Introducing Business History: How Free Whisky, Hot Pants and Low Fares Led to Southwest's Success

Revisionist History

Pushkin Industries

Society & Culture, True Crime, History

4.8 • 61.5K Ratings

🗓️ 19 November 2025

⏱️ 56 minutes

🔗️ Recording | iTunes | RSS

🧾️ Download transcript

Summary

Today, we're sharing a new podcast from Pushkin Industries we think you'll enjoy. Former Planet Money hosts Jacob Goldstein and Robert Smith examine the surprising stories of businesses big and small, bringing to life the greatest innovations, the boldest entrepreneurs and the craziest mavericks in the archives of commerce and finance.

Jacob and Robert explore how Southwest revolutionized flying by offering free whisky, cheap late-night tickets and free-for-all seating allocation. Their winning formula forced Southwests' competitors to change how they did business—but then the Southwest model fell apart.

Find Business History (00:10) on Apple Podcasts, Spotify, YouTube or wherever you get podcasts.

See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

Transcript

Click on a timestamp to play from that location

0:00.0	This is an IHeart podcast.
0:04.3	Malcolm Globo here. I want to tell you about a podcast I think you'll enjoy.
0:08.3	College Matters from the Chronicle.
0:10.7	Produced by the Chronicle of Higher Education, the nation's leading independent newsroom covering colleges.
0:16.4	College Matters takes listeners behind the headlines of all the biggest stories unfolding in higher
0:21.8	ed today. At a time when the administration is bearing down on colleges and universities,
0:27.2	you'll hear expert analysis about what this huge battle really means for the nation's future.
0:32.7	From roundtables with chronicle reporters to incisive interviews with newsmakers,
0:38.8	College Matters is your go-to source for all things higher ed. What does the fight over diversity, equity, and inclusion
0:44.6	mean for students, faculties, and the country? Has artificial intelligence already rewired
0:51.5	students' brains? Why are so many students opting out of college altogether?
0:56.1	Every week, College Matters makes sense of it all.
0:59.3	So subscribe today to College Matters from The Chronicle
1:02.2	on Apple, Spotify, or wherever you get your podcasts.
1:13.6	Pushkin. Hey listeners, Malcolm here.
1:18.0	Today we're doing things a little differently
1:20.1	and sharing a new podcast from Pushkin Industries
1:22.8	that we think you'll enjoy.
1:24.6	It's called Business History.
1:26.4	Our very own Jacob Goldstein and former
1:29.2	Planet Money host, Robert Smith, examined the surprising stories of businesses big and small,
1:35.1	bringing to life the greatest innovations, the boldest entrepreneurs, and the craziest mavericks
	...

Transcript will be available on the free plan in 2 days. Upgrade to see the full transcript now.

Previous episode | Next episode

Disclaimer: The podcast and artwork embedded on this page are from Pushkin Industries, and are the property of its owner and not affiliated with or endorsed by Tapesearch.

Generated transcripts are the property of Pushkin Industries and are distributed freely under the Fair Use doctrine. Transcripts generated by Tapesearch are not guaranteed to be accurate.