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 o

In his argument, the author's recommends that inorder to reverse the trend of decline in its listener numbers, WWAC radio station needs to switch to news and talk format from its already existing rock-music format. To support his argument, the author has stated that there has been a decline in the number of listeners of the WWAC radio station espite population growth in its listening area. The author also cites that a decline in local music sales suggests a decreasing interest in music. The author has pointed out that the news and talk format is a popular radio format in the concerned area, so it would be profitable for WWAC radio to switch to this format. However, the author has made some assumptions for which there is no supporting evidence.

Firstly, the author assumes that a decrease in the listener numbers for WWAC radio station which specialises in rock-format proves that people in the listener area, are losing interest in rock-format music. The author remains silent regarding the trend of listenere numbers of other radio channels which specialise in rock-format in the same listener area. The real reason for decline of listner numers of WWAC may be the decreasing quality of the rock music provided by them, while people may be preferring other rock-format radio channels or internet channels which provide better quality music. If the author were to state conclusively that either WWAC radio station is the only major radio channel in the area which provides rock-format or all the radio stations providing rock-format in the area have reported a decline in number of listners, it would have provided considerable suport to his position.

Secondly, the author has assumed that there is a general trend showing a lack of interest in music. To support his assumption he has pointed out that there has been a decline in local sales of recorded music. However, he has not quoted any definite figure or survey to support his assumption. If the trend of decline of salesa is very recent and percentage small, the statistical data will be insufficient to draw any reasonable conclusion. The people of the listener area may have resorted to other means of procuring music. For example people may be going for online purchase of new albums to listen on their gadgets like i-pods rather than going to local stores for buying music records. The author has not examined any such alternative reason which could be responsible for decline in local sales of recorded music.

Thirdly, the author has asumed that a change to news and talk format will be profitable for the WWAC radio station based as acording to him this is a popular format in the listener area. Here, the author has again failed to provide any reliable statistical data to prove that news and talk is indeed the preferred radio format in the listerner area. He has also failed to examine some other important areas. For example, in the WWAC listner area there already may be bigger players in news and talk format who have a much larger listner base. Consequently, any new player in news and talk format may have to face a lot of stif competition inorder to make a name for it. In such a case, switching to news and talk format may incur losses for WWAC radio station.

Summing up, the author may be correct in his recommendation that inorder to reverse the trend of decline in its listener numbers, WWAC radio station needs to siwtch to news and talk format from its already existing rock-music format. However, in arriving at his conclusion, the author has made some assumptions and has not examined many other key areas which could affect his recommendation. If the author's recommendation is to have the desired effect, he needs to provide suprting evidence for his assumptions and examine all the other key areas.