GRE Argument Essay - Please help me improve by providing feedback on the essay below

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Two years ago, radio station WCQP in Rockville decided to increase the number of call-in advice programs that it broadcast; since that time, its share of the radio audience in the Rockville listening area has increased significantly. Given WCQP's recent success with call-in advice programming, and citing a nationwide survey indicating that many radio listeners are quite interested in such programs, the station manager of KICK in Medway recommends that KICK include more call-in advice programs in an attempt to gain a larger audience share in its listening 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.

 

 

 

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The objective of the station manager of KICK in Medway is to gain a larger audience share in its listening area and to achieve the same he has decided to adopt the formula of success that worked for WCQP in Rockville. But there are some demographic concerns that he should consider otherwise his decision might not have the impact that he expected and could rather backfire.

Firstly, it is not necessary that interests of the audience in Medway are the same as the interests of the audience in Rockville listening area. The station manager at KICK would need to collect more information about the audiences and interests of the Medway listening area itself. Catering to the needs of the customers is always a great business strategy that seldom fails. Therefore, he should determine whether call-in advice programs is really what the listeners of Medway need. He could also go about ascertaining this by understanding what type of programs have worked for KICK (and other radio stations in Medway) in the past. He would then have a better understanding of what type of radio programs to boost on KICK radio station.

Another thing that the station manager at KICK needs to determine is the nature of competitors that they have in Medway and the nature of competitors that WCQP had at Rockville. Since the objective is to increase "audience share" in Medway, this would also depend upon the competition they both have in their respective geographies. It is quite possible that the competition at Medway is fierce and KICK is up against wealthy rival radio stations and therefore, he may not see the same proportion of increase that WCQP did at Rockville.

The passage also talks of a nationwide survey that indicated many radio listeners were interested in call-in advice programs. Before trusting the conclusions of the survey, it is important to figure out what type of audience was surveyed, how the survey was conducted and whether the surveyed audience is a representative sample of all the radio listeners in the country. If there was any bias involved, it would be better to only focus on the interests of radio listeners in the Medway area and steer their business strategies accordingly.

Every business has its own unique selling point on the basis of which they build and maintain a customer base whose interests are aligned with the kind of programs the radio station broadcasts. They create a brand image in the minds of the people on which they tend to maintain the customers. Also, KICK station will have to hire radio jockeys and experts that would be appropriate and have the required skills for hosting call-in advice programs. These are concerns that need to be addressed before trusting the success formula of WCQP. If the strategy fails and KICK build a negative brand image among the Medway audience, it would deal a huge setback to their business.

In conclusion, the station manager at KICK should not trust the recipe of WCQP and the results of national survey. He should consider the demands of their existing customers, interests of the new customers they wish to acquire, the labour costs and their own business plans and branding before going ahead with this strategy.