The Birth of the Format
It started in 1976 at (Hot-AC) K-96-FM in Provo, Utah with Jim Burgoyne, their sales manager. Arbitron reported K-96 Sunday morning listening as nearly non-existent. Jim convinced the station management that Sounds of Sunday (SOS) would be a service to their community, and they would have nothing to lose. Music for Sounds of Sunday was quite limited in the beginning, but was launched. Six months later Arbitron showed K-96 with a dramatic increase across the board in Sunday listeners. Sounds of Sunday had increased station community awareness, translating to increased weekday listenership.
In 2010 Jim received the Radio Wayne Award at the Radio Advertising Bureau (RAB) convention as America's best small-market general manager.
In 1981 Jim became the general manager for (Hot-AC) KBLQ-FM in Logan, Utah. He quickly repeated his success with a similar program, Sounds for Sunday, which continues to this day. Arbitron reported the same increase of listeners.
KLCE-FM
In 1987 Jim became the station manager for KBLQ's sister station KLCE-FM in Blackfoot, Idaho, (AC) serving 7 counties of southeast Idaho from Idaho Falls and Rexburg to Pocatello and Blackfoot. Opposed by their Fairwest consultants, Jim implemented Sounds of Sunday from 6 a.m. to noon. And once again, Arbitron reported strongly increased listenership during the program. The Sounds of Sunday aired thereafter from 5 a.m. to 5 p.m. with continued great success. KLCE has been the undisputed AC leader throughout their 7 counties of southeast Idaho with typically 20 shares, but Sounds of Sunday has often generated 25-35 shares. In January 2012, Jim's contract at KLCE ended, and under new management, changes were made to the program. As a result, the Glenn Rawson Stories which were a hallmark of Sounds of Sunday since 1997 moved to "EZ Sundays" on KQEZ-EZ Rock-106.3 (Pocatello 95.3), which was the first serious attempt to compete with KLCE's Sounds of Sunday in Southeast Idaho. But after KQEZ-FM changed format, in March 2019, the original Sounds of Sunday format with the Glenn Rawson Stories returned to KLCE from 5 a.m. to 5 p.m. Then in June 2023, after 46 years, the new KLCE management brought Sounds of Sunday aired for the final time on April 30, 2023.
KSNA-FM
On May 7, 2023, Jim Burgoyne brought the Sounds of Sunday to his new station in the Idaho Falls area, KSNA 100.7 MY-FM.
KOSY-FM
In the mid ’90s, KOSY-FM in Spanish Fork, Utah (Soft-AC) built studios in Salt Lake City to position itself as a Salt Lake station. Its upper dial position at 106.5, and its distant transmitter location handicapped them as they directly challenged FM-100 in Salt Lake City. Arbitron typically reported KOSY trailing FM-100 with about 60% as many listeners.
Remembering the success of K-96, John Hair who had produced similar programming for KMGR and KUTR in the Salt Lake City area proposed that Sounds of the Sabbath be aired on KOSY to the KOSY program director Paul Wilson. Paul asked John to present the idea to the station manager, and Sounds of the Sabbath was launched Sundays 7 a.m. - 11 a.m., with John Hair as the producer and host of the program. The community response was immediate and intense. For the first time FM-100 was receiving significant competition from KOSY. Sounds of the Sabbath was extended to noon and KOSY continued to take more listeners from FM-100. Shortly thereafter, John and Paul helped friends create Sounds of Sunday for KRXQ in Vernal, Utah.
FM-100
In 1999, Simmons Media (which owned FM-100) purchased KLCE. FM-100 manager Craig Hanson was amazed by KLCE’s success airing Sounds of Sunday and the strong impact of KOSY against FM-100 with Sounds of the Sabbath. Because of their common ownership, Jim became closer to Craig. Jim encouraged Craig to air a program like Sounds of Sunday on FM-100, but Craig remained reluctant for fear of losing their identity with their commanding audience during the week. However, Jim was finally able to persuade Craig, and so Soft Sunday Sounds were created and aired by FM-100 Sunday mornings to compete against KOSY. Soft Sunday Sounds once again added a great new boost to Sunday mornings with no negative effect on their weekday listening. Until recently KOSY owned by Clear Channel aired Sounds of the Sabbath 6:30 a.m. - 7 p.m.; FM-100 owned by Bonneville International airs Soft Sunday Sounds 24 hours each Sunday. Since FM-100 has literally trashed KOSY's ratings every day at all times, KOSY recently changed to a rock format abandoning Sounds of the Sabbath. FM-100 remains the leader of AC radio with their Soft Sunday Sounds each Sunday garnering even higher ratings.
Other Stations
Since 1976, much more music and greater quality recordings have become available for this musical genre. The programs are greatly supported and appreciated by not only the Latter-Day Saint community, but by people of all faiths. Paul Wilson of KOSY was not a Latter-Day Saint, but he understood the impact of the program. Mothers dressing their children for church listen regularly. Among the listeners in Vernal, Utah are truck drivers who work Sundays at oil rigs and natural gas harvesting facilities. They listen to Sounds of Sunday on (Hot-AC) Channel-X94 (KXRQ) from 6 a.m. to 4 p.m. Many say, “It’s the only religion we get!”
Doug Barton, owner of KMTI, KLGL-FM, and KMGR-FM in Manti, Richfield, and Delta, Utah, reports similar success since he added Sounds of Sunday in 1980 to all of his stations. It adds warmth to his image and promotes loyal listeners all week long.
In 2018, Doug added the syndicated "Sounds of Sunday" to KLGL, The Eagle-94.5 from 6:00 AM to 12:00 Midnight serving Manti, Nephi, Richfield, and throughout Central Utah. And in early 2023, Doug added the syndicated "Sounds of Sunday" to KKUT, The Wolf-93.7 from 6:00 AM to 12:00 Midnight serving Provo, Orem, and all of Utah County and Heber, Utah.
Bob Morey, the owner of KSRR in Provo, Utah, aired his locally produced Sounds of Sunday with great success for over 20 years.
Star-98 (KREC) in St. George, UT has aired their locally produced Sounds of Sunday since 1998. Later their program schedule was lengthened from mornings to 7 p.m. In 2020, the program name was changed to "Sunday Sounds." And then the syndicated "Sounds of Sunday" began at KCLS, Sunny-101.5 in St. George and Cedar City.
