Before there was "Anchorman," there was Bill Bonds, who blazed up the airwaves in the Motor City’s ABC affiliate for nearly 30 years, writes Justin Miller on The Daily Beast.
Miller canonizes Bonds, the legendary WXYZ anchorman who can be seen these days on Detroit TV hawking furniture. He's the guy with the dramatic voice and silver pompadour.
Miller's observations come a couple of weeks after comedian/actor Will Ferrell, who plays anchorman Ron Burgandy in "Anchorman 2," disclosed that the inspiration for Burgundy was longtime Detroit anchorman Mort Crim of WDIV, left.
Miller tells readers -- many of whom never saw Bonds in action -- that Bonds was an edgy interviewer -- sometimes, he admitted, because he had been drinking.
Miller writes:
The star of Detroit’s ABC affiliate from the late 1960s to the mid-’90s, Bonds challenged Mayor Coleman Young to a boxing match, made Sen. Orrin Hatch (R-UT) storm out of an interview, and asked then-presidential candidate Bill Clinton: “Are there are any more smoking bimbos in your closet?”
That type of “straight talk” is commonplace today, but Bonds was one of the first anchors to adopt the persona of truth-telling regular Joe. ABC moved him, and his style, briefly to Los Angeles and New York before returning him to Detroit.
