R.I.P.: Detroit Radio/TV Newsman Bill Bonds

Bill Bonds

Bill Bonds, whose piercing gaze and authoritative baritone ruled the Detroit airwaves for decades, died Saturday, according to his longtime station, WXYZ-TV.

The veteran 7 Action News anchor died Saturday after suffering a heart attack in the afternoon, the station said.

He was 82-years-of-age, according to the Detroit News.

In a statement released on Saturday night, Bonds' family said he was "so much more than the face on TV, the talented anchorman."

"He was a wonderful husband and father who cared deeply about his children and his family. We will miss him greatly," the statement said. "Bill had a great passion for the news business. More than anything, he loved bringing the news to the people of Detroit. He believed we were a better community, if we were a well-informed community. We thank everyone for their thoughts and prayers during this difficult time."

Bonds, who admitted to a drinking problem, was infamous for mixing news and opinion, and antics like challenging former Detroit mayor Coleman A. Young to a fight. He also endured the death of a daughter, and a divorce.

He worked for the ABC affiliate from 1963 to 1968, then returned in 1971. The station terminated Bonds' multi-year contract in 1995 following a drunken driving arrest.

Born in 1932, the Detroit native was inducted in 2010 into the Michigan Association of Broadcasters Hall of Fame.

Starting out at a radio station in Albion at a wage of $1.50 per hour.

After working his way through the University of Detroit, Bonds broke into broadcast news at an outstate Michigan radio station before moving to Detroit's WKNR-AM in the early 1960's. At that time even AM Top40 radio stations had news departments, and Bonds helped make Keener 13's a good one with his dramatic delivery.


Once, while reporting for WKNR, Bonds was in the Anchor Bay area covering a tornado in 1964 and couldn't find a working telephone to call in his report. So he climbed a telephone pole, to make the call the hard way.