October 17, 2025 • 9 mins
BTGM Briefs: Roland Martin is host and managing editor of Roland Martin Unfiltered and founder of the Black Star Network.
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Transcript
Episode Transcript
Available transcripts are automatically generated. Complete accuracy is not guaranteed.
Speaker 1 (00:00):
So I've been podcasting in radio long enough to see
players become owners, and you think about your and it's
unfortunate because you're the only person I think about in
this class, and that is the the Glenn Becks who
get fired and then going to start their own network.
And it's then the Tucker Carltons who get fired and
then go start and you are the only, you know,
number one black, but number one more progressive person that
(00:22):
I think about, Like, you own your stuff and you
get to put other people on your platform. And so
going a level deeper on that, thinking that you shared
some of those brothers that presented you with, how what
can you share like the economics and Okay, I got
a job, I got a contract with the CNN or
a Fox or but I own this and the economics
(00:43):
are just different.
Speaker 2 (00:45):
Okay.
Speaker 3 (00:45):
So so even when I was there, I was never
so when I was at SO, I was at TV one,
Tom Jounmer wanting the show, seeing in at the same time,
and I wasn't an employee of none of either one
of them.
Speaker 2 (01:05):
I had a media company. I was. It was ten
ninety nine.
Speaker 3 (01:10):
And let me explain that is and I've given I've
given these I've given these lectures and classes around the world.
The concept is the concept that you have to have
when you are a quote.
Speaker 2 (01:23):
An employee is me ink.
Speaker 3 (01:26):
It's me ink, So whatever your name is, to put
ink on the ev you are a walking, talking corporation.
Speaker 2 (01:33):
So I didn't even.
Speaker 3 (01:35):
So when I was an employee, I didn't consider myself
to be an employee. I saw myself as a vendor
and they were the client. So when you apply for
a job, it's no different than when you respond to
an RFP, a request for proposal. When you apply for
(01:56):
a job, you say I can do that job, and
you go in you interview.
Speaker 2 (02:00):
Well, RFP is the exact same process, and guess what
you get.
Speaker 3 (02:03):
Hired for the job. Well, if you get hired for
the RP, they the client.
Speaker 2 (02:07):
You're the vendor. Your job is to deliver a service.
Speaker 3 (02:10):
If they like the service, they continue the vendor client relationship.
The same thing happens when you're an employee. The difference
is that when you are quote an employee, but you
put your see yourself.
Speaker 2 (02:20):
As as Kim ink or as Dewan Inc.
Speaker 3 (02:25):
Or whatever is, you now are looking at the landscape
totally different. So when I worked at the Fort Worth
Star Telegram. I wanted my own equipment. Well why did
I want my own equipment? Because if anything happened with
the job, then I already have my own phone, my
(02:45):
own laptop. I had my own stuff. So when I
went to the Dallas Become newsrok in the morning anchor
the KD Radio, there were times when I was requesting
stuff and they were slow to buy. So finally WAS like,
you know what, damn that because this other deal, if
I bought it, it's also a tax right off, and
then if I leave, it goes with me. So when
I took over Dallas Weekly, I remember when I left.
(03:06):
I mean, guess what the scam came with me.
Speaker 2 (03:08):
The printer came with me, the Kodec DC two ten
digital camera came with me. All my stuff came with me.
And what that then did is if.
Speaker 3 (03:17):
Anything happens, if whether I quit, whether I resigned, was
I got fired, I had the tools of my craft
to now be able to freelance, because there's nothing worse
than losing an opportunity, losing a job. And then now
you're like, damn, I don't have a laptop, I don't
have a camera.
Speaker 2 (03:32):
I don't have my own stuff. So now I'm trying
to figure it all out. And so even when.
Speaker 3 (03:37):
I was at SO, when I was there, when I
was at CNN, when I was at TV, I remember
when they told me so a djourin in two thousand
and seven. So two thousand and nine I knew there
was an ad agency. They wrapped Southwest Airlines. My man said,
if seeing it gives your own show, I'm gonna be
(03:58):
the main sponsor.
Speaker 2 (04:00):
So I came to the table with my own sponsor. Dude,
they would freak the hell out. They never experienced that.
So then on was sudden they decided, well, we're not
gonna do a show.
Speaker 3 (04:10):
And so I remember walking out of John Klein's office
and I was one hundred feet out. I called Jonathan Rogers,
they're not doing Jonathan said, well, they're gonna launch your show.
They're gonna lunch the show. We're gonna launch a show
that was in May. We're announced it at July fourth.
Speaker 2 (04:24):
At Essence Festival. But here was the thing. You fast forward.
Speaker 3 (04:28):
That was two thousand and nine, twenty twelve. I saw
what was going on. No after that or nine, I said, oh,
they are never gonna give me my own show at CNN.
I said, CNN has now become my personal venture capitalist.
Speaker 2 (04:43):
So let me explain.
Speaker 3 (04:44):
So here i am as a contributor at CNN. I'm
getting paid two hundred and eighty three thousand dollars. Okay,
So I said, okay, CNN is gonna start funding my
other stuff. So CNN n is April twenty thirteen. I
had the same thing at TV one. I knew what
I wanted to do. I knew my vision was bigger
(05:05):
than the folks at TV one. They were slow, they
were not moving. So I started buying my own equipment.
I was doing that when I was at CNN, even before,
so going back to Dallas Weekly, going back to the
Fort Worth Telegram. So since the second job of my career,
I've been buying my own equipment. So I started buying
my own stuff. So bought this camera, I bought this light,
(05:25):
I bought this mic. I said, now I'm just adding
stuff to it. So check this out. We're at TV one,
and every time we had to shoot anything in the
city out we had to go through this outside production company.
Speaker 2 (05:36):
Well, there was some small stuff that we needed to shoot.
I was like, damn, So I said, okay.
Speaker 3 (05:40):
I bought my own about three, can't I bought my
Canon x A twenty five. So I then went, Okay,
here's what we're gonna do. I said, when we had,
I said, if we'd shoot, I said, I'm gonna let.
Speaker 2 (05:53):
Y'all use my equipment.
Speaker 3 (05:56):
But so I'm not gonna charge you a kid fee.
But if my equipment is used, I gotta co own
the content. Now the person listening or watching him, they go, Man,
why the hell would you not charge them?
Speaker 2 (06:11):
Because the content was more valuable than the kid fee.
Speaker 3 (06:16):
Because the content now goes in my library, I can
use that in perpetuity.
Speaker 2 (06:22):
So all of a sudden, I'm sitting here.
Speaker 3 (06:25):
So if you watch My Frankie Beverly and Mays My
Frankie Beverly Mays Special at TV one, every piece of
b roll and every photo and that special came from
my personal archives.
Speaker 2 (06:39):
I co own that content.
Speaker 3 (06:40):
So I can restream that sucker as many times as
I want to, and I don't have to ask TV
one for permission to do that. So I was thinking
ahead of understanding, and so as I'm building this thing now,
I'm now I'm acquire my equipment.
Speaker 2 (06:55):
So they canceled my show. Thisce be twenty seventeen January thirty.
Speaker 3 (06:59):
If we do a thing called of our re Union,
I call a black church in DC within thirty seconds
the past that said yes, So when we do it,
guess what. I already have my cameras, I already have
my lights, I already had my switcher.
Speaker 2 (07:12):
It was a couple of things that had to buy.
Speaker 3 (07:14):
But I wasn't trying to go rent some stuff because
for five and six years I had been methodically.
Speaker 2 (07:23):
Buying, buying, buying.
Speaker 3 (07:25):
Buying, And so that's the mentality that you have to
have when you're doing stuff. And so now your focus
is different. Now you see things differently. Now when you're there,
you're like, Okay, how much is this and how much
is that?
Speaker 2 (07:39):
The other thing? Is this here?
Speaker 3 (07:40):
I think when I buy equipment, I'm thinking multi purpose,
not single purpose. But if I get that I can
do this, I can do this, I can do this,
I can do this, not a purpose make now the
purchase makes some sense. And so that's the problem for
a lot of people who don't understand. When you make
the shift to owning, you now have to think completely different,
(08:04):
and you also have to.
Speaker 2 (08:05):
Learn to tell yourself no. People gonna People.
Speaker 3 (08:07):
Came to me and they were like, oh, man, man,
then listen and that cannon see three hundred. Oh yes,
that's an amazing camera. But the body of the lens
is twenty thousand dollars. I need three cameras, I said,
and I don't have I don't have twenty grand to
buy three cameras.
Speaker 2 (08:22):
So you gotta learn how to tell yourself no.
Speaker 3 (08:24):
So I started a remote equipment with three cannon X
A twenty fives.
Speaker 2 (08:29):
Gave me HD had two xl xl R outlets.
Speaker 3 (08:33):
It gave me everything I needed had had sd I
out gave me everything I needed to broadcast.
Speaker 2 (08:39):
Now what happened to two? What happened?
Speaker 3 (08:41):
Three years later? I bought three cannon C three hundreds whatever.
Six months later I bought two more cannon C three hundreds.
So today I owned five cannon C three hundreds, a
cannon C seventy, a cannon C eighty two black magic cameras,
and also a Canon D ninety. I had to so
I had to tell folk no old at the beginning
(09:02):
stages to build to a certain level. And that's the
other thing a lot of us do. Many of us
we want to come out flossing. We want to come
out oh man, we're looking good. We want to come
out on all this stuff. Listen, that stuff don't mean
a damn thing. If you in business for one year,
all you said, oh man, we had a great one
(09:25):
year run. I'd rather say now we at a ten,
twenty thirty forty year run. And that's how your thinking
has to be different.
So I've been podcasting in radio long enough to see
players become owners, and you think about your and it's
unfortunate because you're the only person I think about in
this class, and that is the the Glenn Becks who
get fired and then going to start their own network.
And it's then the Tucker Carltons who get fired and
then go start and you are the only, you know,
number one black, but number one more progressive person that
(00:22):
I think about, Like, you own your stuff and you
get to put other people on your platform. And so
going a level deeper on that, thinking that you shared
some of those brothers that presented you with, how what
can you share like the economics and Okay, I got
a job, I got a contract with the CNN or
a Fox or but I own this and the economics
(00:43):
are just different.
Speaker 2 (00:45):
Okay.
Speaker 3 (00:45):
So so even when I was there, I was never
so when I was at SO, I was at TV one,
Tom Jounmer wanting the show, seeing in at the same time,
and I wasn't an employee of none of either one
of them.
Speaker 2 (01:05):
I had a media company. I was. It was ten
ninety nine.
Speaker 3 (01:10):
And let me explain that is and I've given I've
given these I've given these lectures and classes around the world.
The concept is the concept that you have to have
when you are a quote.
Speaker 2 (01:23):
An employee is me ink.
Speaker 3 (01:26):
It's me ink, So whatever your name is, to put
ink on the ev you are a walking, talking corporation.
Speaker 2 (01:33):
So I didn't even.
Speaker 3 (01:35):
So when I was an employee, I didn't consider myself
to be an employee. I saw myself as a vendor
and they were the client. So when you apply for
a job, it's no different than when you respond to
an RFP, a request for proposal. When you apply for
(01:56):
a job, you say I can do that job, and
you go in you interview.
Speaker 2 (02:00):
Well, RFP is the exact same process, and guess what
you get.
Speaker 3 (02:03):
Hired for the job. Well, if you get hired for
the RP, they the client.
Speaker 2 (02:07):
You're the vendor. Your job is to deliver a service.
Speaker 3 (02:10):
If they like the service, they continue the vendor client relationship.
The same thing happens when you're an employee. The difference
is that when you are quote an employee, but you
put your see yourself.
Speaker 2 (02:20):
As as Kim ink or as Dewan Inc.
Speaker 3 (02:25):
Or whatever is, you now are looking at the landscape
totally different. So when I worked at the Fort Worth
Star Telegram. I wanted my own equipment. Well why did
I want my own equipment? Because if anything happened with
the job, then I already have my own phone, my
(02:45):
own laptop. I had my own stuff. So when I
went to the Dallas Become newsrok in the morning anchor
the KD Radio, there were times when I was requesting
stuff and they were slow to buy. So finally WAS like,
you know what, damn that because this other deal, if
I bought it, it's also a tax right off, and
then if I leave, it goes with me. So when
I took over Dallas Weekly, I remember when I left.
(03:06):
I mean, guess what the scam came with me.
Speaker 2 (03:08):
The printer came with me, the Kodec DC two ten
digital camera came with me. All my stuff came with me.
And what that then did is if.
Speaker 3 (03:17):
Anything happens, if whether I quit, whether I resigned, was
I got fired, I had the tools of my craft
to now be able to freelance, because there's nothing worse
than losing an opportunity, losing a job. And then now
you're like, damn, I don't have a laptop, I don't
have a camera.
Speaker 2 (03:32):
I don't have my own stuff. So now I'm trying
to figure it all out. And so even when.
Speaker 3 (03:37):
I was at SO, when I was there, when I
was at CNN, when I was at TV, I remember
when they told me so a djourin in two thousand
and seven. So two thousand and nine I knew there
was an ad agency. They wrapped Southwest Airlines. My man said,
if seeing it gives your own show, I'm gonna be
(03:58):
the main sponsor.
Speaker 2 (04:00):
So I came to the table with my own sponsor. Dude,
they would freak the hell out. They never experienced that.
So then on was sudden they decided, well, we're not
gonna do a show.
Speaker 3 (04:10):
And so I remember walking out of John Klein's office
and I was one hundred feet out. I called Jonathan Rogers,
they're not doing Jonathan said, well, they're gonna launch your show.
They're gonna lunch the show. We're gonna launch a show
that was in May. We're announced it at July fourth.
Speaker 2 (04:24):
At Essence Festival. But here was the thing. You fast forward.
Speaker 3 (04:28):
That was two thousand and nine, twenty twelve. I saw
what was going on. No after that or nine, I said, oh,
they are never gonna give me my own show at CNN.
I said, CNN has now become my personal venture capitalist.
Speaker 2 (04:43):
So let me explain.
Speaker 3 (04:44):
So here i am as a contributor at CNN. I'm
getting paid two hundred and eighty three thousand dollars. Okay,
So I said, okay, CNN is gonna start funding my
other stuff. So CNN n is April twenty thirteen. I
had the same thing at TV one. I knew what
I wanted to do. I knew my vision was bigger
(05:05):
than the folks at TV one. They were slow, they
were not moving. So I started buying my own equipment.
I was doing that when I was at CNN, even before,
so going back to Dallas Weekly, going back to the
Fort Worth Telegram. So since the second job of my career,
I've been buying my own equipment. So I started buying
my own stuff. So bought this camera, I bought this light,
(05:25):
I bought this mic. I said, now I'm just adding
stuff to it. So check this out. We're at TV one,
and every time we had to shoot anything in the
city out we had to go through this outside production company.
Speaker 2 (05:36):
Well, there was some small stuff that we needed to shoot.
I was like, damn, So I said, okay.
Speaker 3 (05:40):
I bought my own about three, can't I bought my
Canon x A twenty five. So I then went, Okay,
here's what we're gonna do. I said, when we had,
I said, if we'd shoot, I said, I'm gonna let.
Speaker 2 (05:53):
Y'all use my equipment.
Speaker 3 (05:56):
But so I'm not gonna charge you a kid fee.
But if my equipment is used, I gotta co own
the content. Now the person listening or watching him, they go, Man,
why the hell would you not charge them?
Speaker 2 (06:11):
Because the content was more valuable than the kid fee.
Speaker 3 (06:16):
Because the content now goes in my library, I can
use that in perpetuity.
Speaker 2 (06:22):
So all of a sudden, I'm sitting here.
Speaker 3 (06:25):
So if you watch My Frankie Beverly and Mays My
Frankie Beverly Mays Special at TV one, every piece of
b roll and every photo and that special came from
my personal archives.
Speaker 2 (06:39):
I co own that content.
Speaker 3 (06:40):
So I can restream that sucker as many times as
I want to, and I don't have to ask TV
one for permission to do that. So I was thinking
ahead of understanding, and so as I'm building this thing now,
I'm now I'm acquire my equipment.
Speaker 2 (06:55):
So they canceled my show. Thisce be twenty seventeen January thirty.
Speaker 3 (06:59):
If we do a thing called of our re Union,
I call a black church in DC within thirty seconds
the past that said yes, So when we do it,
guess what. I already have my cameras, I already have
my lights, I already had my switcher.
Speaker 2 (07:12):
It was a couple of things that had to buy.
Speaker 3 (07:14):
But I wasn't trying to go rent some stuff because
for five and six years I had been methodically.
Speaker 2 (07:23):
Buying, buying, buying.
Speaker 3 (07:25):
Buying, And so that's the mentality that you have to
have when you're doing stuff. And so now your focus
is different. Now you see things differently. Now when you're there,
you're like, Okay, how much is this and how much
is that?
Speaker 2 (07:39):
The other thing? Is this here?
Speaker 3 (07:40):
I think when I buy equipment, I'm thinking multi purpose,
not single purpose. But if I get that I can
do this, I can do this, I can do this,
I can do this, not a purpose make now the
purchase makes some sense. And so that's the problem for
a lot of people who don't understand. When you make
the shift to owning, you now have to think completely different,
(08:04):
and you also have to.
Speaker 2 (08:05):
Learn to tell yourself no. People gonna People.
Speaker 3 (08:07):
Came to me and they were like, oh, man, man,
then listen and that cannon see three hundred. Oh yes,
that's an amazing camera. But the body of the lens
is twenty thousand dollars. I need three cameras, I said,
and I don't have I don't have twenty grand to
buy three cameras.
Speaker 2 (08:22):
So you gotta learn how to tell yourself no.
Speaker 3 (08:24):
So I started a remote equipment with three cannon X
A twenty fives.
Speaker 2 (08:29):
Gave me HD had two xl xl R outlets.
Speaker 3 (08:33):
It gave me everything I needed had had sd I
out gave me everything I needed to broadcast.
Speaker 2 (08:39):
Now what happened to two? What happened?
Speaker 3 (08:41):
Three years later? I bought three cannon C three hundreds whatever.
Six months later I bought two more cannon C three hundreds.
So today I owned five cannon C three hundreds, a
cannon C seventy, a cannon C eighty two black magic cameras,
and also a Canon D ninety. I had to so
I had to tell folk no old at the beginning
(09:02):
stages to build to a certain level. And that's the
other thing a lot of us do. Many of us
we want to come out flossing. We want to come
out oh man, we're looking good. We want to come
out on all this stuff. Listen, that stuff don't mean
a damn thing. If you in business for one year,
all you said, oh man, we had a great one
(09:25):
year run. I'd rather say now we at a ten,
twenty thirty forty year run. And that's how your thinking
has to be different.
Host
Will Lucas
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