The following appeared in a memorandum from the manager of WWAC radio station.
"To reverse a decline in listener numbers, our owners have decided that WWAC must change from its current rock-music format. The decline has occurred despite population growth in our listening area, but that growth has resulted mainly from people moving here after their retirement. We must make listeners of these new residents. We could switch to a music format tailored to their tastes, but a continuing decline in local sales of recorded music suggests limited interest in music. Instead we should change to a news and talk format, a form of radio that is increasingly popular in our area."
Write a response in which you discuss what specific evidence is needed to evaluate the argument and explain how the evidence would weaken or strengthen the argument.
In the prompt, the manager of WWAC radio station suggests that in order to increase the number of listeners to his/her radio station, they must transition from the current rock-music format to a news and talk format. This may be the case, however, the conclusion is based on some unwarranted assumptions which if not substantiated may lead to greater loss. To fully evaluate the problem, below three assumptions should be justified with suitable evidence.
Firstly, the manager states that the population in the listening area is increasing mainly with retired people and that they should focus more on the new residents and make changes according to their taste. However, it is possible that upon changing the current format to their interest the existing listeners decreases even more. Perhaps, the existing listeners still like the rock music format and on changing it might severely impact the radio station. Also, it is not stated if the new residents are greater or lesser in number to the existing residents. Perhaps, some of the new citizens may also like rock-music and that upon shifting from it would be discouraging. If any of the above scenarios is true, the argument does not hold water.
Further, the argument also assumes that the citizens have limited interest in music due to the decrease in local sales of recorded music. However, this may not be the case. It is possible that the music may not be of good quality or they may only have limited variations in music. Maybe, the elderly like the classics and the local shops have only jazz collections or maybe, no new collection is available for the younger generation. Thus, proper analysis is required in order to fully evaluate the conclusion. If either case is true, the manager’s claim is weakened.
Finally, the manager’s suggests that the news and talk format is famous in their area and that they should shift their focus to it instead of music in particular. However, even if the news and talks show is popular among the people, that does not conclude their dislikeness in music. Maybe, the main problem with the decrease in listeners is the timing of the radio broadcast or the monotonous nature of its genre. It is possible that the music is played during afternoon or midnight and that office employees or school-going children are unable to listen to it. It is also possible that playing only a single kind of music i.e. rock, the whole day is tedious and that the people might prefer different genres during different times of the day. Thus, if either of the claims are true then the manager’s argument is flawed.
Therefore, on properly scrutinizing the above argument, I conclude that the manager’s conclusion to shift their format from a rock-music genre to a news and talk show, in order to increase their listeners, lacks substantial evidence and is based on unwarranted assumptions. A proper analysis is required with compelling evidence to make a cogent decision.
Comments
e-rater score report
Attribute Value Ideal
Final score: 4.0 out of 6
Category: Good Excellent
No. of Grammatical Errors: 8 2
No. of Spelling Errors: 7 2
No. of Sentences: 23 15
No. of Words: 498 350
No. of Characters: 2400 1500
No. of Different Words: 201 200
Fourth Root of Number of Words: 4.724 4.7
Average Word Length: 4.819 4.6
Word Length SD: 2.536 2.4
No. of Words greater than 5 chars: 166 100
No. of Words greater than 6 chars: 127 80
No. of Words greater than 7 chars: 95 40
No. of Words greater than 8 chars: 51 20
Use of Passive Voice (%): 0 0
Avg. Sentence Length: 21.652 21.0
Sentence Length SD: 8.756 7.5
Use of Discourse Markers (%): 0.739 0.12
Sentence-Text Coherence: 0.3 0.35
Sentence-Para Coherence: 0.491 0.50
Sentence-Sentence Coherence: 0.07 0.07
Number of Paragraphs: 5 5
Grammar and spelling errors:
Line 1, column 311, Rule ID: IF_IS[2]
Message: Did you mean 'is'?
Suggestion: is
...d on some unwarranted assumptions which if not substantiated may lead to greater l...
^^
Line 3, column 516, Rule ID: ADJECTIVE_IN_ATTRIBUTE[1]
Message: A more concise phrase may lose no meaning and sound more powerful.
Suggestion: lesser
...ted if the new residents are greater or lesser in number to the existing residents. Perhaps, som...
^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^
Line 3, column 569, Rule ID: SOME_OF_THE[1]
Message: Simply use 'some'.
Suggestion: some
...ber to the existing residents. Perhaps, some of the new citizens may also like rock-music a...
^^^^^^^^^^^
Line 5, column 349, Rule ID: HAVE_PART_AGREEMENT[2]
Message: Possible agreement error -- use past participle here: 'jazzed'.
Suggestion: jazzed
... classics and the local shops have only jazz collections or maybe, no new collection...
^^^^
Transition Words or Phrases used:
also, finally, first, firstly, however, if, may, so, still, then, therefore, thus, in particular, kind of
Attributes: Values AverageValues Percentages(Values/AverageValues)% => Comments
Performance on Part of Speech:
To be verbs : 28.0 19.6327345309 143% => OK
Auxiliary verbs: 13.0 12.9520958084 100% => OK
Conjunction : 19.0 11.1786427146 170% => OK
Relative clauses : 16.0 13.6137724551 118% => OK
Pronoun: 42.0 28.8173652695 146% => Less pronouns wanted
Preposition: 65.0 55.5748502994 117% => OK
Nominalization: 14.0 16.3942115768 85% => OK
Performance on vocabulary words:
No of characters: 2475.0 2260.96107784 109% => OK
No of words: 497.0 441.139720559 113% => OK
Chars per words: 4.97987927565 5.12650576532 97% => OK
Fourth root words length: 4.72159896747 4.56307096286 103% => OK
Word Length SD: 2.6433317793 2.78398813304 95% => OK
Unique words: 213.0 204.123752495 104% => OK
Unique words percentage: 0.428571428571 0.468620217663 91% => More unique words wanted or less content wanted.
syllable_count: 765.0 705.55239521 108% => OK
avg_syllables_per_word: 1.5 1.59920159681 94% => OK
A sentence (or a clause, phrase) starts by:
Pronoun: 10.0 4.96107784431 202% => Less pronouns wanted as sentence beginning.
Article: 12.0 8.76447105788 137% => OK
Subordination: 4.0 2.70958083832 148% => OK
Conjunction: 0.0 1.67365269461 0% => OK
Preposition: 5.0 4.22255489022 118% => OK
Performance on sentences:
How many sentences: 23.0 19.7664670659 116% => OK
Sentence length: 21.0 22.8473053892 92% => OK
Sentence length SD: 54.0707021571 57.8364921388 93% => OK
Chars per sentence: 107.608695652 119.503703932 90% => OK
Words per sentence: 21.6086956522 23.324526521 93% => OK
Discourse Markers: 4.5652173913 5.70786347227 80% => OK
Paragraphs: 5.0 5.15768463074 97% => OK
Language errors: 4.0 5.25449101796 76% => OK
Sentences with positive sentiment : 13.0 8.20758483034 158% => OK
Sentences with negative sentiment : 6.0 6.88822355289 87% => OK
Sentences with neutral sentiment: 4.0 4.67664670659 86% => OK
What are sentences with positive/Negative/neutral sentiment?
Coherence and Cohesion:
Essay topic to essay body coherence: 0.228881389478 0.218282227539 105% => OK
Sentence topic coherence: 0.0632781342744 0.0743258471296 85% => OK
Sentence topic coherence SD: 0.0788028545126 0.0701772020484 112% => OK
Paragraph topic coherence: 0.134444234953 0.128457276422 105% => OK
Paragraph topic coherence SD: 0.0584916773152 0.0628817314937 93% => OK
Essay readability:
automated_readability_index: 12.8 14.3799401198 89% => Automated_readability_index is low.
flesch_reading_ease: 58.62 48.3550499002 121% => OK
smog_index: 3.1 7.1628742515 43% => Smog_index is low.
flesch_kincaid_grade: 10.3 12.197005988 84% => OK
coleman_liau_index: 11.6 12.5979740519 92% => OK
dale_chall_readability_score: 8.01 8.32208582834 96% => OK
difficult_words: 105.0 98.500998004 107% => OK
linsear_write_formula: 13.5 12.3882235529 109% => OK
gunning_fog: 10.4 11.1389221557 93% => OK
text_standard: 10.0 11.9071856287 84% => OK
What are above readability scores?
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Rates: 66.67 out of 100
Scores by essay e-grader: 4.0 Out of 6
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Note: the e-grader does NOT examine the meaning of words and ideas. VIP users will receive further evaluations by advanced module of e-grader and human graders.