Everyone has a Bill Bonds story. If you knew him well, were only in a room with him once or just watched him on TV, you had a comment to make about Detroit’s most talked about anchorman/reporter. His passing of a heart attack at 82 brings to a close a remarkable and fascinating career.
Billy, as we affectionately called him, was a friend, a mentor and a former Channel 7 colleague. He was also a superb journalist, one who never shied away from asking tough questions or controversy. He was curious about everything and he deemed it his job to probe his interviewees. Bill Bonds could be hard-hitting, skillfully inquisitive or incredibly gentle with those he interviewed. And often, just like a champion race car driver, he would shift gears between his interview styles in a flash of a second.
Off and on, over several years, I was fortunate to work with Billy. We traveled to New York in 1992 to cover the Democratic National Convention where then Governor Bill Clinton was first nominated by the Democratic National Party to run for U.S. president. We also went to Houston that same year to cover the Republican National Convention where President George H.W. Bush was nominated by his party for the last time.
Billy and former Channel 7 political reporter Jim Herrington loved politics. They respected and trusted each other’s journalistic experience and insight into how Lansing and Washington, D.C. worked, or sometimes, didn’t work. Billy and Jim would ask presidents, governors and mayors what the average person at home would want to know. And when they worked together on special editions of “Spotlight on the News,” they fit together like hand and glove. As show producer, I watched it numerous times.
But none sticks out in my mind more than the two times Bonds and Herrington teamed up to moderate Channel 7 town meetings with candidate Bill Clinton and then subsequently, President Bill Clinton.
When Herrington retired and I took over the added responsibility of moderating “Spotlight,” Billy and I had a ball moderating the “Big Four” Southeastern Michigan political leaders at the Detroit Regional Chamber’s annual Mackinac Policy Conference. Bonds also joined me on special debates in the WXYZ Broadcast House studios. Having Billy by your side was a good backup.
But, of course, the work assignment with Billy that I cherish the most was our 1990 worldwind trip to South Africa shortly after freedom fighter Nelson Mandela was released from prison on Robben Island.
Along with retired Channel 7 videographer Ronnie Little, we were told to bring back enough material to make a 10-part Action News series and a 30- minute prime time documentary.
We pulled it off without our comepetiors in town knowing we were halfway across the world getting WXYZ and Detroit ready for Mr. Mandela’s upcoming visit to the Motor City.
It was an incredible experience for all of us. We interviewed South African Blacks and Whites from many different backgrounds, those in favor of apartheid and those bitterly against it. After getting frisked by security guards in a Johannesburg shopping mall and talking to children in Soweto, Billy came away with a new appreciation of what the struggle for freedom was all about.
Yes, there was the serious hardworking side of Bonds, but what many viewers never got to experience was his wonderful sense of humor and appreciation for his colleagues. I remember shortly after we landed in Johannesburg, we were riding to the hotel and Billy turned to me and said, “Charlie, what kind of hotel are we staying in? I hope it’s a 5-star place.”
I assured Billy it was. He thought a second, then winked his eye at Ronnie and me and said with a big smile on his face, “Gentlemen, we’re going to have a great trip!”
And we did. We worked from sun up to sun down. And from that day forward, Ronnie and I affectionately called our anchorman “5-star Billy.”
Bill Bonds – whether you liked him or disliked him – will always be remembered as a 5-star broadcaster who practiced his profession with passion and an unrelenting pursuit for the truth. He gave Channel 7 an identity that will probably last forever.
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