The following appeared in a memorandum from the manager of WWAC radio station.
“WWAC must change from its current rock-music format because the number of listeners has been declining, even though the population in our listening area has been growing. The population growth has resulted mainly from people moving to our area after their retirement, and we must make listeners of these new residents. But they seem to have limited interest in music: several local stores selling recorded music have recently closed. Therefore, just changing to another kind of music is not going to increase our audience. Instead, we should adopt a news-and-talk format, a form of radio that is increasingly popular in our area”
Write a response in which you discuss what questions would need to be answered in order to decide whether the recommendation and the argument on which it is based are reasonable. Be sure to explain how the answers to these questions would help to evaluate the recommendation.
The argument makes a recommendation that WWAC radio station should change their current rock-music format to a news-and-talk format due to the decrease number of the audience. The recommendation gave by the author solely based on certain dubious evidence. The author states that instead raising the number of the listeners, the increase of the population in WWAC’s listening area reduces the number of listeners. Likewise, the author assumes that the closing of the local record stores reveals the resident’s limited interest in music. However, to make a convincing argument, the author should address more specific question to the assumption.
To begin with, the first fallacy lies on the assumed reason of the decrease in audience for the rock-music format. The author seems to focus only on the presumption that the numbers of the listeners to rock-music format have declined because people are losing interest in music. However, rock music may be more popular among teenagers. As time went on, the loyal listeners have grown up. Their taste may have changed. Likewise, the new residents were moving in the area after their retirement. Rock music may not be their favorite taste, either. It is unreasonable to states that rock music is unpopular in the area now. The circumstances described in the argument may just the specific case of the old audience and the new residents.
Secondly, the author states that the rock-music format may not be successful anymore due to the new residents’ lack of interest in music. Nevertheless, new residents may have other interests and habits. Were they used to turning on the radio when they were working or resting? Instead of listening to the radio, they may like to listening to CDs or watching videos on YouTube more. Thus, changing the mode of the radio program may be in vain. To strengthen the argument, the author should provide a result of a survey, substantiating the residents’ dislike for the music format of the WWAC radio station.
Lastly, the author assumes that the closing of the local record store resulted from the residents’ limited interest in music. I found the assumption totally indefensible. There can be many reasons for record stores to be closed.In what years did the memorandum be written? In 21 century, the information bombarding era, there are many alternative accesses to information. No matter news, music, videos or weather broadcast, we can get the latest information of them through the internet for free. In such a convenient era, record store may be gradually replaced by the novel techniques. It would be unreasonable to assume that the closing down of the record store is due to the residents’ disinterest in music.
In sum, the recommendation of adjusting the news-and-talks format may be practicable, however, to make the argument more reasonable, the author should provide answers to the questions regarding the habits of the new residents, the changing taste of the audience and the main reason of the closing down of the local record stores.
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flaws:
Need to analyze the structure of the statement and argue accordingly:
condition 1:
The population growth has resulted mainly from people moving to our area after their retirement, and we must make listeners of these new residents.
condition 2:
several local stores selling recorded music have recently closed
conclusion:
we should adopt a news-and-talk format, a form of radio that is increasingly popular in our area
then here goes the argument:
argument 1:
the author has not given any evidence about those retired people's choice and interest. A detailed survey should have been organized asking them about what they like music or news and talks ? If majority of the people support for music then obviously author stand is not convincing.
argument 2:
maybe people watch or listen online...
argument 3:
It may be that the residents don't like news and talk either. Moreover it may be the case that large number of listeners to rock-music included teenagers who are now busy in their examinations. That is why there is a decrease in rock-music listeners.
Attribute Value Ideal
Score: 3.5 out of 6
Category: Satisfactory Excellent
No. of Grammatical Errors: 0 2
No. of Spelling Errors: 0 2
No. of Sentences: 28 15
No. of Words: 497 350
No. of Characters: 2469 1500
No. of Different Words: 210 200
Fourth Root of Number of Words: 4.722 4.7
Average Word Length: 4.968 4.6
Word Length SD: 2.729 2.4
No. of Words greater than 5 chars: 190 100
No. of Words greater than 6 chars: 135 80
No. of Words greater than 7 chars: 91 40
No. of Words greater than 8 chars: 59 20
Use of Passive Voice (%): 0 0
Avg. Sentence Length: 17.75 21.0
Sentence Length SD: 9.16 7.5
Use of Discourse Markers (%): 0.536 0.12
Sentence-Text Coherence: 0.307 0.35
Sentence-Para Coherence: 0.469 0.50
Sentence-Sentence Coherence: 0.093 0.07
Number of Paragraphs: 5 5