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=91Bonds & =
Fisher=92:=20
Broadcast legends back on the air =97 at WCAR-AM Defying convention as always, Bill Bonds plans to return to=20 broadcasting with an afternoon talk show on an AM radio station = with a=20 humble daytime signal of 250 watts. The former news anchor, beloved and sometimes bewildering = across nearly=20 a quarter century at WXYZ-TV (Channel 7), will team with another = familiar=20 face and voice =97 Rich Fisher, who worked with Bonds at WXYZ and = went on to=20 deliver newscasts at WJBK (Channel 2) and WKBD (Channel 50). "Bonds & Fisher" is scheduled to launch Oct. 3 on WCAR-AM = (1090),=20 operating out of a studio next to a radio tower in Garden City and = speaking to a demographic most stations ignore. The hosts say they expect the show to be low on bombast and=20 manufactured outrage, and long on issues and easy banter between = old=20 colleagues who've played golf together in Scotland. Station general manager Sima Birach Jr. says he was so eager to = land=20 Bonds that when they came to a loose agreement over dinner at the = Rugby=20 Grille in Birmingham, he jotted the details on a cocktail napkin, = had=20 Bonds sign it, took a cell phone photo of it and emailed it to = make the=20 deal quasi-official. "He told me, 'I grew up watching you,'" Bonds says. "I said, = 'Did you=20 like the Civil War, the way I covered that?'" Bonds says he was intrigued by Birach's vision and the freedom = of the=20 format, and heck, he has his afternoons free. At 78, he reports = that "my=20 mind still works pretty well, the baby blues are still relatively = blue,=20 and the voice isn't bad." It's still resonant and recognizable, in fact, which he knows = full=20 well. To the Twitter generation, it's mostly the voice of a = furniture=20 salesman, but people who acquired their first tattoo in high = school don't=20 listen to AM radio anyway. Fisher suggested Bonds Birach, 33, says he developed the show with Fisher, 62, a = friend of six=20 or seven years. Fisher suggested contacting Bonds, knowing it = meant second=20 billing even if "Fisher & Bonds" rolls better off the = tongue. Birach's father, a classic immigrant success story, owns a = low-powered=20 TV station and 25 AM radio stations, many of which sell air time = to the=20 hosts of ethnic programs. A commercial pilot, Birach Jr. has a = more=20 soaring vision for WCAR. He found a producer, Rachel Nevada, who's been on the air at = WJR-AM=20 (760) and WOMC-FM (104.3) and will co-host with the former news = anchors.=20 He says he's hired sales reps, plans to hire more, and expects = within a=20 year to quadruple the station's signal strength and build a studio = in=20 Oakland County. Eventually, he'd like to replace most of WCAR's = syndicated=20 talk shows with local programs. "I'm surprised nobody else has tried this sooner," he says. In = an=20 industry focused on listeners who either still have their hair or = are=20 terrified of losing it, "I don't care for the under-35 = demographic. I want=20 45-to-75, on up. "As an advertiser, who do you want to reach =97 a 25-year-old = saving for=20 a pair of sneakers, or a 70-year-old who can spend $300 for = dinner?" Dick Kernen, a vice president and the resident sage at the = Specs Howard=20 School of Media Arts, says he learned of the show when Nevada = called him=20 looking for interns. The more he thinks about it, the more = optimistic he=20 gets, as long as WCAR invests in promotion and a good sales = team. "If anyone can pull it off," he says, it's Bonds and Fisher =97 = together=20 again, after all these years. (313) 222-1874
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