Now available on iTunes…
To hear Kevin Coupe’s weekly radio commentary, click on the “MNB Radio” icon on the left hand side of the home page, or just go to:
http://mnb.grocerywebsite.com/Radio/Radio_Listen_S.las
Hi, I’m Kevin Coupe, and this is MorningNewsBeat Radio, available on iTunes and sponsored by Webstop, your first stop for retail website design services.
It is with great pleasure that I can tell you that Tony Kornheiser is back.
Not that he ever really went away; he’s been doing color commentary on ESPN’s “Monday Night Football” broadcast, a role in which some people like him and others detest him. But if there is one thing that Kornheiser does extremely well – other than write columns for the Washington Post, which he hardly ever does anymore – it is hosting a radio show. And this week, now that football season is all but over, he came back to local radio in Washington, DC, with a program that also is heard on XM Satellite Radio as well as being podcast on iTunes, which is how I listen to it each day.
And thank goodness. With a terrific mix of acerbity and humor, Kornheiser is equally expert at analyzing the sports stories, political events and cultural goings on of the day, and putting them all in context.
I mention all this because Kornheiser – or “Mr. Tony,” as he often is referred to – said something interesting this week that is worth considering from a business perspective. He was talking about the fact that he was given an iPod, had lost his iPod, doesn’t really miss it, and doesn’t even understand how to use an iPod and Apple’s iTunes service. And he said something very interesting, noting that the iPod gives him too many choices. “Guys my age don't need that many choices,” he said.
Now, Mr. Tony isn’t that much older than I am – six years, to be precise, which puts him younger than 60. He’s part of my generation, not my father’s…and I would have expected that he’d be more conversant with technology, and would understand that, in fact, the iPod allows people to actually edit their choices so that they have easy access to the stuff they really like. Kornheiser has very specific musical tastes – he has a feature on his show called “Old Guy Radio,” in which he plays music from his past and waxes rhapsodic about the artists who created it. I would have expected that he would understand that an iPod allows you to essentially program your own radio station.
But my expectations really aren’t the point, and Kornheiser’s statement actually sends a really important message. “Too much choice” can translate into “too much wasted time,” and I suppose at some level, that’s what all of us aging baby boomers are concerned about, as we realize that, as a Jean-Luc Picard once said, “there are fewer days ahead than there are behind...”
I’ve been thinking about choice this week because of the news that Wal-Mart essentially decided to cut the list of magazines that it is able to sell virtually in half, saying that its accredited list now will be made up of titles that its customers actually want and that it actually believes it can sell.
To me, it isn’t a matter of too much choice or too little choice. It is really about having the right choices…and I suppose that Mr. Tony makes an excellent point – that as we get older, having the right choices available with the least amount of wasted time simply makes sense.
However, there is something else to consider. Properly presented, a plethora of choices can allow many of us to become educated and interested in new products, whether it is music, movies, books or groceries. I think that this is something we cannot forget – that choice also can mean opportunity. It is why my larder always has a few foods in it that I’ve never bought before, just as my iPod always has music being added to it…a song here, a movie there, as I try to expand my options and alternatives.
It is up to retailers to strike the right balance, by being both relevant and challenging to consumers.
For MorningNewsBeat Radio, I’m Kevin Coupe.
To hear Kevin Coupe’s weekly radio commentary, click on the “MNB Radio” icon on the left hand side of the home page, or just go to:
http://mnb.grocerywebsite.com/Radio/Radio_Listen_S.las
Hi, I’m Kevin Coupe, and this is MorningNewsBeat Radio, available on iTunes and sponsored by Webstop, your first stop for retail website design services.
It is with great pleasure that I can tell you that Tony Kornheiser is back.
Not that he ever really went away; he’s been doing color commentary on ESPN’s “Monday Night Football” broadcast, a role in which some people like him and others detest him. But if there is one thing that Kornheiser does extremely well – other than write columns for the Washington Post, which he hardly ever does anymore – it is hosting a radio show. And this week, now that football season is all but over, he came back to local radio in Washington, DC, with a program that also is heard on XM Satellite Radio as well as being podcast on iTunes, which is how I listen to it each day.
And thank goodness. With a terrific mix of acerbity and humor, Kornheiser is equally expert at analyzing the sports stories, political events and cultural goings on of the day, and putting them all in context.
I mention all this because Kornheiser – or “Mr. Tony,” as he often is referred to – said something interesting this week that is worth considering from a business perspective. He was talking about the fact that he was given an iPod, had lost his iPod, doesn’t really miss it, and doesn’t even understand how to use an iPod and Apple’s iTunes service. And he said something very interesting, noting that the iPod gives him too many choices. “Guys my age don't need that many choices,” he said.
Now, Mr. Tony isn’t that much older than I am – six years, to be precise, which puts him younger than 60. He’s part of my generation, not my father’s…and I would have expected that he’d be more conversant with technology, and would understand that, in fact, the iPod allows people to actually edit their choices so that they have easy access to the stuff they really like. Kornheiser has very specific musical tastes – he has a feature on his show called “Old Guy Radio,” in which he plays music from his past and waxes rhapsodic about the artists who created it. I would have expected that he would understand that an iPod allows you to essentially program your own radio station.
But my expectations really aren’t the point, and Kornheiser’s statement actually sends a really important message. “Too much choice” can translate into “too much wasted time,” and I suppose at some level, that’s what all of us aging baby boomers are concerned about, as we realize that, as a Jean-Luc Picard once said, “there are fewer days ahead than there are behind...”
I’ve been thinking about choice this week because of the news that Wal-Mart essentially decided to cut the list of magazines that it is able to sell virtually in half, saying that its accredited list now will be made up of titles that its customers actually want and that it actually believes it can sell.
To me, it isn’t a matter of too much choice or too little choice. It is really about having the right choices…and I suppose that Mr. Tony makes an excellent point – that as we get older, having the right choices available with the least amount of wasted time simply makes sense.
However, there is something else to consider. Properly presented, a plethora of choices can allow many of us to become educated and interested in new products, whether it is music, movies, books or groceries. I think that this is something we cannot forget – that choice also can mean opportunity. It is why my larder always has a few foods in it that I’ve never bought before, just as my iPod always has music being added to it…a song here, a movie there, as I try to expand my options and alternatives.
It is up to retailers to strike the right balance, by being both relevant and challenging to consumers.
For MorningNewsBeat Radio, I’m Kevin Coupe.
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