The source of this question is GMATPrep.

This is a strengthen EXCEPT question. So the correct answer is one that does not strengthen.

This is a plan question, so you want to treat it that way.

A plan question does not come with a regular conclusion as you can see. There is no conclusion to this question, only "hopes" for an audience of 35 to 45 year olds and thereby to have a strong market appeal to advertisers.

For this reason you supply the automatic conclusion "The Plan will achieve the Goal." Fill in the specifics of plan and goal and you will see that what you are looking for is an answer is, "If the radio station plays songs popular 15 to 25 years ago they will gain an audience of 35 - 45 year olds AND thereby to have a strong market appeal to advertisers. You should keep both of these goals in mind. So anything that points to 35 to 45 year olds OR to commercial success would strengthen the plan.

You asked specifically about choice E; Choice E indicates that the plan will succeed by removing an obstacle to attaining to success. If there are no other radio stations with this format then the station has more of a chance to succeed without the competition.

Choice A strengthens that goal of attracting the 35 to 45 audience.

Choice B shows commercial success in a similar setting.

Choice C is the correct answer since this actually weakens the plan.

Choice D strengthens the link BETWEEN the two goals!

What an interesting question! The two goals really play an role here.

manhhiep2509 wrote: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.

Greenfield radio plans to start playing songs 15 to 25 yrs older popular hits

Targeted Population - 35 Yrs - 45 Yrs

Result : Building an audience of this age group ------ > Can be used by advertisers as well.

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.

Strengthens the argument that the proposed venture will be successful.

(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.

Strengthens the argument that the proposed venture will be successful.

(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.

If people prefer to hear news than music , then it means people can choose any radio station ( because news will be same everywhere) and they will not be able to create a pool of audience comprising of the age group between 35- 45 Years.

(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.

Irrelevant , we are not interested in their investment and spending habits , we just want to find out if there can be a pool of audience comprising of people between the age group of 35 to 45 years or not.

(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.

If no other radio station plays that music then there will be a demand for that specific music , hence this statement strengthens the argument.



IMO (C) is the answer.