This is an archived article that was published on sltrib.com in 2014, and information in the article may be outdated. It is provided only for personal research purposes and may not be reprinted.
The Christmas music war is fully engaged on Salt Lake City's radio airwaves.
KSFI-FM — better known as FM100 — switched over to its mega-popular holiday music playlist on Friday.
The station, part of the LDS Church-owned Bonneville International, is expected to dominate its new Christmas rival, KSQN, a k a Sunny 103.1, which launched its Christmas onslaught on Halloween evening.
FM100's Christmas start comes at a fortuitous time, as there's a new mega-superstar holiday song: A 2014 update of Band Aid's "Do They Know It's Christmas?," recorded Saturday and just released on YouTube — with an all-star line-up that includes One Direction, Ed Sheeran, Rita Ora, Sam Smith, Bono, Seal, Angelique Kidjo, Daniel Smith (of Bastille), Ellie Goulding, Sinead O'Connor, Chris Martin (of Coldplay), and many others. The song, with new lyrics, is raising money to fight the Ebola outbreak in West Africa.
Meanwhile, over the weekend, KBEE, B98.7, played all Christmas music for a "Holiday Shopping Weekend." This morning, thought, the station was back to its usual selection of pop hits.