{"id":36974,"date":"2021-06-17T07:43:18","date_gmt":"2021-06-17T12:43:18","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.adpulp.com\/?p=36974"},"modified":"2021-06-17T07:43:18","modified_gmt":"2021-06-17T12:43:18","slug":"is-this-seat-open-tall-tales-from-the-southwest-airlines-vault","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.adpulp.com\/is-this-seat-open-tall-tales-from-the-southwest-airlines-vault\/","title":{"rendered":"Is This Seat Open? Tall Tales from the Southwest Airlines Vault"},"content":{"rendered":"

Companies are groupings of people; therefore, companies are often rich in story. Then there are companies led by mavericks, where stories flow like booze at an open bar holiday party.<\/p>\n

\u201cIs This Seat Open?,\u201d is a new podcast produced by L.A. Times Studios and At Will Media<\/a> in partnership with Southwest Airlines. In celebration of Southwest\u2019s 50th anniversary, the 20-episode audio series<\/a> features first-hand stories from the people who lived through the wildest and most memorable moments in the airline\u2019s history.<\/p>\n

The show’s name is a nod to Southwest\u2019s open seating. \u201cIs This Seat Open?\u201d<\/a> gives listeners a chance to grab a seat by some of the organization\u2019s employees, friends, and family to hear about everything from arm wrestling competitions to planes full of dogs.<\/p>\n

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Hosted by Southwest employees Quinnie Jenkins and Lucas Hershberger, each 7 to10-minute episode features someone from the company. I like the short format and the first episode, “Malice in Dallas” is spot on. At the core of the story is an epic battle between two CEOs over an advertising tagline.<\/p>\n

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There is also the power of spectacle, live events, and PR in this funny Southwest Airlines story from the early 1990s. Matt Buckley, the featured employee in Episode 1, recalls how Southwest’s legendary CEO, Herb Kelleher, rolled out of bed in the morning and just wanted to have fun.<\/p>\n