Podcasts about amagi

Last time we spoke about Operation Downfall. The Allies, under General Krueger, initiated a decisive campaign to clear the Japanese from Luzon. As they faced the entrenched Shobu Group, challenges included treacherous terrain and a resilient enemy. Simultaneously, Japan braced for an invasion, mobilizing reinforcements and devising defensive strategies to ward off the impending Allied assault. As July approached, General Yamashita's forces prepared to execute a final breakout, but progress was hampered by relentless guerrilla attacks and adverse weather conditions. With Operation Downfall looming, Allied troops focused on strategic landings in Kyushu and Honshu, driven by a relentless determination to defeat the Japanese militarily. The intense battles of Luzon became a precursor to this monumental operation, marking a turning point in the Pacific War.  This episode is The Siege of Japan Welcome to the Pacific War Podcast Week by Week, I am your dutiful host Craig Watson. But, before we start I want to also remind you this podcast is only made possible through the efforts of Kings and Generals over at Youtube. Perhaps you want to learn more about world war two? Kings and Generals have an assortment of episodes on world war two and much more  so go give them a look over on Youtube. So please subscribe to Kings and Generals over at Youtube and to continue helping us produce this content please check out www.patreon.com/kingsandgenerals. If you are still hungry for some more history related content, over on my channel, the Pacific War Channel you can find a few videos all the way from the Opium Wars of the 1800's until the end of the Pacific War in 1945.  Boy I have been waiting a long time to come to this point. One of the most significant events in human history that deeply affects us to this very day. Nuclear war is as much a threat today as it was during the cold war. The dropping of the Atomic bombs on Hiroshima and Nagasaki were deeply complicated events fraught with issues of morality. It goes without saying whether or not the bombs needed to be dropped, their actual impact on the surrender of Japan and so forth are still issues hotly debated to this very day. I have spoken on the issue countless times on my personal channel and podcast, but I figure to do this subject justice I will create a full episode for it. Thus in this episode we are going to just cover what happened, but rest assured I will come back to this later on. As we last explored, following the successful invasion of Luzon in the Philippines, along with the fall of Iwo Jima and Okinawa, American forces began preparing for the final invasion of the Japanese Home Islands. This operation was codenamed Operation Downfall. One key initiative leading up to this invasion was a comprehensive air-sea blockade and bombardment campaign against Japan itself. Previously, we detailed the extensive firebombing and precision bombing efforts executed by General LeMay's 21st Bomber Command. However, during this crucial period, the B-29 Superfortress bombers undertook a distinct operation under the codename Starvation. This single operation would be one of the largest factors that contributed to the surrender of Japan and its one most people have never heard of. In July 1944, Admiral Chester W. Nimitz proposed a bold plan to use B-29 Superfortress bombers to mine the waterways surrounding the Japanese Home Islands. Although Generals Henry H. Arnold and Walter Hansell expressed concerns that this mining campaign could distract from the B-29's primary role as a strategic bombardment aircraft, they eventually agreed to assign one bomber group to focus on aerial mining when conditions permitted. On December 22, Hansell's 21st Bomber Command was directed to formulate a naval mining program aimed at executing between 150 to 200 sorties each month, which was set to begin in April 1945. However, by this time, General Curtis LeMay had taken command of the 21st Bomber Command. LeMay was notably enthusiastic about the idea and successfully recommended to Washington an upgraded mining program that aimed to deploy up to 1,500 mines each month using a full B-29 wing. LeMay viewed aerial mining in a different light than Arnold or Hansell, seeing it as a vital extension of strategic bombing. He recognized that most of Japan's war production materials, as well as a significant portion of its food supplies, were imported from regions such as China, Southeast Asia, and the Dutch East Indies. Japan's industrial heartland is primarily found on Honshu, its largest and most industrialized island, while Shikoku, another island, also lacks essential resources such as iron ore and high-quality coal. These crucial materials were sourced from Kyushu and Hokkaido, both of which are other Japanese islands. All these resources were transported by sea, so without easy access to raw materials, Japan's industrial output would come to a grinding halt. The only aircraft capable of deploying mines effectively where they were needed were the B-29s. Areas such as the Inland Sea, the Sea of Japan, and the Korean Peninsula were out of reach for other Allied aircraft. Additionally, Allied submarines could only venture into these perilous waters with great risk. Notably, about 80% of Japan's merchant fleet utilized the Shimonoseki Strait, a critical waterway that separates Kyushu from Honshu. Understanding the strategic advantage of closing this strait, LeMay decided to allocate an entire wing of B-29s specifically to mine this vital route. Brigadier General John Davies commanded the 313th Bombardment Wing, tasked with deploying approximately 2,000 naval mines each month into Japanese waters. The primary goals of this operation were to prevent essential raw materials and food supplies from reaching the Home Islands, hinder the supply and mobilization of Japanese military forces, and disrupt transportation routes in the Inland Sea of Japan. Between March 27 and April 12, Davies' bombers targeted key enemy shipping bases located in Kure, Sasebo, and Hiroshima. They also focused on the Shimonoseki Strait, a narrow and strategically important waterway that links the Inland Sea with the Tsushima Strait. Notably, after these attacks, this strait was successfully closed for two weeks. On May 3 and 5, the 313th Bombardment Wing laid down a total of 1,422 mines in the waters surrounding the Shimonoseki Strait, as well as near major urban centers like Tokyo, Nagoya, Kobe, and Osaka. These efforts aimed to severely disrupt maritime commerce between Japan's major industrial areas. Just a week later, the minefields expanded from the Shimonoseki Strait to include Kyushu, the southernmost of Japan's four main islands, and northwest Honshu, the largest island containing Tokyo. By the end of that month, these mines were proving remarkably effective, accounting for the sinking of more ships than Japanese submarines. In fact, within the Shimonoseki Strait alone, 113 ships had been sunk. Between June 7 and July 8, American forces expanded and fortified minefields along the western coast of Japan while also replenishing the existing minefields in the Shimonoseki Strait and the Inland Sea. During this effort, they successfully laid a total of 3,542 mines across 14 missions. The "total blockade" officially commenced on July 9 and continued until the end of the war. Throughout this period, American forces executed 474 sorties, dropping another 3,746 mines that replenished existing minefields and extended coverage to harbors in Korea. In total, Brigadier General Davies conducted 46 missions that laid down 26 minefields containing 12,135 mines. Remarkably, only 15 B-29s were lost during these operations. In turn, the mines accounted for the sinking or damaging of 670 Japanese ships, with a total loss of 1.25 million tons. This mining campaign effectively strangled Japanese industry, as the denial of essential raw materials to factories proved more disruptive than the direct bombing of the plants themselves.  Despite the clear vulnerability of Japan's economy to disruptions in coastal shipping, Japanese authorities were alarmingly unprepared to address the threat posed by air-dropped mines. By August 1945, Japan had committed 349 ships and 20,000 personnel to counter the Starvation campaign, but these efforts were overwhelmingly ineffective. The shipping crisis escalated to such a degree that searchlights and anti-aircraft batteries were redeployed from urban centers to defend expected mining targets. Additionally, suicide boats were employed in desperate attempts to clear the minefields. Royal Navy historian S.W. Roskill commented on the situation, stating, “The blockade had, in fact, been far more successful than we realized at the time. Although submarines initially played a critical role in enforcing the blockade, it was the air-laid mines that ultimately strangled Japan.” Japanese officials shared this assessment. A director from a Tokyo steel company reflected on the situation, noting that the denial of essential raw materials to factories caused far greater disruption than the direct bombing of the plants themselves. This contradicted the views of US Army Air Forces experts back in Washington. In a striking remark after the war, a Japanese minesweeping officer told American forces, “The result of B-29 mining was so effective against shipping that it eventually starved the country. You could have likely shortened the war by starting this campaign earlier.” Meanwhile, General LeMay continued his firebombing campaign against Japan. By the end of May, urban areas around Tokyo Bay had been devastated, prompting the 21st Bomber Command to shift focus westward toward the densely populated industrial complexes lining Osaka Bay. On June 1, 521 B-29s were dispatched to bomb industrial targets situated along the Yodo River, with an escort of 148 P-51 fighters. Unfortunately, an undetected thunderstorm struck en route, which meant only 27 P-51s reached Osaka, while another 27 crashed, and the remaining fighters had to return to Iwo Jima. Despite these complications, the B-29s bombed from altitudes ranging between 18,000 and 28,500 feet, successfully dropping 2,788 tons of incendiary bombs on Osaka. The attack resulted in the burning of 3.15 square miles, destroying 136,107 houses and 4,222 factories. Four days later, on June 3, 530 unescorted B-29 Superfortresses launched a bombing raid on the city of Kobe. Of those, 473 aircraft targeted the city, resulting in the destruction of 4.35 square miles. This devastating strike led to the demolition of 51,399 buildings, while another 928 suffered significant damage. The raid, however, came with losses, as 11 bombers were downed, and 176 were damaged in the operation. On June 7, 449 B-29s returned to Osaka. Despite facing heavy cloud cover that restricted visibility, they managed to burn an additional 2.21 square miles of the city, destroying another 55,333 buildings.  By the conclusion of General Curtis LeMay's maximum-effort area bombing campaign, the six most significant industrial cities in Japan, Tokyo, Nagoya, Kobe, Osaka, Yokohama, and Kawasaki, had been left in ruins. Major factories were either destroyed or severely damaged, while thousands of smaller household and feeder industrial units were consumed by flames. Casualty figures surged into six figures, leaving millions of people homeless. The evacuation of survivors further complicated efforts to secure labor for the factories that remained operational. Japan's air-raid protection system proved woefully inadequate to withstand a protracted siege by very heavy bombers. The system lacked sufficient organization, trained personnel, shelters, fire-fighting equipment, and facilities for relief and evacuation. Additionally, there was a significant deficiency in civilian indoctrination regarding emergency procedures. Under the relentless pressure of repeated major attacks, local Air Raid Precaution organizations collapsed, adding strain to an already overburdened imperial government. Japanese civilians, who had been conditioned by victory propaganda, displayed little of the discipline that helped German citizens endure years of aerial bombardment. As news of military defeats and the impact of B-29 precision strikes filtered into the great cities, residents began to lose confidence in their leaders' ability to protect them or care for the victims of the attacks. Abe Motoki, the Minister of Home Affairs at the time, later remarked, “I believe that after the raids on Tokyo on May 23-24, 1945, civilian defense measures in that city, as well as in other parts of Japan, were considered a futile effort.” Regarding the operational cost of this campaign for the 21st Bomber Command, it was not considered excessively burdensome. Over the course of 17 maximum-effort incendiary attacks, LeMay dispatched a total of 6,960 B-29s, which dropped 41,592 tons of bombs. The losses amounted to 136 B-29s, averaging only 1.9% of the sorties, a rate significantly lower than what had been endured in earlier months, and quite acceptable by the standards of conventional strategic bombing. Meteorologists predicted that the summer monsoon would keep Japan's skies covered with clouds for most of the upcoming months, from June to August. As a result, LeMay shifted strategies under what became known as the Empire Plan. This approach prioritized targeting industrial and military sites during daylight hours when the weather permitted, while secondary cities that had sufficient industrial capability became targets for nighttime area attacks. This change meant that since no single target warranted a full four-wing maximum effort, multiple missions could be scheduled in a single day. Accordingly, on June 9, 110 B-29s attacked three aircraft factories located in Narao, Atsuta, and Akashi. The strikes successfully destroyed the factories in Narao and Atsuta, but an unfortunate miscalculation led to the bombing of the town near Akashi. The following day, June 10, a force of 280 B-29s, escorted by 107 P-51 Mustang fighters, targeted six distinct sites in the Tokyo Bay area. The mission yielded significant results, with all targets sustaining heavy damage. Finally, on June 15, 516 B-29s were dispatched for one last firebombing raid against Osaka and the neighboring city of Amagasaki. In this combined assault, 444 bombers dropped over 1,350 tons of incendiary bombs, incinerating an additional 1.9 square miles in Osaka and more than half a square mile in Amagasaki. Starting on June 17, General Curtis LeMay's firebombing campaigns began to focus on medium-sized secondary cities across Japan. On that day, 477 B-29 Superfortresses targeted the cities of Omuta, Hamamatsu, Yokkaichi, and Kagoshima, burning a combined total of six square miles in these urban areas. The success of this initial multi-target mission ensured the continuation of the program, establishing an operational pattern that would remain standard during the final weeks of the war. In total, multiple incendiary attacks were conducted on sixteen occasions, averaging about two missions per week. Between June 17 and August 14, American forces carried out 8,014 sorties, dropping a staggering 54,184 tons of incendiaries across 58 secondary cities. On June 22, 446 B-29s were dispatched to strike six targets located in southern Honshu, including the crucial Kure Naval Arsenal. In this mission, 382 bombers released 2,103 tons of bombs, inflicting heavy damage to these essential manufacturing facilities. Just four days later, on June 26, a force of 510 B-29s, accompanied by 148 P-51 Mustang escorts, targeted locations in southern Honshu and the nearby island of Shikoku. However, dense clouds over much of the area complicated assembly and forced many aircraft to attack targets of opportunity individually or in small groups. As a result, adverse weather conditions would delay subsequent daytime raids until July 24.  In the coordinated strike program that commenced in June, the decision to focus on either the Empire Plan or urban industrial targets was largely influenced by weather conditions. As the program took shape, the 315th Bombardment Wing (VH) became available for combat operations. This wing operated somewhat independently from the other bomber units, with its activities significantly guided by the specialized equipment of its aircraft. Authorized for deployment in the Pacific in December 1944, the 315th settled at Northwest Field, Guam, during May and June. Its commander, Brigadier General Frank A. Armstrong, Jr., was a seasoned veteran of the strategic air offensive against Germany. The B-29s of the 315th Wing differed in two key respects from those of other units. They were equipped with the AN/APQ-7 (Eagle) radar, a sophisticated radar system designed for bombing, instead of the conventional AN/APQ-13 radar. The latter had primarily served as a navigational aid. While crews had become adept at using the AN/APQ-13 for night or poor-weather bombing, it lacked the precision necessary for accurate strikes. The Eagle radar, however, offered significantly greater definition and, although it required a long bomb run averaging seventy miles, this was not considered a serious hindrance in the tactical context of Japan. To further enhance its night-bombing capabilities, the Superfortresses had been stripped of all armament except for the tail gun. This modification, along with the Eagle radar, clearly marked the 315th as a dedicated night-bombing unit. There were various proposals for the use of these specially equipped B-29s, including high-altitude bombing, area bombing, and aerial mining. However, by the time the 315th Wing was ready for combat, the 313th Bombardment Wing had already gained proficiency in aerial mining, while all wings had become adept at area bombing using the AN/APQ-13. Training for the 315th had focused heavily on night radar tactics, with less emphasis on visual bombing and daytime formation flights. It was evident that if the Eagle radar was to undergo a thorough scientific evaluation, it should be tested against a specific set of targets that were preferably large in size and located along the coastline. In the view of the 21st Bomber Command, the oil industry met these requirements perfectly. The 315th Bombardment Wing initiated its specialized campaign on June 26 with a targeted strike against the Utsube Oil Refinery in Yokkaichi, the top-priority target. By August 14, the wing had conducted 15 additional missions against a total of 10 targets, which included various petroleum refineries and synthetic plants, such as the Maruzen Oil Company in Wakayama, Mitsubishi Oil Company in Kawasaki, and Nippon Oil Company plants spread across Akita, Kansai, Kudamatsu, and Amagasaki, as well as the Imperial Fuel Industry Company in Ube and Toa Fuel Industry in Wakayama. During the campaign, the 315th Wing dispatched a total of 1,200 B-29s, 1,095 of which successfully bombed their primary targets, dropping 9,084 tons of 500-pound general-purpose bombs deemed particularly effective against the scattered installations. The increase in bomb load capacity was made possible by stripping the planes of unnecessary equipment and conducting bombing missions individually at night. As the crews gained experience, they were able to increase the average weight carried from 14,631 pounds during the first mission to 20,684 pounds by August 9. Despite concerns about safety from removing most of the aircraft's armaments, only four planes were lost and 66 sustained damage throughout the campaign. The 20th Air Force estimated that the B-29 attacks led to the destruction of approximately 6 million barrels of tank storage capacity, and the United States Strategic Bombing Survey (USSBS) reported that refining capacity had been reduced from 90,000 barrels a day in December 1941 to around 17,000 barrels. However, the strategic impact was more apparent than real, as many storage tanks were empty and refinery production had fallen to just 4% of capacity before the very heavy bomber campaign began. The lack of precise intelligence regarding the state of Japan's economy had justified the emphasis on the oil program as a form of reinsurance. Nevertheless, the blockade had effectively severed the nation's oil resources, resulting in tankers remaining idle at the docks. On July 1, Admiral Halsey's 3rd Fleet departed San Pedro Bay to initiate the first preliminary strikes in preparation for Operation Olympic. This operation involved battleships and heavy cruisers conducting surface bombardments of industrial targets in eastern Japan, while lighter forces performed anti-shipping sweeps along the coast. Additionally, a fleet of submarines advanced ahead of Admiral McCain's Task Force 38 to eliminate picket boats and establish lifeguard positions. At 18:15 on July 9, the force began its 25-knot approach toward the Home Islands, launching its first strikes against the Tokyo area at 04:00 on July 10. A total of 1,732 sorties were executed, targeting locations from Koriyama to Hamamatsu, dropping 454 tons of bombs and 1,648 rockets over Honshu with negligible opposition. American airmen reported the destruction of 109 enemy aircraft and damage to 231 during these strikes.   Following this, Halsey's fleet moved north to bombard Hokkaido and northern Honshu, which were beyond the effective range of the B-29s and had previously evaded attack. At 05:59 on July 14, Rear-Admiral John Shafroth's Bombardment Group Able, consisting primarily of three battleships and two heavy cruisers, was tasked with attacking the Kamaishi Works of the Japan Iron Company. By midday, Shafroth's forces had opened fire on Kamaishi, marking the first surface bombardment of Japan by a hostile fleet in over 80 years. Between 12:10 and 14:19, a total of 802 16-inch shells, 728 8-inch shells, and 825 5-inch shells were expended, setting the town ablaze as key industrial and residential targets were hit and resulting in the sinking of one oil tanker, two barges, and one small ship in the harbor. Simultaneously, McCain's carriers closed to within 80 nautical miles of Japan, launching 1,391 sorties against Hokkaido and northern Honshu to target railways, shipping, and airfields, again facing only light resistance. In the ensuing strikes, American planes sank over 50,000 tons of shipping and naval craft, including the destroyer Tachibana, four minesweepers, eight naval auxiliaries, and around 20 merchant vessels, with significant losses occurring at Muroran and Hakodate. In addition, 25 enemy planes were destroyed, while American losses totaled 24 aircraft and 17 airmen, about half of whom were lost in combat. Task Force 38 launched another assault on July 15, executing 966 combat sorties that dropped 355 tons of bombs and expended 2,093 rockets. This operation resulted in the sinking of 65 vessels and damaging 128 others, as well as the destruction of 48 locomotives and damage to 28. Widespread destruction was inflicted on several facilities, particularly the Aomori–Hakodate railcar ferry system, which transported 30% of the coal between Hokkaido and Honshu. The strikes devastated the ferry system, sinking eight ferries, beaching eight more, and damaging two. In total, 70 auxiliary sailing colliers were sunk, and 11 were damaged, along with 10 steel freighters lost and 7 damaged. The ferry strikes were the brainchild of Halsey's operations officer, Captain Ralph “Rollo” Wilson. “When the first action reports began to sift in,” Halsey related: He snatched them up and pored over them; the ferries were not mentioned. Later reports also ignored them. Rollo was sulking and cursing when the final reports arrived. I heard him whistle and saw him beam. “Six ferries sunk!” he said. “Pretty soon we'll have ‘em moving their stuff by oxcarts and skiffs!”  Additionally, 20 city blocks in Kushiro were razed. The most significant outcome of these operations was the virtual severance of Hokkaido from Honshu. By the end of the raids, Halsey's 3rd Fleet had achieved the sinking of 140 ships and small craft, damaging 235 others, and destroying 38 planes while damaging 46. Meanwhile, Rear-Admiral Oscar Badger's Bombardment Group Baker, composed of three battleships, two light cruisers, and eight destroyers, was assigned to bombard Muroran. Between 09:36 and 10:25, this group fired 860 16-inch shells at the Nihon Steel Company and the Wanishi Ironworks, targeting both the coal liquefaction plant and coke ovens. This bombardment inflicted severe damage on those facilities and resulted in the destruction or damage of 2,541 houses in Muroran. As Hasley recalled “These sweeps and bombardments accomplished more than destruction. they showed the enemy that we made no bones about playing in his front yard. From now on, we patrolled his channels and shelled his coast almost every night that the weather permitted.” Additionally, Rear-Admiral James Cary Jones' four light cruisers conducted a sweep along the east coast of Honshu to hunt for Japanese shipping; however, they reported no contacts during their mission. Early on July 16, Task Force 38 retired east of Honshu to begin refueling and rendezvoused with Admiral Rawlings' Task Force 37, which agreed to operate closely as an additional task group for Admiral Halsey. At 03:50 on July 17, the two task forces began launching strikes against central Honshu despite adverse weather conditions. The American forces executed 205 sorties targeting the Mito area, while British aircraft flew 87 sorties against airfields and railyards along the northwest coast of Honshu. Despite the bad weather, several small craft and locomotives were destroyed, though the operation resulted in the loss of nine aircraft and four airmen. Later that afternoon, Halsey detached Badger's augmented Bombardment Group to attack Hitachi, a significant industrial and electronics-producing city. The 53-minute bombardment commenced in fog and rain at 23:14, during which 1,207 16-inch shells, 267 14-inch shells, and 292 6-inch rounds were expended against the Tago and Mito Works of the Hitachi Manufacturing Company, as well as the Yamate Plant and copper refining facilities of Hitachi Mine, resulting in severe devastation. On July 18, McCain's two leading carriers launched a total of 592 sorties against Yokosuka, specifically targeting the heavily camouflaged battleship Nagato at the naval base. The attacks resulted in the sinking of one old cruiser, one minesweeper, one submarine, one incomplete destroyer, and three patrol vessels, in addition to damaging one subchaser, one old destroyer, and one old battleship. Although Nagato was hit multiple times and suffered heavy damage, it managed to stay afloat. Meanwhile, three carriers also targeted airfields and other opportunities in Tokyo, while Task Force 37 attacked a seaplane base at Kitaura and airfields at Nobara, Naruto, Chosi, Kanoike, Natori, and Kitakawa. The recent raids resulted in the destruction of 43 enemy planes and damage to 77 others on the ground, along with the destruction of three locomotives and the derailing of four electrified train cars by rockets. However, the American forces incurred losses of 14 aircraft and 18 aircrew, as the 3rd Fleet flyers reported encountering the fiercest anti-aircraft fire they had yet experienced. Additionally, Rear-Admiral Carl Holden's four light cruisers were detached during the night to sweep shipping off Sagami Bay and to target the radar site at Cape Nojima. On July 21, Captain Thomas Hederman's Destroyer Squadron 61, consisting of nine destroyers, was assigned to conduct another anti-shipping sweep off Sagami Bay. Pursuing four radar contacts, the destroyers engaged targets at midnight on July 22, firing guns and torpedoes from 7,000 yards. This action resulted in the sinking of the 800-ton freighter No.5 Hakutetsu Maru and damaging the 6,919-ton Enbun Maru. In response, Japanese coastal artillery, the minesweeper W-1, and subchaser Ch-42 returned fire, but Hederman's squadron successfully retired without damage. Although minor in scale, the Battle of Sagami Bay would ultimately be the last surface action of the war. Meanwhile, as part of Operation Barney, a planned submarine penetration of the Sea of Japan, nine submarines succeeded in sinking 27 Japanese merchant vessels and one submarine, totaling 54,786 tons.  On June 8, the submarine Barb commenced her twelfth patrol, tasked with terrorizing the Sea of Okhotsk using her newly installed 5-inch rocket launchers. Over the following weeks, Skipper Commander Eugene “Luckey” Fluckey executed successful rocket bombardments on Shari, Hokkaido, and targets in Shikuka, Kashiho, and Shiritoru on Karafuto (southern Sakhalin), also employing the submarine's deck guns to destroy 35 sampans in the town of Kaihyo To. Observing Karafuto trains transporting military supplies to ports, Fluckey devised a plan to intercept these trains. Engineman Third Class Billy Hatfield recalled how, as a child, he had placed nuts on railroad ties and watched as the weight of passing trains cracked them between rail and tie. Realizing this principle could be adapted, he suggested rigging an automatic detonator. Fluckey had many volunteers for the mission, including a Japanese POW, and carefully selected Hatfield and seven others, deciding against leading the shore party himself. Just after midnight on July 23, 1945, Fluckey maneuvered Barb to within 950 yards of the Karafuto coast. Led by Lieutenant William Walker, the team launched two rubber rafts at 00:30. Before they left, Fluckey instructed them, “Boys, if you get stuck, head for Siberia, 130 miles north, following the mountain ranges. Good luck.” Upon reaching the shore, the Americans located the tracks and buried a 55-pound scuttling charge and battery beneath the rails, positioning it under a water tower they planned to use as a lookout. As Motor Machinist's Mate First Class John Markuson climbed up, he unexpectedly found he was scaling a sentry tower, causing him to retreat without alerting the sleeping guard. When a train passed, the team dove for cover before resuming their work after it had gone by. Shortly after 01:30, Walker's team signaled their return to Barb, which was now just 600 yards offshore. Fifteen minutes later, while the boats were halfway back, Fluckey heard the rumble of an approaching train. He hoisted a megaphone and urged the crew to “Paddle like the devil, boys!” At 01:47, a 16-car Japanese train struck Hatfield's detonator, resulting in a massive explosion that sent debris soaring 200 feet into the air and reportedly killed 150 Japanese. Minutes later, all eight Americans were safely aboard Barb, which then slipped back into the night, having successfully executed the only amphibious invasion of Japan during World War II. Returning to the main action, Halsey aimed to eliminate the remnants of the Combined Fleet at the heavily fortified Kure Naval Base. Consequently, Task Force 38 began launching the first of 1,363 sorties against ships and airfields in Kyushu, Shikoku, and Honshu, ringing the Inland Sea at 04:40 on July 24. A total of 599 tons of bombs and 1,615 rockets were unleashed over Kure, resulting in the sinking or damaging of 22 warships, which totaled 258,000 tons. Among the affected vessels were the battleships Hyuga, Ise, and Haruna; fleet carriers Amagi and Katsuragi; the escort carrier Kaiyo; heavy cruisers Tone and Aoba; as well as light cruisers Oyodo and Kitakami. In addition, another 53 vessels amounting to 17,000 tons were sunk at various locations, including Hiroshima Bay, Niihama, Bungo Channel, and Kii Channel. At Kobe, the incomplete fleet carrier Aso was also attacked and damaged. American Hellcats and Corsairs effectively swept aside Japanese aerial opposition, shooting down 18 enemy planes while destroying 40 aircraft and damaging another 80 on the ground. Furthermore, around the Inland Sea, 16 locomotives were destroyed and five were damaged, while 20 hangars sustained damage. Three oil tanks were set ablaze at Kure and one at Tano. Additionally, four electric trains and a roundhouse were strafed at Hamamatsu, and various military installations, including barracks, warehouses, power plants, and factories around the airfields, received significant damage. Simultaneously, Rear-Admiral Rawlings' Task Force 37 conducted 257 sorties against targets in Japan and the surrounding offshore areas, sinking the escort carrier Shimane Maru in Shido Bay, along with a number of destroyers, small escorts, and coasters. Meanwhile, Jones' light cruisers swept through the Kii Channel before bombarding the Kushimoto seaplane base and airfields at Cape Shionomisaki during the night. Supporting these efforts, General LeMay dispatched 625 B-29s against seven targets in the Nagoya and Osaka areas, successfully inflicting heavy damage on all of them despite the spotty weather, marking this as the last major attack on the Japanese mainland during the war, as two weeks of cloudy weather ensued. In the early hours of July 25, McCain's aircraft carriers resumed launching strikes against airfields and shipping in the Inland Sea and the Nagoya-Osaka areas. During this operation, they executed a total of 655 sorties, expending 185 tons of bombs and 1,162 rockets, successfully sinking nine ships totaling 8,000 tons and damaging another 35 vessels. The strikes also resulted in the downing of 21 Japanese planes, with an additional 61 aircraft destroyed on the ground and 68 damaged. After refueling on July 27, Halsey's carrier forces moved to launch points located 96 nautical miles off Shikoku. At 04:43 on July 28, they resumed strikes over the Inland Sea, focusing on targets from northern Kyushu to Nagoya, as well as airfields across Honshu along the Sea of Japan. This resulted in McCain flying a total of 1,602 sorties, dropping 605 tons of bombs and expending 2,050 rockets. These attacks sank 27 ships, amounting to 43,000 tons, including the battleships Ise and Haruna, the fleet carrier Amagi, and the Combined Fleet flagship Oyodo. Additionally, 78 vessels totaling 216,000 tons were reported damaged, among them the fleet carrier Katsuragi, heavy cruiser Tone, and light cruiser Kitakami. American pilots reported the destruction of 21 Japanese aircraft in the air and claimed 115 destroyed on the ground across 30 area airfields. They also successfully destroyed 14 locomotives, four oil cars, two roundhouses, three oil tanks, three warehouses, one hangar, and a transformer station. In support of these efforts, Task Force 37 conducted 260 sorties against the eastern Inland Sea, targeting the dockyard at Harima and sinking or severely damaging four corvettes at Maizuru. Meanwhile, the 7th Air Force's 11th and 494th Bombardment Groups carried out a day-long raid on Kure, successfully sinking the heavy cruiser Aoba. By sunset that evening, the Imperial Japanese Navy had effectively ceased to exist, though the cost for the Americans was steep, with losses amounting to 101 planes and 88 men since July 24. As Halsey moved east to target the Osaka-Nagoya area, Shafroth's reinforced Bombardment Group was detached on July 29 to bombard Hamamatsu. During the night, they successfully unloaded 810 16-inch shells, 265 14-inch shells, and 1,035 8-inch shells, damaging the Imperial Government Railway locomotive works, igniting a blaze at the Japanese Musical Instrument Company, and wreaking havoc on infrastructure along the critical Tokaido main line. The following day, McCain's carriers conducted 1,224 sorties against airfields in Osaka, Kobe, Maizuru, and Nagoya, expending 397 tons of bombs and 2,532 rockets. These strikes resulted in the sinking of 20 vessels totaling 6,000 tons and damaging another 56 ships. The pilots also claimed destruction of 115 enemy aircraft on the ground, while inflicting severe damage on numerous industrial targets, including aircraft factories and naval docks in Maizuru. In Miyazu Bay, the destroyer Hatsushino struck an air-dropped naval mine, marking the final loss of 129 Japanese destroyers sunk during the war. That night, seven destroyers advanced deep into Suruga Bay, unleashing 1,100 5-inch shells on Shimizu within seven minutes, successfully destroying or damaging 118 industrial buildings. Typhoon weather would impede the operations of the 3rd Fleet for the next two weeks, as Admiral Nimitz ordered Halsey to steer clear of southern Japan, which was set to become the target of a new and deadly weapon: the atomic bomb. The U.S. Army had begun its project to develop an atomic bomb on August 16, 1942, under the auspices of the Manhattan Project. The project was directed by Major-General Leslie Groves and involved renowned scientists such as Robert Oppenheimer, Enrico Fermi, Niels Bohr, Richard Feynman, and Albert Einstein. Over time, it expanded to include a design center at Los Alamos and two production facilities at Hanford and Clinton. By August 1945, the teams at Los Alamos had successfully designed, developed, and built a gun-type atomic bomb capable of forcing five pounds of uranium-235 against another 17 pounds at high speed, thereby achieving critical mass and releasing immense heat, light, blast, and radiation. The team was also experimenting with an even more powerful device: the plutonium bomb, which utilized an implosion method whereby a sphere of plutonium was compressed by conventional explosives to reach criticality. By early August, scientists had managed to produce enough nuclear material to create only one uranium device, known as Little Boy, and one plutonium bomb, referred to as Fat Man. Each weapon had the potential to annihilate an entire city, and American leaders were prepared to use them if it could compel the Japanese Empire to surrender without necessitating an invasion of Japan. A Targeting Committee led by Groves, consisting of Manhattan Project and Air Force personnel, recommended Hiroshima, Niigata, Kokura, and Nagasaki as primary targets.  Groves' Targeting Committee employed several criteria to select sites for atomic bomb targets. The chosen targets had to possess strategic value to the Japanese and be situated between Tokyo and Nagasaki. Additionally, the target needed to feature a large urban area with a minimum diameter of three miles and must be relatively untouched by previous bombings, ironically spared for potential atomic destruction at a later stage. A crucial condition was that, to the best of their knowledge, these areas should harbor no concentrations of Allied prisoners of war. However, this requirement was challenging to ascertain accurately due to a lack of reliable information about the locations of prisoners. Initially, the committee considered 17 candidates and selected five primary targets: Hiroshima, Yokohama, Kokura, Niigata, and Kyoto. On May 28, they narrowed the list to three: Kyoto, Niigata, and Hiroshima. Hiroshima was significant as it housed Hata's 2nd General Army headquarters and featured a large shipyard, while Niigata was a major industrial city with an important port. Moreover, Kyoto held considerable cultural and religious significance for the Japanese. Secretary of War Stimson, having previously cautioned General Arnold about the humanitarian consequences of targeting cities with incendiary bombings, insisted on removing Kyoto from the list after intense discussions with Groves. On July 21, President Truman concurred with Stimson during their meetings in Potsdam, deciding that Kyoto should be spared. Subsequently, Kokura, known for its large arsenal and ordnance works, replaced Kyoto. Additionally, LeMay's staff reportedly included Nagasaki as an alternate target due to potential weather issues, as it was home to Mitsubishi's arms factories, electric production facilities, ordnance works, and extensive dockyards, making it a valuable target. Meanwhile, a high-level civilian Interim Committee, under Secretary of War Henry Stimson, ultimately advised President Truman on the use of nuclear weapons, reasoning that their deployment would be no worse than the current incendiary bombing campaigns against Japan. The committee also recommended that an atomic bomb be deployed as soon as possible, without warning, to maximize shock value and target a "war plant… surrounded by workers' houses." Following a successful operational test of the experimental plutonium bomb conducted at Trinity on July 16, President Truman authorized General Spaatz to prepare for the bomb drops before August 3. Colonel Paul Tibbets' 509th Composite Group had been specially organized in secret since September 1944 to deliver nuclear weapons, and by June, it had arrived at Tinian under the command of LeMay's 21st Bomber Command. General Twinning replaced LeMay as commander of the 21st on August 1, and he would ultimately issue the direct orders for Tibbets to drop the atomic bomb. The atomic bomb mission had a convoluted command structure. The Joint Chiefs of Staff were largely left out of the chain of command. LeMay was Tibbet's nominal commander; however, Groves still had extensive control over the operation through his deputy Brigadier General Thomas Farrell on Tinian. The 21st Bomber Command would determine when the atomic bomb mission was launched, based on suitable weather conditions. Even at this stage, General of the Air Force Henry "Hap" Arnold and LeMay were still skeptical about the Manhattan Project; they thought B-29 incendiary and high-explosive bombing operations would suffice to end the war soon. LeMay even questioned the 509th CG pilots' ability to conduct the mission; he wanted seasoned Pacific B-29 veteran crews to drop the nuclear cargo. While the Imperial Japanese Army (IJA) and Imperial Japanese Navy (IJN) prepared for an impending invasion, the U.S. Army Air Forces (USAAF) continued its bombing campaign against Japan. The crews of the 509th Composite Group needed to acclimate to the navigational challenges, varied weather conditions, extensive distances, and the geography of the region, all while becoming accustomed to combat situations. Training commenced at Tinian on June 30, with conventional operational missions over Japan beginning on July 20. To prepare for their atomic missions, the crews trained with "pumpkins," which were specially constructed bombs designed to mimic the appearance and weight of nuclear weapons. This allowed them to practice handling and releasing the bombs. They also rehearsed navigational procedures, visual bomb release techniques, and dropping the weapon at an altitude of approximately 30,000 feet. Following the drop, the crew conducted high-speed, radical turns to evade the nuclear effects after detonation. During their first mission, a B-29 from the 509th sought an alternative target in Tokyo. The crew aimed to drop their 10,000-pound "pumpkin" on the Imperial Palace, but unfortunately, they missed their target. Had they succeeded in killing the emperor, it could have significantly impacted Japan's decision-making process, potentially fortifying the Japanese people's resolve to continue the war. Military leaders might have seized control in the aftermath, pushing their forces to keep fighting. Throughout their training, the units of the 21st Bomber Command intentionally avoided targeting Hiroshima, Niigata, Kokura, and Nagasaki during these practice runs. In total, Tibbets directed his crews on numerous combat missions that targeted 28 cities and involved the dropping of 49 "pumpkins." Remarkably, the 509th lost no aircraft during these operations. While Tibbets focused on perfecting the delivery method, the weapons Little Boy and Fat Man were being transported to Tinian. Some weapon assemblies were delivered by C-54 and B-29 aircraft from Kirtland Field near Albuquerque, while the cruiser Indianapolis delivered the fissionable material for Little Boy from San Francisco on July 26. Four days later, the submarine I-58 unexpectedly attacked the Indianapolis with six torpedoes while the cruiser was en route to Guam, successfully sinking it. Of the crew, 850 Americans survived the sinking, and another 316 were belatedly rescued by August 8. By July 31, most of the assembly of Little Boy had been completed. However, a detonation expert would need to emplace the cordite charges to fire the uranium "bullet" through the gun device to the uranium core after take-off, minimizing the risk of an inadvertent nuclear explosion in the event of a B-29 crash. Additionally, the crew carrying the atomic bomb had to exercise caution when descending once Little Boy was armed because the primary radar or a backup barometric fuse could potentially trigger an explosion if the aircraft descended too rapidly with the fuses in place. On August 2, B-29 crews arrived at Tinian with the assemblies for Fat Man. On that same day, General Twinning and President Truman approved the plan to bomb Hiroshima. Two days later, Colonel Tibbets briefed the crews about the mission, confirming that he would pilot the aircraft carrying the atomic bomb. Tibbets' B-29 No. 82, later named Enola Gay, was supported by three weather reconnaissance aircraft that reported conditions at Hiroshima, Kokura, and Nagasaki, as well as two additional B-29s assigned to conduct scientific and photographic missions. At 02:45 on August 6, Enola Gay took off from Tinian, with diversionary attacks by 604 B-29s throughout Japan also scheduled for that day, as coordinated by Twinning. After passing through Iwo Jima at approximately 05:55, Captain William Parsons and Second-Lieutenant Morris Jeppson armed the bomb at 07:30. Throughout the journey, the B-29s ascended slowly, reaching an altitude of over 30,000 feet as they crossed Shikoku and Honshu, finally reaching Hiroshima at 31,060 feet. At 09:12, Tibbets executed his final approach from the 'initial point', flying east-west over the city towards the intersection of the Ota and Motoyasu Rivers. Approximately at 09:15, Little Boy was released, and Enola Gay immediately began its turn away to escape the impending explosion. However, the bomb mistakenly descended towards the Shima Surgical Hospital rather than the intended target, the Aioi Bridge. At 09:16, Little Boy detonated at an altitude of 1,890 feet, just as Tibbets was about six miles away from the blast point. As a result of the atomic blast, the immediate area around the epicenter was heated to an astonishing 1 million degrees Celsius, instantly incinerating or vaporizing all people, animals, buildings, and other items within that zone. Hiroshima police officials estimated that immediate casualties amounted to 71,379 individuals who were either killed or reported missing. In the surrounding areas, the blast effects crushed unreinforced structures before igniting them, resulting in an additional 68,023 wounded, with 19,691 of those injuries classified as serious. Subsequent assessments, potentially incorporating the impacts of radiation sickness or more precise accounting, recorded 30,524 individuals as seriously wounded and 48,606 as slightly wounded. Just two minutes after detonation, a growing mushroom cloud of highly radioactive dust and debris soared to a height of 20,000 feet. Within eight minutes, Tibbets' crew could observe the mushroom cloud from 390 miles away. Ultimately, the dust cloud peaked at approximately 60,000 feet in altitude. Soon after, a thick, black, radioactive rain fell upon the areas beneath the cloud. The center of the city was utterly devastated; over four square miles of the urban center, which encompassed seven square miles in total, were completely flattened, resulting in about 60% of the city's area being destroyed. An additional 0.6 square miles suffered damage, while more than 75% of the city's 90,000 buildings were obliterated. The ensuing fires compounded the devastation, contributing to countless deaths and injuries. Tragically, some American prisoners of war were present in Hiroshima and lost their lives in the explosion. Meanwhile, Enola Gay safely returned to Tinian at 14:58, where Tibbets was awarded the Distinguished Service Cross, while the rest of the crew received Distinguished Flying Crosses for their participation in the mission. I would like to take this time to remind you all that this podcast is only made possible through the efforts of Kings and Generals over at Youtube. Please go subscribe to Kings and Generals over at Youtube and to continue helping us produce this content please check out www.patreon.com/kingsandgenerals. If you are still hungry after that, give my personal channel a look over at The Pacific War Channel at Youtube, it would mean a lot to me. Japan was broken. To be perfectly honest she had been broken long ago. Her leadership had been spending months trying to figure out the best possible way to surrender, while the civilians and troops were suffering horribly. Aerial mining strangled her of food, high explosive and incendiary bombs, killed untold scores of people, and then the Atomic weapons were let loose upon her. It was over.

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Neal Zuckerman, Senior Partner and Chair, Global Institute for the Future of Television at BCG, shares his unique journey from military service at West Point to thought leadership in media and journalism. We explore the challenges facing legacy media, the decline of local news, shifting consumer habits, and the disruptive impact of emerging technologies. From his perspective on advertising's attention economy to the government's role in addressing market failures, Neal offers his bold vision of the future. 00:00 Meet Neal Zuckerman 05:34 Legacy Media's Growing Pains 12:41 Challenges Facing Local News 32:41 How Emerging Technology Will Shape Media 37:23 Rapid Fire Questions Find us at www.amagi.com Send us questions and comments to ben@amagi.com Produced by Next Chapter Podcasts Amagi is an award-winning media technology company that provides cloud broadcast and targeted advertising solutions to broadcast TV and streaming TV platforms. Amagi supports 800+ content brands, 800+ playout chains, and 5,000+ channel deliveries on its platform in over 150 countries. Learn more about us at www.amagi.com

Stuart McLean, founder and CEO of Fast Studios, charts the journey of crafting engaging content and driving brand engagement at scale. He explains how Fast Studios builds streaming TV brands that deliver a dynamic mix of live gameplay, highlight-based programming, and story-driven narratives. McLean underscores the vital role of storytelling in sports and advocates for expanding coverage of women's sports. He showcases the success of the Women's Sports Network and details partnerships with Team USA and the US Olympic and Paralympic Committee. McLean emphasizes the growing shift toward streaming and spotlights the unique opportunities for brands to connect directly with consumers through compelling content. 00:00 Introduction and Background 04:08 Building Streaming TV Brands 08:31 Empowering Women's Sports 15:03 Partnering with Athletes and Sports Organizations 23:46 The Challenges of Programmatic Advertising 37:32 Coverage of the Olympics and Team USA Find us at www.amagi.com Send us questions and comments to ben@amagi.com Produced by Next Chapter Podcasts Amagi is an award-winning media technology company that provides cloud broadcast and targeted advertising solutions to broadcast TV and streaming TV platforms. Amagi supports 800+ content brands, 800+ playout chains, and 5,000+ channel deliveries on its platform in over 150 countries. Learn more about us at www.amagi.com

What do rescuing a two-legged dog from Lebanon and redefining Europe's CTV landscape have in common? Everything, if you're Sarah Lewis. On today's episode, we chart Sarah's remarkable journey and explore the future of ad-supported streaming in Europe. 00:00 Introduction to Sarah Lewis and Her Journey 03:05 The Role of Advertising in Public Broadcasting 06:00 Nonprofit Advertising and Its Unique Challenges 09:01 Programmatic 101 11:58 The State of CTV in Europe 14:46 The Impact of Free Content on CTV Growth 17:47 Live Sports in European Streaming 23:22 Navigating Regulatory Frameworks in Europe 34:05 The Impact of AI on Advertising and Content Creation Find us at www.amagi.com Send us questions and comments to ben@amagi.com Produced by Next Chapter Podcasts Amagi is an award-winning media technology company that provides cloud broadcast and targeted advertising solutions to broadcast TV and streaming TV platforms. Amagi supports 800+ content brands, 800+ playout chains, and 5,000+ channel deliveries on its platform in over 150 countries. Learn more about us at www.amagi.com

Ben Goodfriend sits down with Moe Chughtai, Head of Advanced TV at MIQ, for an insightful discussion tracing Moe's journey from teaching to ad tech. They explore industry challenges, including the art of simplifying programmatic advertising's technical complexities for diverse audiences—ranging from media professionals to everyday viewers. The conversation addresses pressing issues like unfilled inventory in live sports streaming and showcases innovative ad formats such as QR overlays and pause ads. They close by emphasizing the need to balance innovation with user experience and privacy, charting a thoughtful path forward as the streaming and advertising industries evolve. 00:00 Introduction and Background 03:48 Teaching and Transition to Advertising 08:24 Programmatic 101 11:16 Unfilled Inventory in Live Sports 20:11 Interactive Ad Units 29:29 Privacy Concerns and User Perception 32:53 Pause Ads 46:42 Political Advertising in CTV 53:33 Transparency 56:02 AI's Impact on Advertising Find us at www.amagi.com Send us questions and comments to ben@amagi.com Produced by Next Chapter Podcasts Amagi is an award-winning media technology company that provides cloud broadcast and targeted advertising solutions to broadcast TV and streaming TV platforms. Amagi supports 800+ content brands, 800+ playout chains, and 5,000+ channel deliveries on its platform in over 150 countries. Learn more about us at www.amagi.com

Dan shares his journey from the Air Force to fixing Apple computers and producing the first live-streamed concerts for Paul McCartney. He details the fragmented sports streaming ecosystem, explores media's myriad metrics, and poses a critical question: "Why do we watch what we watch?" 00:00 Dan's Journey 16:36 The NFL's Dominance 30:00 Understanding Financial Metrics in Streaming 39:38 The Rise of FAST Channels 44:14 The Fill Rate Problem 55:24 Advice for the Industry Find us at www.amagi.com Send us questions and comments at ben@amagi.com Produced by Next Chapter Podcasts Amagi is an award-winning media technology company that provides cloud broadcast and targeted advertising solutions to broadcast TV and streaming TV platforms. Amagi supports 800+ content brands, 800+ playout chains, and 5,000+ channel deliveries on its platform in over 150 countries. Learn more about us at www.amagi.com.

Our host, Ben Goodfriend, chats with Kathy Argyriou about her early childhood and her journey into the ad tech world. Together, they explore the complexity of live streaming infrastructure. Kathy shares what it's like explaining programmatic advertising to her grandparents, diversity in the industry, and advice to the next generation. 00:00 Introduction to Kathy Argyriou and Freewheel 02:11 Kathy's Journey from Greece to Ad Tech 06:10 Explaining Programmatic Advertising 09:25 The Data Currency Dilemma in Streaming 14:01 To Fill or Not to Fill? 19:25 The Future of FAST Channels 20:25 Challenges of Live Streaming Events 25:02 Interactive Innovation 26:05 Diversity in Ad Tech 29:33 Advice for the Next Generation in Ad Tech Find us at www.amagi.com. Send us questions and comments at ben@amagi.com Produced by Next Chapter Podcasts Amagi is an award-winning media technology company that provides cloud broadcast and targeted advertising solutions to broadcast TV and streaming TV platforms. Amagi supports 800+ content brands, 800+ playout chains, and 5,000+ channel deliveries on its platform in over 150 countries. Learn more about us at www.amagi.com.

AdTechGod sits down with Laura MorrisonLaura Morrison is the Sr. Manager, Supply Partnerships at Amagi.Laura Morrison shares her journey in the adtech industry, starting from her role in a small agency to her current position at Amagi. She emphasizes the importance of being curious, asking questions, and continuously learning in this constantly changing industry. Laura also discusses the challenges of consolidation in the ad tech space and the shift towards platforms and OEMs becoming the new publishers. She encourages professionals to stay informed, listen to others, and build connections to share knowledge and grow together.Thank you to AdLib for sponsoring this episode.

This week, Mark Donnigan and I recap news from IBC about using cloud-based compute services for video workflows, encoding optimization, AV1/codec adoption, live encoding use cases, and AI's potential impact on encoding platforms. We also give updates on the Venu/Fubo lawsuit, price increases for NBA League Pass, the upgraded Roku Ultra device, Google rebranding their FAST channels, and some viewership numbers from Peacock. Finally, we discuss some interesting statements from Netflix regarding their ad tier, the NFL games on Christmas and how they view one-off sporting events versus full seasons.Companies mentioned include Akamai, Amagi, AOM, ATEME, AWS, Bitmovin, Brightcove, CDN77, Disney+ Hotstar, Dolby, Edgio, Harmonic, iSIZE, Neilsen, Netflix, NETINT, NVIDIA, THEO Technologies, Visionular, WaveOne, YouTube.Thanks to this week's podcast sponsors: Integrated Digital Solutions and Netskrt Systems.Podcast produced by Security Halt Media

I know what you're thinking. Didn't the First Principles podcast draw its curtains? Yes we did.But then we decided to do a final super-splice of every single episode we did. There were 41 founders. A bit too many for a single supercut episode, don't you think?So, here's the first 20.We went through all the episodes and picked a few minutes from each that we felt captured the essence of the specific founder and their approach to entrepreneurship, leadership, and well, life.You'll listen to Kabeer Biswas, co-founder and CEO of Dunzo; Baskar Subramamian, co-founder and CEO of Amagi; Nithin Kamath, co-founder and CEO of Zerodha; Naveen Tewari, founder and CEO at InMobi; Ananth Narayanan, founder and CEO of Mensa Brands; Harshil Mathur, co-founder and CEO of Razorpay; Vineeta Singh, co-founder and CEO of Sugar Cosmetics; Amrish Rau, CEO of Pine Labs; Amit Agarwal, co-founder and CEO of NoBroker; Tarun Mehta, co-founder and CEO of Ather Energy; Deep Kalra, founder and chairman of MakeMyTrip; Ruchi Kalra, co-founder and CEO of Oxyzo; Kamal Sagar, co-founder and CEO of Total Environment; Srikanth Iyer, co-founder and CEO of Homelane; Shan Kadavil, founder and CEO of Fresh to Home; Kunal Shah, founder and CEO of CRED; Srikanth Velamakanni, co-founder and CEO of Fractal; Ronnie Screwvala, co-founder and chairperson of UpGrad; Gaurav Munjal, co-founder and CEO of Unacademy; and Smita Deorah, co-founder and co-CEO of LEAD.Even if you've listened to many of these episodes, I think you might enjoy this intense supercut.Meanwhile, we're working hard at our next podcast. Which I should be able to introduce to you very shortly. I'm excited!I'm Rohin Dharmakumar, your host. And here's part 1 of final, final supercut.-----------While you're still here you can sign up for the First Principles Newsletter here and continue to be part of the First Principles community.

You want to be visible at work, build a reputation, and be known for your strengths. Research suggests that there is no guarantee that putting your head down and doing good work pays off. Neither can you always count on your manager to notice and amplify your achievements. Self-promotion gets a bad rep because it sounds a lot like bragging. But if done well, it can be a game-changer at work. Learning how to talk about your strengths, accomplishments, highlights, and milestones, can help you access the right opportunities and gain the right kind of visibility. Host Akshaya Chandrasekaran talks to Charu Sabnavis, HR consultant and author, and Navin Madhavan, Chief of Staff, Amagi, to figure out how to advocate for yourself at work and communicate your strengths without coming off as a braggart. This season of the podcast is all about the firsts one might encounter in the world of work. This is the seventh episode in the lineup, let us know what you think? You can write to Akshaya, the host, at akshaya@the-ken.com. If you have a career question you want us to cover? Tell us. This episode was written and hosted by Akshaya Chandrasekaran, and produced by Anushka Mukherjee, with audio engineering by Rajiv CN. The First Two Years is produced from the newsroom of The Ken, India's first subscriber-only business news platform. Subscribe for more exclusive business stories, deeply-reported newsletters, and a whole lot of stuff. 

Download Gary's 13 Keys to Creating a Multi-Million Dollar Business from ⁠⁠⁠https://www.DitchDiggerCEO.com/⁠⁠⁠ Srinivasan KA (https://www.amagi.com/) is a technology entrepreneur with two decades of experience in building new technologies and taking them to market. Discover his journey, from developing one of the first Bluetooth software systems to steering Amagi into a significant role in the media tech industry. In this episode, Gary and Srini Discuss 1- Future of media advertising. 2- How Amagi is gearing up for global challenges. 3- Overcoming hurdles to business success 4- The future of media streaming. Connect with Srinivasan: LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/kasvasan/ Website: https://www.amagi.com/ Twitter: https://twitter.com/kasvasan Connect with Gary Rabine and DDCEO on: Website:⁠ ⁠⁠https://www.DitchDiggerCEO.com/ ⁠⁠⁠ Instagram: ⁠⁠⁠https://www.instagram.com/DitchDiggerCEO⁠⁠⁠ TikTok: ⁠⁠⁠https://www.tiktok.com/@ditchdiggerceopodcast ⁠⁠⁠ Facebook: ⁠⁠⁠https://www.facebook.com/DitchDiggerCEO⁠⁠⁠ Twitter: ⁠⁠⁠https://twitter.com/DitchDiggerCEO⁠⁠ ⁠ YouTube:⁠ ⁠⁠https://www.youtube.com/@ditchdiggerceo⁠⁠⁠

This week we highlight some of the news from the NAB Show and detail the technologies and business models we heard talked about the most. We also discuss the trends we saw at the show, vendor messaging, specific data shared from speakers and what impressed us. We also cover some numbers you need to know on cord cutting, P&L and ARRU from earnings related to Roku, Comcast (Peacock), Amazon, Verizon, Meta, Netflix and others. Companies and services mentioned: Roku, Netflix, Amazon, Verizon, Peacock, HBO Max, Comcast, Brightcove, Harmonic, Haivision, Amagi, IMAX, Bitmovin.Questions or feedback? Contact: dan@danrayburn.com

E no episódio de hoje; Marcelo "Amagi" vai receber novamente Leon "Kujikawa" e Samuca "Satonaka" do Galinha Viajante para falar de uma das maiores obras do gênero JRPG já feitas na história dos videogames, depois de Persona 5 Royal; sim amigues, hoje é dia de PERSONA 4 GOLDEN! Lançado recentemente para Gamepass, Xbox One e Series, Nintendo Switch e PlayStation 4 e 5, a 4a entrada no mundo de Persona chegou para marcar de vez o nome da ATLUS no mundo ocidental e angariar mais fãs ao redor do globo. Mas, será que esse jogo é tudo isso mesmo? É o que vamos descobrir juntos nesse episódio super especial! Twitch Galinha ViajanteSite Galinha ViajanteCatarse Galinha Viajante Toda semana um episódio novo no seu agregador favorito! Vocês podem nos ouvir diretamente pelo Spotify, Google Podcasts, Apple Podcasts, Anchor, Deezer e Amazon Music. Vamos continuar nosso bate-papo? Mande uma mensagem pra gente nas nossas redes sociais e acesse nosso site! Site: Multi POPInstagram: @mutipop.podcastTwitter: @MultiPOPpodcast Também estamos na Twitch e YouTube! Acesse agora os nossos canais e venham curtir as nossas lives toda segunda, quarta e sexta.Twitch: Multi POP na TVYouTube: Multi POP na TV Edição: Marcelo DelgadoArte: Hildo Gabriel Esse episódio foi editado e co-produzido pela Yellow Umbrella Soluções Criativas. Quer essa qualidade do Multi POP no seu podcast? Entre em contato pelo email marcelo@yellowumbrella.com.br Ouça os podcast parceiros do Multi POP!MajelaCast no SpotifyNPC Genérico no SpotifyRefúgio nas Colinas no SpotifyGalinha Viajante no SpotifyEnquadrinhados no SpotifyPodCasar no SpotifyGamer Como a Gente no SpotifyZoneando Podcast no Spotify

If this isn't the first time you're listening to First Principles, you're probably wondering what's going on. Why did we have five different founders opening the episode, instead of just one. It's because today's is a special episode. We went back to the first five episodes we didto compile some of the most interesting, original and often counterintuitive conversations from five accomplished founders. While I'd urge you to listen to each of their conversations in full, this episode is a good place if you took to First Principles recently and are searching for reasons to listen to older episodes. We begin with Kabeer Biswas, the co-founder and CEO of Dunzo, the cult-like instant delivery service that started from Bangalore. He talks about the 10,000 plus tasks he's run himself on Dunzo, the impossible grind of fundraising, how founders' traits tend to show up as organization's culture and many more things. Episode 1: Kabeer Biswas of Dunzo talks about raising money, gathering user insights, battling deadlines and moreNext, we have Baskar Subramanian, the co-founder and CEO of Amagi, the most unlikely of unicorns to emerge from India. It is a media technology company that enables virtually the entire video production and distribution chain for all sorts of media companies globally. “Glass to glass solutions” is how Amagi describes itself, implying its presence from the glass of the camera where video is being shot to the glass of the screen on which it is finally watched. Baskar dropped out of his master's program at IIT Bombay because he found it oriented around getting grades, not necessarily learning. He talks about why entrepreneurship is like a drug for him, why vulnerability is a core value at Amagi, why a CEO's job is to be a clock-builder and not a time-keeper, and many more things. Episode 2: $1.5B Amagi Founder Baskar Subramanian talks about culture at work, parenting, and building from ground upNext is Nithin Kamath, the co-founder and CEO of Zerodha, India's largest online brokerage. He doesn't believe in setting targets or goals for his company or employees. He also is one of those rare Bangalore founders who have succeeded at scale without taking a single dollar of venture capital. No, in fact Nithin insists Zerodha's success is partly due to avoiding venture capital.From his anonymous days as “Nathan Hawk”, “Tarzan” or “Columbus” at a call center or internet forums, to running one of the most profitable and yet leanest startups in India, Nithin covers a lot of ground. He talks about thinking like a trader, running a company with zero attrition, creating optionality and many more things. Episode 3: Nithin Kamath of Zerodha candidly talks about building his bootstrapped business, weighing risks, and finding opportunitiesWhich brings me to Naveen Tewari, the co-founder and CEO of adtech giant InMobi, which is not only a unicorn in terms of its own valuation, but was also the first Indian company to incubate another unicorn of its own, lockscreen giant Glance. Naveen is one of the earliest tech entrepreneurs from India, having started his very first company, SMS-based search provider mKhoj, way back in 2007. Thus, survival is one of his recurring themes.Over the conversation he talks about the mistakes he made as an entrepreneur and his lessons from them, building careers and companies slowly instead of “blitzscaling”, CEOs pushing the envelope of what's possible within companies, and a lot more. Episode 4: InMobi founder Naveen Tewari gets candid about survival, innovation, and playing the game by changing the rulesAnd finally, we have Ananth Narayanan, the co-founder and CEO of Mensa Brands, a global tech-led house of brands – I know, it's a mouthful – which earned the distinction of becoming India's fastest unicorn. It buys existing brands, and then punches up their scale by providing the resources and knowledge to do so. Ananth says that's no different from a P&G, which too is a house of brands if you really look closely.Ananth talks about the emotional toll founders pay silently each day, learning to manage energy and not time, the best way to solicit and give feedback, and many more things.Episode 5: Learnability, curiosity, and brand building; Ex-Myntra CEO and Mensa Brands founder Ananth Narayanan gets candidI hope I managed to interest you in at least a few of those incredible conversations, if not all of them! Tell us what you thought of today's format. Did you like it? No? What other new features would you like from First Principles or The Ken?  Write to me at podcasts@the-ken.com. And if you haven't already rated us on your favourite podcast platform, why is that? I would truly appreciate your rating, no matter what it is. Lastly, a big thanks to my colleague Rajiv CN, our resident sound engineer, for helping put together this special episode across nearly 8 hours of conversations. See you next time with a new conversation with another accomplished founder. Till then, this is me Rohin thanking you for listening and for your support. 

Short（短編） Yoshina Onsen is a hot spring located in Yoshina, Izu City, Shizuoka Prefecture. It is known as "Kodakara no Yu". It is surrounded by rich nature and Mt. Amagi. The gushing point of the source - The flow of the stream in the mountain behind the hot spring and the chirping of birds - The sound of the tubs and showers in the hot spring - The souvenir shop - Visitors walking up and down the stone steps of Shuzenji - Drinking hot water in the precincts - The sound of votive tablets, throwing money into the offertory box, applause.(Partially recorded) 吉奈温泉は静岡県伊豆市吉奈にある温泉。「子宝の湯」として知られる。豊かな自然と天城山に囲まれています。源泉の湧き出し口～温泉の裏山の小川の流れと鳥たちの鳴き声～温泉に入ってる、桶、シャワーの音～お土産屋さん～修善寺の石段を行きかう参拝客～境内で湯を飲む～絵馬の音、賽銭箱に賽銭を入れる、拍手。（一部収録） * There is also a paid version of "Sound in Nature" which is rich in episodes and has a long version.(Apple podcast only) ロングバージョンのある有料版「Sound in Nature」もあります。 https://podcasts.apple.com/us/podcast/sound-in-nature/id1569798616

The name of the game with the Amagi is situational awareness; you have to have situational awareness to be good with the Amagi, which is why the Amagi is a great ship to choose when one wishes to develop into a mature World of Warships player. The Amagi forces gameplay that is well conceived with great thought to ensure oneself always has the advantage. Email: rankamateurpodcast@gmail.com Music Credit: Intro: Jetfire - Jeff II https://youtu.be/ZbyFsGMjfRg Creative Commons Attribution Free Download / Stream: http://bit.ly/-jetfire Music promoted by Audio Library https://youtu.be/nrIxa0jbhwE Outro: Outlet by Silent Partner from YouTube Audio Library · http://bit.ly/32TUZyy

Amazon Web Services yesterday announced the launch of its second Indian data centre facility in Hyderabad, called the AWS Asia Pacific (Hyderabad) Region. The first was opened in Mumbai in 2016. Britain's top competition authority will launch an investigation into the Apple-Google duopoly in the web browser market after many developers and businesses in the country complained of harmful restrictions imposed by the tech giants. And SaaS broadcast tech provider Amagi has acquired Streamwise, a company in the US. Notes: Amazon Web Services yesterday announced the launch of its second Indian data centre facility, which it calls an infrastructure region, in Hyderabad. The new data centre facility, AWS Asia Pacific (Hyderabad) Region, “is part of our long-term investment in the country since opening our first office in 2011,” Prasad Kalyanaraman, vice president of Infrastructure Services at Amazon Data Services, said in a press release. Amazon established its first Indian data centre facility in Mumbai, in 2016. AWS plans to invest an estimated $4.4 billion (about Rs. 36,300 crore) in India by 2030 through the new Hyderabad facility. Britain's Competition and Markets Authority said in a statement yesterday that it will launch an investigation into what it called the “stranglehold” that Apple and Google have on the internet browser market. The UK's top competition authority consulted on launching a market investigation alongside its Mobile Ecosystem Market Study report, which found that Apple and Google have an effective duopoly on mobile ecosystems that allows them to exercise a stranglehold over operating systems, app stores and web browsers on mobile devices, according to the statement. Responses to the consultation, which were published yesterday, reveal substantial support for a fuller investigation into the way that Apple and Google dominate the mobile browser market and how Apple restricts cloud gaming through its App Store, according to the statement. Web developers have complained that Apple's restrictions, combined with suggested underinvestment in its browser technology, lead to added costs and frustration as they have to deal with bugs and glitches when building web pages, and have no choice but to create bespoke mobile apps when a website might be sufficient. Sarah Cardell, interim Chief Executive of the CMA, said in the statement: “Many UK businesses and web developers tell us they feel that they are being held back by restrictions set by Apple and Google.” “When the new Digital Markets regime is in place, it's likely to address these sorts of issues. In the meantime, we are using our existing powers to tackle problems where we can. We plan to investigate whether the concerns we have heard are justified and if so, identify steps to improve competition and innovation in these sectors,” she added. Amagi, a SaaS technology provider for the broadcast and connected TV businesses, has acquired Streamwise, an early-stage data aggregation and reporting platform for content distributors, the company said in a press release. Streamwise specializes in automating and standardizing data collection for streaming platforms. The acquisition will help Amagi enhance its data solutions capabilities with comprehensive reporting and dashboards, it said in the release. Theme music courtesy Free Music & Sounds: https://soundcloud.com/freemusicandsounds

This week we discuss Bob Iger coming back to Disney as the CEO and the impact it could have around Disney's DTC business involving bundling, pricing, sports licensing and improving Disney's balance sheet. We also highlight the new details Apple released around their MLS streaming service, MLS Season Pass, which will offer 1080p/60 video, launching in February for $15 a month or $100 for the year. Also included in the discussion is a list of all the Black Friday streaming deals and the negative impact that has on ARPU for streaming services.Companies, and services mentioned: Disney, Netflix, WarnerBros. Discovery, Disney+, Apple TV+, MLS, MLB, Hulu, Peacock TV, Paramount+, Discovery+, Roku, DISH, Amagi.Questions or feedback? Contact: dan@danrayburn.com

【本集大綱】 ‧ 近期熱門議題：FTX 與 Twitter（00:00-19:13） ‧ 去中心化的社群平台 Mastodon（19:13-32:09） ‧ 印度媒體科技獨角獸 Amagi（32:09-46:27） ‧ 先從獲利來源下手的思考方式（46:27-59:25） ‧ 曼報熱情邀集業配中！（59:25-60:56） 【推薦閱讀】 The Amagi Story（YouTube 訪談影片） How media-tech startup Amagi grew Story of Amagi（長篇資料整理） 【推薦訂閱】 《曼報》電子報：https://manny-li.com 《曼報》IG：@manny_li Powered by Firstory Hosting

This week we discuss the recent comments from Warner Bros. Discovery's CEO around profitability, retention, windowing, bundling and pricing of HBO Max and Discovery+. Profitability, not purely sub count is how they benchmark for success. We also discuss his comments on how collapsing all windows, starving linear and theatrical and spending money with abandon, while making a fraction in return on the service of growing sub numbers, has ultimately proven to be deeply flawed. On the topic of churn, we point out what the industry is getting wrong with their assumptions and highlight the recent comments from Disney's CEO, who said that price increases don't meaningfully increase churn or cancellations. We also recap Q3 earnings from Disney, Vizio, Akamai, Edgio, Kaltura.Companies, and services mentioned: Disney, Netflix, WarnerBros. Discovery, HBO Max, Apple TV+, Paramount+, Peacock TV, Vizio, LG, Akamai, Amagi, Edgio, Kaltura, FTX.Questions or feedback? Contact: dan@danrayburn.com

Netcore Cloud, a marketing technologies provider and one of India's biggest SaaS companies, has put off its initial public offering, Economic Times reports, citing founder and group managing director Rajesh Jain. Amagi, a media tech SaaS company in Bengaluru, shows that an ‘up round' is possible even in current macro conditions. And Sequoia burns but the tip of its pinkie as another high-flying crypto company comes crashing down.

Review on a recently ended BL Series, 'Takara-Kun To Amagi-Kun' (J-Drama). Its kinda slice of life BL genre. High School Setting. Have a listen! --- Send in a voice message: https://anchor.fm/eska-v/message

India's Prime Minister Narendra Modi, yesterday, launched 75 Digital Banking Units (DBUs) in 75 different districts across the nation, as the government moves to bring banks to the doorsteps of citizens in far-flung areas. These units are brick-and-mortar outlets that will offer a variety of services to customers—all digitally. They will also inculcate digital financial literacy and awareness of cyber security in digital financial transactions. A self-service mode will be available round the clock at these outlets. Notes: India's Prime Minister Narendra Modi, yesterday, launched 75 Digital Banking Units (DBUs) in 75 different districts across the nation, to boost financial inclusion in the country. “We have given top priority to ensure that banking services reach the last mile,” he said. “We not only removed the physical distance but, most importantly, we removed the psychological distance,” Modi said, according to a government press release. Prosus, a Dutch-listed technology investor, said on Friday it has agreed to sell its Russian online marketplace Avito for 151 billion roubles ($2.46 billion), to Kismet Capital Group, Reuters reports. Horizon Worlds, Facebook parent Meta's flagship metaverse for consumers, is failing to meet internal performance expectations, according to The Wall Street Journal, which has reviewed company documents including internal memos by employees. Meta initially aimed to reach 500,000 monthly active users in Horizon Worlds by the end of the year, but the current figure is less than 200,000, according to the Journal. Netflix will introduce its ad-supported plan called Basic with Ads in the US on Nov. 3, for about $7, and the plan isn't available in India, Mint reports. Workers at a second Apple store in the US have voted to unionise, The Verge reports. At the Penn Square store in Oklahoma City, 56 workers voted for and 32 against unionising with the Communications Workers of America. In June, workers in Maryland voted to unionize in association with the International Association of Machinists and Aerospace Workers. Avataar Venture Partners, which has backed unicorn software startups such as Amagi and Zenoti, has launched its second fund with a corpus of $350 million, three years after the firm launched its first fund, Economic Times reports. Meanwhile, venture debt provider Alteria Capital, which has backed Mensa Brands and Dunzo, has launched its third fund with a first close of Rs. 1,000 crore ($125 million), largely from domestic investors and soft commitments from institutions. Theme music courtesy Free Music & Sounds: https://soundcloud.com/freemusicandsounds

In this episode of First Principles we speak to Baskar Subramanian, co-founder and CEO of Amagi, a profitable unicorn you probably haven't heard about. Yet. Valued at almost 1.5 billion dollars, and a leader in the broadcast-technology domain, Amagi's road to the top wasn't easy, but it definitely makes for a fun listen. Listen to that and more about how Baskar built the company, how he leads life, his thoughts on leadership, parenting, and more.First Principles is a show where Rohin Dharmakumar, founder and CEO of The Ken, interviews some of the most successful business leaders, and entrepreneurs of our time on the lenses they use to look at the world around them. Lenses that help them see things that most of us don't. You can look at all the other Ken Podcasts here

FAST Networks, Cloud Transformation and Imposter syndrome, these are just some of the topics which we spoke about with Srini on Episode 73 of the Tech That Connects us. We learnt about all things Amagi, from how It began, to hearing about how cloud technology has transformed throughout the industry and where Amagi plays its part, along with Srini's thoughts on Diversity and inclusion within the business and how to build a culture of excellence. Enjoy!

If there was one theme in the startup ecosystem that dominated 2021, it was unicorns! After all, 2021 saw the rise and rise of India's start-ups with the unicorn-base doubling. Out of India's 90 unicorns at the beginning of 2022, about 46 had emerged in 2021 itself. “The unicorn wave in India is still going strong: one unicorn has been added every five days within the first two months of 2022, and India is expected to have 100+ new unicorns in 2022” - HDFC Securities report   And, in various quarters, the optimism has also carried on into 2022. According to an HDFC Securities report, accelerated funding activity is expected to create over 100 new unicorns in India in 2022. In fact, according to a report, from the beginning of 2022 till April-end, India saw the rise of 14 new unicorns. These are Fractal, LEAD, Darwinbox, DealShare, ElasticRun, Livspace, Xpressbees, Uniphore, Hasura, CredAvenue, Amagi, Oxyzo, Games24x7 and Open. All of this, has papered over some of the early indications in the ecosystem -- from corporate governance concerns to the sobering performance of some start-up IPOs. And, dark clouds could be around the corner. A number of venture capitalists recently told Business Standard that the pace at which unicorns will emerge in India might get a bit slower in 2022. One of the major reasons for this slowdown could be the challenges within the ‘soonicorn' ecosystem. In fact, only a handful of soonicorns have been able to raise funds in the first quarter of CY22.   “The pace will reduce in the second half of the year due to global macro risks affecting liquidity. But net-net, we may still end up with a number close to that of 2021” - Anand Prasanna, Managing Partner, Iron Pillar Fund Iron Pillar Fund Managing Partner Anand Prasanna told Business Standard that the pace at which unicorns emerge would reduce in the second half of the year owing to the effect of global macro risks on liquidity. According to Prasanna, increasing customer acquisition costs, poor performance by some consumer tech unicorns that went for IPO recently, and India's macro-economic challenges could affect the pace of unicorn creation in 2022. Some other reasons for the slowdown are a spike in the US interest rates, the Russia-Ukraine conflict and of course the rising inflation. Another major reason for a slowdown in unicorn creation could be that   After a frenzied investment activity in 2021, the market is likely to be cautious this year and investors much more choosy. This could be another reason for a slowdown in unicorn creation, and not necessarily a bad thing. There might be a need to slow things down and look at the sustainability of these unicorns. Let's start with valuations. Consider the funding lifecycle of a start-up. First comes the seed round. Then comes Series A, Series B, Series C, and pre-IPO series rounds, all of which usually culminate in an IPO. Now, as one news agency pointed out, there are doubts that the valuations, which multiply with every funding round, are based in a large part on opaque formulas. Metrics that are the gold-standard for traditional companies, from profit after tax to EBIDTA, are not generally useful when it comes to companies that continue to run in losses. Instead, cost of goods sold, GMV and active user counts are the valuation metrics that have to be used. This might not be a matter of great concern as long as it is the venture capitalists alone who are shelling out cash based on these valuations. But, it becomes unsettling when retail investors get involved through an IPO. Then there are matters of ethics and corporate governance. Amid reports of data fraud and tax evasion at Indian start-ups, the Commerce and Industry Minister Piyush Goyal recently said that new-age companies must strengthen ethical and corporate governance standards, otherwise, start-ups would earn a bad name. While Goyal didn't mention the name of the startups, his statement comes after

This week in Indian startup news, Navi Technologies files for Rs 3,350 crore IPO, Trell to lay-off half of its workforce, Infra.Market under investigation for allegedly not paying their taxes, and Clear acquires Xpedize. In funding news, Amagi raises $95 million to become a unicorn, Byju's raises $800 million, Licious raises $150 million and Blinkit raises $100 million. Navi Technologies files for Rs 3,350 crore IPO: Navi Technologies has filed for a Rs 3,350 crore IPO. Back in 2020, Navi had applied for a universal banking licence to achieve their banking dreams. But it's been over two years but RBI has still not granted them a universal banking licence. In the midst of this, Navi Technologies failed to secure funding from SoftBank. And in order to keep their banking dreams alive, Navi Technologies has no option but to go public at a time when the global stock markets are taking a hit. However, the fintech startup is counting on its strong financials to make its IPO a success. Trell to lay-off half of its workforce: Social commerce platform Trell is looking to let go of 300 of their employees out of the total workforce of 700 people (500 of whom are full-time employees). While this six-year-old startup has raised a total of $61.9 million - they raised a $45 million round less than a year ago - valuing them at $120 million. Since last year there have been multiple reports of Trell being in talks with Amazon to raise anywhere between $50-80 million. But those talks seem to have fallen through after reports of a probe being conducted by EY India into alleged financial irregularities in the startup. It seems now that Trell is left with no choice but to let go of their employees in order to survive. Infra.Market under investigation for allegedly not paying their taxes: According to an ET report, income tax authorities have raided B2B construction materials marketplace Infra.Market's offices in multiple cities and founders' homes were reported to be raided as well. It is said that Infra.Market is being investigated for not paying their taxes as well as some fake invoices. However, this news comes at a bad time as the company is reportedly looking to close $450 million at a $4 billion valuation. Clear acquires Xpedize: Clear (previously known as ClearTax) has acquired supply chain financing platform Xpedize in a deal which is estimated to be worth ₹100 crore. This is Clear's second acquisition after acquiring B2B payments platform Ybanq in July last year. With this acquisition, Clear will be rebranding Xpedize to Clear Invoice Discounting to offer financing solutions to 1.1 million SMEs that use their platform. Amagi raises $95 million to become a unicorn: SaaS-based media technology startup Amagi has raised $95 million in a round led by Accel at a $1 billion valuation making them India's 12th unicorn of 2022. Byju's raises $800 million: Edtech giant Byju's has raised $800 million in a round led by its founder Byju Raveendran – taking his family's ownership into the $22 billion edtech behemoth. Licious raises $150 million: D2C meat and seafood brand Licious has raised $150 million in a round led by Amansa Capital at a $1.6 billion valuation to launch new product categories and invest in strategic acquisitions to expand their reach. Blinkit raises $100 million: 10-minute grocery delivery startup Blinkit has raised $100 million from Zomato – which is expected to be a part of a larger $400 million funding round. There are talks that Zomato will be buying out Blinkit to get into the instant delivery business.

If you'd like to start a streaming TV channel, how will you go about it?Amagi has a suite of solutions for you to get started and scale a TV channel. There are only a few companies that build products to help media houses, global OTT players. Amagi Media Labs is a global leader pioneering cloud solutions for the media & entertainment industry, providing end-to-end cloud managed live & on demand video infrastructure for TV & OTT. In a decade old journey of ups & downs, Baskar Subramanian (Co-founder & CEO, Amagi) has built some of the most disruptive tech solutions. Here's more on what you can learn from this episode.The SaaS behind services like Netflix, Prime and other streaming servicesHow do the metrics differ for vertical & horizontal SaaS?How to serve when the customers ask for SLA of 99.9999% ?How to choose the right market so that you can leverage the market dynamics?Insights on product stickiness and lock-inGlobal consumer behavior on new content consumptionHow do media tech companies operate?Why did they go ahead with a multi cloud strategy?How do they manage good numbers with a 16 member sales team?Bonus: Learn more about the heavy tech involving satellites and software that went into building location specific advertising solutions in India.Tune in to the full episode, Happy learning!

As (hopefully) many readers will know Eric Schumacher-Rasmussen, Tim Siglin, and I have been strong vocal supporters of Women in Streaming Media and . Please enable JavaScript to view the comments powered by Disqus. Where Are the Women in the Streaming Media Industry? As (hopefully) many readers will know Eric Schumacher-Rasmussen, Tim Siglin, and I have been strong vocal supporters of Women in Streaming Media and more broadly of our ‘sisters-in-streaming' for many years. In programming conference sessions and panel discussions, webinars, and more we always proactively try hard to reach out to those women we know in the industry to ensure there is frequent representation for women in public events. Photo above: Speakers on the "Future of Monetization" panel at Streaming Media West Connect earlier this month. Top row, L to R: Nadine Krefetz, Consultant, Reality Software and Contributing Editor, Streaming Media; Damian Pelliccione, Co-Founder & Chief Executive Officer, Revry TV; Elizabeth Parks, President, Parks Associates. Middle row, L to R: Mike Woods, SVP - Ad Products, Amagi; Daniel Schneider, SVP, Revenue, Cinedigm; Gene Pao, Senior Vice President, Digital Enterprises, Shout! Factory. Bottom: Chris Yates, General Manager, Redbox On Demand We attended the launch of Women in Streaming Media at IBC in 2018 as invitees of Alicia Pritchett, Diane Strutner, and Peggy Dau (who drive the initiative). We have always held one of two guest seats for them in SMAdvancedForum.com—our monthly catchup with ‘characters' from the industry, and we traditionally try to hand over the reins of the show to an all-woman crew specifically for International Women's Day each March. When interviewing for articles, we keep our ears out for opportunities for womansplaining to take the priority over mansplaining, and (unknown to you all) we have protocols for keeping an eye out for when women are getting squeezed out in panel discussions where we are moderators, to ensure their voices are heard. And if you think it is bad across the streaming sector as a whole, once you dive into the CDN sub-sector, the situation is seriously dire. In fact, no event has even been more painful for me to programme than the Content Delivery Summit, the latest iteration of which ran earlier this month. Just look at the agenda. Great topics with really engaging speakers, and a dense day of exciting engagement across the sector. But we had only two women on the program—kudos Elsa Pine from EdgeConnex and Nino Doijashvili from Tulix). On publication of the agenda, this issue was raised directly with me by both Ian Wagdin from the BBC (whose PR department raised it on a ‘non-discrimination' concern) and by active support of Vanessa Vigar, who is a member of Women in Streaming Media and has pointed out the issue in events beyond Streaming Media and SMAF. And absolutely rightly so. But I had to clarify the back story, which I want to share a little with you all here. We initially worked with sponsors to place their participants. Elsa has been a frequent panelist at CDS, and so she and her company were very much involved from the outset of this event. And while a couple of the other sponsors initially did put forward women speakers, in both cases they switched them out for male representatives before the programme was finalised. We don't really have much control over who sponsors put forward to speak, so at that stage we took that on the chin, and decided to focus on the panels and non-sponsor placements in the event. So we put out the call for speakers in August/September, and we had about 3 dozen responses. The respondents were 100% from men. Not a single woman replied—and that call was distributed on StreamingMedia.com and its associated feeds with no (known of) bias. This is the first time that has happened, and it ties up strongly with evidence I have seen in SMAdvancedForum (SMAF) too; while up until this summer we have never had any issue reaching out for and finding f...

While cable services may be on life support, the simple truth is that live TV captivates audiences in ways on-demand content can't. Maybe it was the anticipation that came with watching Roy Halladay fan 11 Marlins hitters in a perfect game for the Phillies back in 2010, or the anxiousness that occurs watching state-by-state election results roll in on a Tuesday night in November. The bigger point is that while on-demand content has become a big part of our daily viewing habits, live television and the revenue companies generate from those audiences is undergoing a renaissance.“In order to do business, in order to have the things we need, we need to generate revenue somehow. So the payment for what happens, and the ability to create content, pay artists, funding great content has to come from somewhere. Either people have to pay for it through subscriptions directly, which is the SVOD space, that's Disney+, Netflix, and the HBO Max, or they have to be willing to accept advertising because the advertisers are paying for the value there. These are the tensions in the trade-offs.”Those tensions are creating an interesting dichotomy between traditional cable viewers and the trendiness that comes with being a cord cutter. But it's also generating an even larger divide in how media companies distribute their advertising dollars. On this episode of Marketing Trends, Mike Woods, the SVP of Product for Amagi Corporation, joined me on Marketing Trends to discuss how media companies are approaching their ad buys when it comes to live streaming services, and why SVOD services such as Netflix and Disney+ are bucking traditional advertising with subscription based models. Enjoy this episode!Main TakeawaysCan We Just Drop That In?: Dynamic ad insertion is providing advertisers with the ability to insert advertisements within movies and television shows that was not possible on traditional cable networks. With traditional cable advertisements, media companies had to buy based on show demographics, which drastically limited their reach. With streaming services, advertisers now have the ability to drop in quick mid-rolls and post-roll advertisements that they are able to strategically target to various homes or audiences.Digital Divide: While streaming services have made dynamic advertisement a core component of their business model, there is still a big divide between how advertisements are sold on live streaming platforms. Oftentimes, agencies will have specific departments devoted to cable TV and another to digital advertising, which is causing companies to skew their decision making one way or another. Until these two areas are housed together, media buying for these companies will continue to not deliver a holistic audience.Is It Worth It?: The general assumption when SVOD services such as Netflix were born is that consumers were paying less for individual subscriptions than they were for entire cable subscriptions. But as companies have adopted similar models and invested in streaming services with their own platforms, the cable TV model of paying for individual channels has been replicated, with consumers often paying more for individual subscriptions as a whole than they were for their cable subscriptions.---Marketing Trends podcast is brought to you by Salesforce. Discover marketing built on the world's number one CRM: Salesforce. Put your customer at the center of every interaction. Automate engagement with each customer. And build your marketing strategy around the entire customer journey. Salesforce. We bring marketing and engagement together. Learn more at salesforce.com/marketing. To learn more or subscribe to our weekly newsletter, visit MarketingTrends.com.

On Wednesday, India's government announced a relief package and a series of structural reforms for the cash-strapped telecom sector. Union Minister for IT and Communications, Ashwini Vaishnaw said that the cabinet has approved 100 percent Foreign Direct Investment in the telecom sector through automatic route—from 49 percent earlier. In our tech conversation, we talk to Amagi's co-founder and CEO Baskar Subramanian

Welcome to #41 episode of The Startup Operator Roundup. Today we have Sarthak Ahuja joining Roshan Cariappa and Gunjan Saha to discuss - 1. Amagi $100M fundraise 2. Byju's new Acquisition 3. Notion's acquisition of Automate.IO 4. Delhivery's new investor 5. Dukaan's fundraise and more! Hit the like button if enjoyed this roundup, and do not forget to share among your operator friends! Listen to our interviews and conversations with investors, operators, and founders on your favourite podcast platforms. #startups #unicorns #technology #roundup #podcast #news --- Send in a voice message: https://anchor.fm/startup-operator/message

Accruit launches the SaaS version of its Exchange Manager Pro(SM) software to simplify and centralize the administrative functions and challenges of processing 1031 exchanges.Amagi Media Labs, a cloud-based SaaS technology startup specializing in broadcast and connected TV, has raised more than $100 million in funding. With distribution in 40 countries across cable, connected TV, and OTT, Amagi has grown to become one of the world's largest cloud deployment partners.

Amagi is helping many content owners to create, distribute, and monetize channels in FAST services. In this interview, the company's Co-Founder explains how FAST works and where it is headed.  

I had the pleasure of sitting down with Miguel Duque in an undisclosed location in the PNW to discuss the nature of power, agorism, taking action and realizing our individual and (voluntarily) collective power. Murray Rothbard - Anatomy of the State: https://cdn.mises.org/Anatomy%20of%20the%20State_3.pdf (https://cdn.mises.org/Anatomy%20of%20the%20State_3.pdf) https://amagi.life/ (https://amagi.life/) https://www.squatchfest.site/ (https://www.squatchfest.site/) https://www.foodforestfarms.com/index.html (https://www.foodforestfarms.com/index.html) https://www.goodreads.com/book/show/10836816-the-most-dangerous-superstition (https://www.goodreads.com/book/show/10836816-the-most-dangerous-superstition) https://government-scam.com/ (https://government-scam.com/) https://entheosocietywa.org/ (https://entheosocietywa.org/) Libertarian Party of Washington: lpwa.org https://freedomcells.org/ (https://freedomcells.org/) Check out Jack Spirko: http://www.thesurvivalpodcast.com/ (http://www.thesurvivalpodcast.com/)

In the latest episode of Grit Stories, I spoke with Baskar Subramanian, founder and CEO of Amagi. Baskar has been an internet entrepreneur and startup founder since before either of those terms were really a thing. Having started and sold his first startup in his mid 20s, Baskar, along with a group of friends, started looking for new problems to solve.  The group set their sights on disrupting television advertising with technology, the startup that became Amagi.The startup ecosystem, Indian or international, sometimes focuses too much on the loud and the noisy. But there's another kind of startup, quiet, tough and resilient, focused on their business and their goals. It's clear which kind Amagi is, and this was a great insight into the people behind it.Amagi has been in the future since 2008, and we wish them the best with their rocketship.2:44-3:45: Baskars Story; Coming from a small time; being dyslexic but still finding a connect with the computers3:45:20-5:14:09: First business stint in grade 11! Building financial products from small businesses!07:45:23-09:19: Making the decision of leaving Texas Instruments although being a top coder there and thoughts on starting up16:34-19:06: Amagi Story: Empowering the smaller players to advertise on TV!20:30-22:36: Challenges faced operationally; Extensive traveling in tier-2 cities; facing the cable mafia and getting them onboard!25:23-28:34: Facing the problem of scale and changing the targeting through research on larger brands32:48-39:03: Friction with the TV channels; Broadcasters v/s Amagi35:51-38:59: Changing the model and almost starting afresh; tough times as a founder!41:16-44:22: Grit of continuing even during tough times; Unconditional support from the employeesCheck out other episodes from the Insights Podcast series at https://www.seedtoscale.comShare your feedback and suggestions at https://www.twitter.com/Accel_India

Mike Woods joined Amagi right before the pandemic in February of 2020 as SVP of Product. In this InFOCUS Podcast, presented by dot.FM, Woods shares how the cloud-based automation, playout, and delivery tool company is working with broadcast media companies so they can benefit, not fret, over digital video delivery platform growth.

The third episode of this mini-series sees Kenshin Amagi joining Gonçalo and Connor to discuss the creation process in the first duo set of the UFC. Shin tells us how he got inspired, how he applied that inspiration, and the challenges of planning and rehearsing a live duo with 3 time zones separating him from his partner Mathew O'NeillSupport the show (https://www.patreon.com/ungimmicked)

The Faultline Podcast is an audio companion to Rethink Technology Research's Faultline service, a weekly news service that examines the video market – focused on Pay TV, OTT, SVoD, and the technology that supports them. Occasionally, our Rethink TV research wing stops by, to talk about upcoming forecasts and macroeconomic trends we're seeing. Hosted by Alex Davies, Tommy Flanagan, and Rafi Cohen, The Faultline Podcast hits the most important points from the last week's news. If you're in the business world and deal with video content, Faultline is a service you'll want to pay attention to. Find out more at: https://rethinkresearch.biz/product/faultline/ We're on Twitter too: https://twitter.com/_Faultline_ And LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/showcase/faultline/

Baskar’s journey is very similar to what classic Product-driven Tech entrepreneurs have, i.e. a college drop-out built several tech solutions from an early age, founded a fast-paced startup growing multi-folds over years. He co-founded Amagi Media Labs, in 2008 with the intent to revolutionize global content delivery & monetization of the Media Industry. Amagi is one of the few startups which experienced constant growth even in the Covid-19 circumstances and has no plans of slowing down its growth engines anytime soon. In this podcast, Baskar shares his experience of building tech solutions and his learnings from being a Tech entrepreneur for over two decades. Notes - 01:09 - Enabling end-to-end global virtualization of content delivery and monetization in Media Industry 03:22 - Major emerging trends in Media & OTT platforms for broadcasters 08:50 - Evolution of OTTs in the US and how Amagi helps them as a one-stop-shop! 11:59 - His journey from dropping out of IIT Bombay (during MTech) to starting Amagi? 21:12 - Transiting from an Advertising sales model to a Technology platform 25:44 - Growth in Revenue from 2012 to till date 28:35 - How was the fund-raising experience being in the Media industry? 32:32 - What’s his end goal with Amagi? Going Public, achieving a $200 Million ARR or something else? 36:34 - What are the processes which helped him as an entrepreneur & the company to grow exponentially? 38:25 - How “letting go” is a very crucial part of the growth process? 40:36 - How being open, vulnerable, and accepting your mistakes openly within the team can help a company grow?

Recording in the car at Amagi area in this time, we are talking about Jimi's experience of slow life.ジミーが送るスローライフとは？

Following their defeat at the Allied encampment, the Japanese have been driven back all the way to supercruiser Amagi. During their rapid retreat, a third-tier scientist, Dr. Shotoro Ishinomoro, was separated in the Finnish tundra and lost. Axis High Command has demanded the Finnish escort force return to assist the

Links mentioned in the podcast https://www.facebook.com/groups/amagientrepreneurs/

On this episode of Amagi, Nima and Dylan talk about Peter Schiff.

Nima and Dylan discuss recent proposals to combat loan sharking by capping interest rates on credit cards. Sources: To Tackle Greed of Wall Street 'Loan Sharks,' Ocasio-Cortez and Sanders Plan Would Cap Outrageous Credit Card Rates (https://www.commondreams.org/news/2019/05/09/tackle-greed-wall-street-loan-sharks-ocasio-cortez-and-sanders-plan-would-cap?fbclid=IwAR2rIlbJhFMfNnyfAy17SpfC7qbSrZys07Mb8MYGKmDP9grQ1lPupCya_TA) Economic Illiterate, or Communist Mastermind? (https://think-liberty.com/featured/economic-illiterate-or-communist-mastermind/?fbclid=IwAR378zNypt_BwSIvjXH8eu2tZeHqol-Wvsd7T0fqSkEhMQfDc93n-B0cJFw)

Nima and Dylan discuss recent proposals to combat loan sharking by capping interest rates on credit cards. Sources: To Tackle Greed of Wall Street 'Loan Sharks,' Ocasio-Cortez and Sanders Plan Would Cap Outrageous Credit Card Rates (https://www.commondreams.org/news/2019/05/09/tackle-greed-wall-street-loan-sharks-ocasio-cortez-and-sanders-plan-would-cap?fbclid=IwAR2rIlbJhFMfNnyfAy17SpfC7qbSrZys07Mb8MYGKmDP9grQ1lPupCya_TA) Economic Illiterate, or Communist Mastermind? (https://think-liberty.com/featured/economic-illiterate-or-communist-mastermind/?fbclid=IwAR378zNypt_BwSIvjXH8eu2tZeHqol-Wvsd7T0fqSkEhMQfDc93n-B0cJFw)

Dylan discusses real environmental problems, not "CO2 bullshit."