Shaw Local Radio’s Dani Holland to attend Country Radio Seminar as 2024 Steve Ferguson Scholarship recipient

Morning radio host Dani Holland is headed to Nashville.

The WALLS 102 host and program director will attend the 2024 Country Radio Seminar beginning Wednesday. She was selected as the recipient of the 2024 Steve Ferguson CRS Scholarship. She was chosen by a panel of country radio programmers and other industry professionals.

Every Tuesday, Holland takes calls from MusicRow affiliates in Nashville to pitch artists for airtime. In the past, this has been a time to hear up-and-coming artists, such as Dustin Lynch and Charlie Beckham, before they rise on the charts. Holland reports back to affiliates how many times she’s played the artists she’s selected.

This is Holland’s first trip to the Country Radio Seminar.

While the radio station has had its fair share of visitors over the years in the studio, Nashville will give Holland a hands-on experience to hear some of the musicians up close and possibly meet some of them. Mostly, she’ll get to meet Music Row promoters she chats with weekly and learn firsthand from other radio talent how to maximize those interactions, which in turn boosts her show.

“I love this job,” Holland said. “I’m looking forward to learning so much, and seeing it all.”

Big names in country music that will be in attendance for the 2024 seminar are Kane Brown, Lainey Wilson, Jelly Roll, Bailey Zimmerman and Trisha Yearwood.

Holland has been with WALS for eight years, beginning her career when she was 15 in Kewanee learning production and radio broadcasting. Holland graduated from Western Illinois University where she worked at the college radio station there. She worked at a few other markets prior to hitting the airwaves in the Illinois Valley. She now lives in Ladd.

At WALS, she worked her way into a full-time position and was tapped for the morning show where she’s been ever since as host of WALS Mornings with Dani.

The annual scholarship won by Holland was established to honor WTHO of Thomson, Georgia program director Steve Ferguson, who died in 2018.

In announcing Holland, the review committee said Holland shared many of the qualities of Ferguson, the scholarships namesake.

“Her commitment to her community, her love of music and her passion for radio were evident,” the committee said in its statement. “Looking forward to seeing her at her first CRS at the end of February.”