Ottley's duties with the Choir included the preparation and performance of nearly thirteen hundred weekly radio and television broadcasts of "Music and the Spoken Word". He also led the choir in more than thirty commercial recordings and more than twenty major tours, in addition to regular concerts in the Choir's home in the Salt Lake Tabernacle. The group sang at the inaugural march of the 1981 inauguration of Ronald Reagan, who labelled them "America’s Choir". Eight years later, they performed at the inauguration of George H. W. Bush, who described them as "a national treasure". Ottley appointed Bonnie Goodliffe as one of the Choir's organists in 1988. She was its first female organist; Goodliffe later described Ottley as being "very forward-thinking". He also established the group's annual Christmas concert.