On Saturday, December 9, shoppers in Briarwood Mall will encounter ringing bells, singing choirs, and rocking bands on a stage outside JCPenney (see Events). One week later, the Lucy Ann Lance Hometown Christmas Radio Show will be broadcast over WLBY-AM.
“We consider this our Christmas gift to the community,” says Dean Erskine, Lance’s business partner and technical guru. “I was always a big fan of old-time radio programs, especially the classic Christmas shows of the 1940s and ’50s, so fifteen years ago, Lucy Ann and I decided to introduce our friends and neighbors to that old-fashioned fun.”
Longtime radio personalities Erskine and Lance joined forces in 1993, when they were paired on a local morning show. When the two were laid off during the 2008 recession, they formed Lance and Erskine Productions, providing audio services and programs, including a daily business talk show on WLBY. The holiday talent show started in their Cumulus Media studio on Victors Way, carried on through a 2013 blizzard at the Ann Arbor City Club, and arrived in Briarwood in 2015.
And then Covid hit. After two Christmas Radio Shows in the studio, Lance and Erskine returned to Briarwood—now recording the show one week and airing it the next. “So many people use the mall’s Wi-Fi that it interferes with the quality of our broadcast,” Erskine says, “so we’re back to the technology of earlier days.”
Lance schedules the musical performances for thirteen minutes each, except for the closing act: the Depot Town Big Band performs a double set. “I’m blown away by their talent,” Erskine says. They play “music from the big band era, mixed with classic Christmas songs.”
Amazingly, the radio show has had only one glitch Erskine can recall: the year (“2011? 2012?”) when Lance fell ill and couldn’t speak. The team scrambled to move the event to the following week.
Erskine points out that both he and Lance are Ann Arbor natives, “although Lucy Ann will tell you she arrived here at the age of two.” They both “love doing things that showcase our hometown. The radio show is dear to our hearts.”
A lifelong animal-lover, Erskine also plays a solo holiday gig this month: on December 2, he will take center stage in a Santa outfit at Huron Pet Supply on Jackson Rd. to benefit the Humane Society of Huron Valley.