diff --git a/ci-operator/infra/openshift/release-controller/releases/release-ocp-4.1-ci.json b/ci-operator/infra/openshift/release-controller/releases/release-ocp-4.1-ci.json
index 21f2b538f8d4d..6e064d4d3ca67 100644
--- a/ci-operator/infra/openshift/release-controller/releases/release-ocp-4.1-ci.json
+++ b/ci-operator/infra/openshift/release-controller/releases/release-ocp-4.1-ci.json
@@ -1,17 +1,11 @@
 {
   "name":"4.1.0-0.ci",
   "to": "release",
-  "message": "After merging to master, images are built and pushed here. machine-os-content is promoted to nightly if the run passes.",
+  "message": "After merging to master, CI images are built and a release is created",
   "mirrorPrefix": "4.1",
   "expires":"72h",
   "pullSecretName": "source",
   "publish":{
-    "mirror-to-nightly": {
-      "imageStreamRef": {
-        "name": "4.1-art-latest",
-        "tags": ["machine-os-content"]
-      }
-    },
     "mirror-to-origin":{
       "imageStreamRef":{
         "namespace": "origin",
diff --git a/ci-operator/infra/openshift/release-controller/releases/release-ocp-4.1.json b/ci-operator/infra/openshift/release-controller/releases/release-ocp-4.1.json
index c284511dc2973..c7cc29599cd4b 100644
--- a/ci-operator/infra/openshift/release-controller/releases/release-ocp-4.1.json
+++ b/ci-operator/infra/openshift/release-controller/releases/release-ocp-4.1.json
@@ -1,7 +1,7 @@
 {
   "name":"4.1.0-0.nightly",
   "to": "release",
-  "message": "OCP images are synced here after being published to quay",
+  "message": "Builds releases from OSBS images that are on quay.io",
   "mirrorPrefix": "4.1-art-latest",
   "expires":"168h",
   "referenceMode": "source",
@@ -12,7 +12,7 @@
     }
   },
   "publish":{
-    "tag":{"tagRef":{"name":"v4.1"}}
+    "tag":{"tagRef":{"name":"4.1"}}
   },
   "verify":{
     "aws":{
diff --git a/ci-operator/jobs/openshift/release/openshift-release-release-4.1-periodics.yaml b/ci-operator/jobs/openshift/release/openshift-release-release-4.1-periodics.yaml
index a25e653929fd0..efe9ae1be770d 100644
--- a/ci-operator/jobs/openshift/release/openshift-release-release-4.1-periodics.yaml
+++ b/ci-operator/jobs/openshift/release/openshift-release-release-4.1-periodics.yaml
@@ -2,30 +2,58 @@ periodics:
 - agent: kubernetes
   cron: ""
   decorate: true
-  interval: 8h
+  interval: 15m
   name: release-promote-openshift-machine-os-content-e2e-aws-4.1
   spec:
     containers:
-    - args:
-      - --artifact-dir=$(ARTIFACTS)
-      - --secret-dir=/usr/local/pull-secret
-      - --secret-dir=/usr/local/e2e-aws-cluster-profile
-      - --template=/usr/local/e2e-aws
-      - --input-hash=$(BUILD_ID)
-      - --input-hash=$(JOB_NAME)
-      - --promote
-      command:
-      - ci-operator
+    - command:
+      - /bin/bash
+      - -c
+      - |
+        #!/bin/bash
+        set -euo pipefail
+
+        # prow doesn't allow init containers or a second container
+        export PATH=$PATH:/tmp/bin
+        mkdir /tmp/bin
+        curl https://storage.googleapis.com/origin-ci-test/_tools/4.1.0/oc >/tmp/bin/oc 2>/dev/null
+        chmod ug+x /tmp/bin/oc
+
+        # if the source and destination are identical, do nothing
+        from=$( oc get istag -n rhcos "machine-os-content:latest" -o template='{{ .image.metadata.name }}' )
+        to=$( oc get istag -n ocp "${BRANCH}:machine-os-content" -o template='{{ .image.metadata.name }}' )
+        if [[ "${from}" == "${to}" ]]; then
+          echo "info: rhcos/machine-os-content:latest matches ocp/${branch}:machine-os-content"
+          exit 0
+        fi
+        echo "Will promote ${from}, current is ${to}"
+
+        # error out if the image isn't on quay
+        to_quay="quay.io/openshift-release-dev/ocp-v4.0-art-dev@${from}"
+        if ! oc image info -a "/usr/local/pull-secret/.dockerconfigjson" "${to_quay}"; then
+          echo "error: The source image has not been pushed to quay ${from}"
+          exit 1
+        fi
+
+        # verify the tests pass
+        ci-operator --artifact-dir=$(ARTIFACTS) --secret-dir=/usr/local/pull-secret \
+          --secret-dir=/usr/local/e2e-aws-cluster-profile --template=/usr/local/e2e-aws \
+          --input-hash=$(BUILD_ID) --input-hash=$(JOB_NAME) --promote
+
+        # also tag the image into the art-latest stream
+        oc tag "${to_quay}" "ocp/${BRANCH}-art-latest"
       env:
+      - name: BRANCH
+        value: "4.1"
       - name: CLUSTER_TYPE
         value: aws
       - name: CONFIG_SPEC
         value: |
           tag_specification:
-            name: '4.1'
+            name: "$(BRANCH)"
             namespace: ocp
           promotion:
-            name: '4.1'
+            name: "$(BRANCH)"
             namespace: ocp
             additional_images:
               machine-os-content: machine-os-content
@@ -34,7 +62,7 @@ periodics:
               cluster: https://api.ci.openshift.org
               name: release
               namespace: openshift
-              tag: golang-1.10
+              tag: golang-1.11
           base_images:
             machine-os-content:
               name: machine-os-content