Interviews and Talk Shows
During the 1980s and 1990s, Bonds hosted an interview segment on the 5 p.m. news called "Up Front," in which he confronted newsmakers with tough questions. One of his frequent targets was longtime Detroit Mayor Coleman Young; their sparring matches were the stuff of local legend (including a fistfight challenge given by Bonds to Young in July of 1989). The segment was unique in that it would often feature national newsmakers interviewed by Bonds via satellite. (Perhaps the most famous incident came in 1991 when Utah Senator Orrin Hatch stormed off set during an especially heated line of questioning by Bonds.)
In 1989, he launched "Bonds On," a primetime talk format show in which he interviewed everyone from presidents (Jimmy Carter and Bill Clinton) to Michigan governors (Jim Blanchard and John Engler) to auto executives (Lee Iacocca, William Clay Ford and Roger Smith) to sports figures (Detroit Tigers manager Sparky Anderson and Detroit Pistons player Joe Dumars).
In 1991, Bonds participated in the nationally-televised town hall meeting for Democratic presidential candidates Clinton, Jerry Brown and Paul Tsongas.
Bonds joined rival WJBK-TV as host of an 11 p.m. talk show, Bonds Tonight on WJBK-TV and also anchored newscasts. He would return to WXYZ for several months in 1999 to read editorials, but left to lend his voice to radio and TV commercials, most notably the Detroit furniture company Gardner White.
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Famous quotes containing the words interviews, talk and/or shows:
“If the justices would only retire when they have become burdens to the court itself, or when they recognize themselves that their faculties have become impaired, I would grieve sincerely when they passed away, and you would not feel like such a hypocrite as you do when you are going through the formality of sending telegrams of condolence and giving out interviews for propriety’s sake.”
—William Howard Taft (1857–1930)
“To know how to spend your money, have a talk with your purse.”
—Chinese proverb.
“I’d wish the government took honest people into consideration, it shows enough consideration for scoundrels.”
—Franz Grillparzer (1791–1872)