duty in the Air
Force and a stint as a student at the University of Detroit, where he
received a BA in political science, Bonds became a radio newsman in the
1950s. Starting out at a radio station in Albion at a wage of $1.50 per
hour, he later worked at metro Detroit radio stations WPON-AM, WOMC-FM and
WKNR-AM. His work at WKNR-AM was particularly noteworthy. Although known
mostly as a teen rock station, WKNR-AM also had one of the best broadcast
news operations in Detroit, with two news broadcasts an hour, 24 hours a
day. He worked a brutal schedule: newscasts every fifteen minutes between
4:45 a.m. and 9 a.m., after which he would pack a tape recorder and spend
the rest of the day covering Detroit city government. The late Free Press
publisher Neal Shine once recalled Bonds as hardworking, aggressive and
driven. "He ran scared. Terror is a great prod," Shine once said. "Radio was
such a lost cause for news, but everybody knew how good he (Bonds) was, and
how hard he worked. He never let up. Bonds was convinced that he could make
the leap from radio to the more glamorous new medium of television. He
auditioned at Channels 2 and 4, but was rejected. He was also rejected at
WJR-AM, the most prestigious news operation in town. "I was told my voice
wasn't big league-enough," he remembered.. It was an act of God that finally
got Bonds into the television business. A tornado hit Anchor Bay during the
spring of 1964, leaving about 600 residents homeless and demolishing more
than 50 homes. Bonds found that he could not send his reports back to the
WKNR-AM newsroom via regular telephone lines, which were down. Instead,
Bonds climbed to the top of a telephone pole and in search of ways to
transmit his stories. The reports were broadcast around the country, and
earned a call from then-Channel 7 general manager John Pival, who told Bonds
that the Anchor Bay reporting was some of the best he had heard in years and
he hired Bonds. After working as a street reporter, Bonds replaced longtime
newsman Leon McNew as the station's lead anchorman. Bonds earned a
nationwide reputation shortly thereafter for his coverage of the 1967
Detroit riot. Bonds' performance earned him a job at KABC-TV, the ABC-owned
television station in Los Angeles, where he enjoyed only modest success. He
returned to Detroit about three years later, and established himself as
Detroit's most talked-about newsman?and stayed put, with the exception of a
year in 1975-76 at New York's WABC-TV. Colleagues attribute Bonds' success
to his passion. Bonds, they say, was the opposite of the "rip-and-read"
newsman. He read voraciously, brooding obsessively about current events. He
read at least two newspapers cover-to-cover by 10 a.m., and would watch and
dissect the morning news shows. And then, of course, there was the drinking,
which fueled his argumentative nature. His first drunken driving arrest
occurred after a drunken, roadside fistfight with a teenager after a
near-traffic accident. As the drinking became more obvious, some Detroiters
watched his newscast only to judge Bonds' on-air sobriety. Bonds never
reclaimed his popularity after leaving Channel 7. He hosted an 11 p.m. news
interview show on Channel 2 (WJBK) in 1995, but the program was canceled
within a year because of poor ratings. He later hosted a morning interview
show on WXYT-AM, but that, too, did not last long. His drinking again became
a problem. After a series of no-shows, Bonds and the station parted ways. He
did have one more shot on the air: Channel 7 asked Bonds to narrate a
program celebrating the station's 50 th anniversary in 1998. Bonds was hired
after Detroit Mayor Dennis Archer asked Channel 7 general manager Grace
Gilchrist at the station's 50 th anniversary party to give Bonds another
shot. He was, indeed, hired shortly thereafter to comment on the day's news.
He left within a year to work as a spokesman for the Gardner-White furniture
company. Those who knew Bonds say he was capable of incredible kindness and
breathtaking boorishness. For instance, he once buttonholed then Detroit
Mayor Jerome P. Cavanagh at a party that "I could beat your ?ss if I ran.
(Cavanagh replied: "There's nothing stopping you.") On the other hand, he
paid to have former Detroit News columnist Shelby Strother's family flown to
Detroit after Shelby died in 1994. The bill ran into the thousands of
dollars. Bonds did it only after Strother's widow agreed not to tell anybody
who was paying the bill. Bonds last appeared publicly at the local Detroit
Emmy awards in June. He appeared thin and haggard. But still, to the very
end -- even when he had difficulty getting around -- he wanted back in the
business. "God, I miss it," he said, in an interview for a Detroit Public
Television documentary about local television. Former Channel 7 general
manager Jeanne Findlater said managing Bonds was a "nonstop job?It was as
frustrating an experience as I ever had. It was, in equal measure, a
rewarding experience. In the end, all of the factors ? the dramatic flair,
the passion, the unpredictability -- drew an audience. "You have to give
people a reason to watch, and he did that," said Makupson. "He made news
exciting.
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