A new commercial radio station in Greenfield plans to play

[poonamchiK]

A new commercial radio station in Greenfield plans to play songs that were popular hits fifteen to twenty-five years ago. It hopes in this way to attract an audience made up mainly of people between thirty-five and forty-five years old and thereby to have a strong market appeal to advertisers.

Each of the following, if true, strengthens the prospects that the radio station's plan will succeed EXCEPT:

(A) People tend to remain very fond of the music that they heard when they were in their teens and early twenties.

(B) In a number of cities demographically similar to Greenfield, radio stations that play recordings of popular music from fifteen to twenty-five years ago have succeeded commercially.

(C) People in the thirty-five- to forty-five-year-old age group are more likely to listen to the radio for news than for music.

(D) The thirty-five- to forty-five-year-old age group is one in which people tend to have comparatively high levels of income and are involved in making household purchases.

(E) Among the few radio stations in the Greenfield area, there is none that plays music from this particular period for more than a few hours per week.

I feel tis is a good question and must be posted. I didnt find it on your forum. One from gmat prep.
OA : C

My situation, I was stuck b/w C nd D. Pls help me why was D wrong? Is it because C weakens and D is irrelevant? How to make this choice?

Thx
P

[tim]

seems like you made a typo. you meant to say the OA is C rather than A, right? at any rate, D is wrong because it definitely strengthens the argument. if these are the people making money and making the decisions, catering to their music preferences will very likely help bring in advertisers..

[jnelson0612]

My situation, I was stuck b/w C nd D. Pls help me why was D wrong? Is it because C weakens and D is irrelevant? How to make this choice?

Thx
P

Let's boil it down to the conclusion and premises:

Conclusion: The radio station plans to play songs that were popular 15-20 years ago.
WHY?
Premise: They think that this will attract an audience of 35-45 year-olds and that this population will appeal to advertisers.

C says that this population tends to listen to the radio for news rather than music. They are thus unlikely to be attracted by this music and increase their listening of this radio station. Weakens.

D says that this population has a high income and is likely to make decisions about household purchases. This makes this population an attractive and appealing target for advertisers. Strengthens.

*Whoops, looks like Tim and I both answered, but we do agree so that's good!

Hope this helps!

[750plus]

Yeah.

Good point Mr. Nelson.

I have a question though. The argument says-

A new commercial radio station in Greenfield plans to play songs that were popular hits fifteen to twenty-five years ago. It hopes in this way to attract an audience made up mainly of people between thirty-five and forty five years old and thereby to have a strong market appeal to advertisers.

I'd like to understand the part that I have underlined in bold

Does this mean that while the radio plays music , there will be advertisements played in between the songs. These people will be attracted by the advertisements and thereby it'll work positively for the advertisers.

Am I interpreting it correctly?

Thanks

Regards
Rajat Gugnani

[RonPurewal]

Does this mean that while the radio plays music , there will be advertisements played in between the songs.

yes, that's how it works. same thing as seeing commercials on TV.

[750plus]

Does this mean that while the radio plays music , there will be advertisements played in between the songs.

yes, that's how it works. same thing as seeing commercials on TV.

Thanks!

[RonPurewal]

no problem.

this thread fascinates me, because it makes me think of things from angles i never would have considered before.

probably because i've spent the better part of 40 years listening to traditional radio stations, i just immediately understood that the 'advertisements' would be played between bouts of music.
but now i'm wondering whether younger people make the same association—and, if not, how the message would have to be changed/specified to keep the question fair.

hmm.

[750plus]

Hahahahahaha

I just adore the way you write.

Regards

[RonPurewal]

another example of what i'm talking about is CR #111 in OG 13th/2015 edition (can't reproduce here). that question depends on NOT assuming by default that private telephone calls can be traced (so that the correct answer actually adds value to the argument).

for people my age (or older) reading the argument, this probably isn't an issue.
i was already an adult when cell phones became 'big', and i remember (only a few years ago) when calling 911 on a cell phone would route you to a dispatcher for your phone's area code, rather than for your physical location. (e.g., my phone has a las vegas area code, so, until just a few years ago, 911 calls from my phone—regardless of where i actually was—would reach a las vegas dispatcher.)

on the other hand, for a test taker in his or her early 20's today, 'personal telephone' and 'easily traced' might as well be synonymous. in that case, such a person might have a hard time telling what's even wrong with the argument in #111.
these test takers can still be expected to arrive at the correct answer—the four wrong answers are still very very wrong, for reasons that are generally not subject to change over time—but it's intriguing to think that it might be inherently harder for them to see the issue.

(note: 911 is the emergency telephone number in the US and canada, like 112 in most of europe or 999 in the UK)

[750plus]

another example of what i'm talking about is CR #111 in OG 13th/2015 edition (can't reproduce here). that question depends on NOT assuming by default that private telephone calls can be traced (so that the correct answer actually adds value to the argument).

for people my age (or older) reading the argument, this probably isn't an issue.
i was already an adult when cell phones became 'big', and i remember (only a few years ago) when calling 911 on a cell phone would route you to a dispatcher for your phone's area code, rather than for your physical location. (e.g., my phone has a las vegas area code, so, until just a few years ago, 911 calls from my phone—regardless of where i actually was—would reach a las vegas dispatcher.)

on the other hand, for a test taker in his or her early 20's today, 'personal telephone' and 'easily traced' might as well be synonymous. in that case, such a person might have a hard time telling what's even wrong with the argument in #111.
these test takers can still be expected to arrive at the correct answer—the four wrong answers are still very very wrong, for reasons that are generally not subject to change over time—but it's intriguing to think that it might be inherently harder for them to see the issue.

(note: 911 is the emergency telephone number in the US and canada, like 112 in most of europe or 999 in the UK)

Yeah, I agree

[tim]