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

Essay topics:

"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.

The author states that in order to control the decline in listener numbers the owners of WWAC have decided to change its current rock-music format. Author has claimed that the decline has resulted mainly because of the fact that many people that have migrated, have all retired from their jobs.He also suggests that they should change their format altogether in order to attract these new migrants. This argument might look reasonable and valid on first look. However, on scrutiny, one can easily argue that apparently, the argument is ill considered and flawed.

First, arguer non-substantially states that people, moving in, have all retired from their occupation. He does not provide us with any statistics to support his statement. In absence of any statistics, it is futile to jump to hasty conclusions. While he argues that it is necessary to switch to format that is tailored for the majority of population, he does not perform any specific research on type of music that population is attracted to. Instead he erroneously jumps to the conclusion that the new migrants do not entertain rock music.

Second, he concludes by suggesting to bring about drastic change in format. He claims that they should rather change their format into news and talk format that is increasingly popular in the given area. But again he does not provide us with any specific figures to support his claim. The figures indicating the percentage of population opting for news format would have made the argument more concrete. Even if the claim, that news format is increasingly popular, is true, but that does not mean that the music format is comparatively less popular. Arguer is erroneously comparing two different formats which are entirely exclusive. People can get attracted to both of them equally and impartially.

To sum, argument lacks credibility. Without any specific figures and statistics it has failed to comprehend. If the author could have provide us with some statistics and figures to support is opinion, about the interests of people in given area, then the argument could have been more persuasive. Moreover the conclusion of the argument is based on sole premise.

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Average: 7.8 (23 votes)
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Sentence: If the author could have provide us with some statistics and figures to support is opinion, about the interests of people in given area, then the argument could have been more persuasive.
Description: A verb 'to have', uninflected present tense, infinitive or is not usually followed by a verb, base: uninflected present, imperative or infinitive
Suggestion: Refer to have and provide

flaws:
Fourth Root of Number of Words: 4.344 4.7
Avg. Sentence Length: 17.8 21.0

Attribute Value Ideal
Score: 4.5 out of 6
Category: Good Excellent
No. of Grammatical Errors: 1 2
No. of Spelling Errors: 0 2
No. of Sentences: 20 15
No. of Words: 356 350
No. of Characters: 1775 1500
No. of Different Words: 179 200
Fourth Root of Number of Words: 4.344 4.7
Average Word Length: 4.986 4.6
Word Length SD: 2.607 2.4
No. of Words greater than 5 chars: 134 100
No. of Words greater than 6 chars: 95 80
No. of Words greater than 7 chars: 61 40
No. of Words greater than 8 chars: 39 20
Use of Passive Voice (%): 0 0
Avg. Sentence Length: 17.8 21.0
Sentence Length SD: 9.309 7.5
Use of Discourse Markers (%): 0.5 0.12
Sentence-Text Coherence: 0.301 0.35
Sentence-Para Coherence: 0.474 0.50
Sentence-Sentence Coherence: 0.147 0.07
Number of Paragraphs: 4 5