Be Woke.Vote · 2018
Roland Martin Unfiltered: ten conversations about power, history and the ballot
For Be Woke.Vote in 2018, Roland Martin sat down with Representative Maxine Waters, Chuck D, Dr. James Lawson, Erika Alexander, Ali Siddiq and more, in ten conversations released as a podcast and on YouTube in the week before the midterms. AONE led the creative direction, Darrick Angelone was one of its producers, and the episodes have passed 1.2 million views on YouTube.
The brief
A conversation series about power and the ballot
Be Woke.Vote set out to reach young voters of color, Gen Z and Millennials, before the 2018 midterms. Roland Martin Unfiltered put the journalist across the table from people who have lived the fight for the vote and people young voters already follow: a congresswoman, a leader of the civil rights movement, a hip-hop pioneer, comedians, actors and a preacher.
Each conversation was made to work as a podcast, as a full video episode and as shorter cuts, with the voter tools on Be Woke.Vote one tap away.
What we did
Format, production and distribution
- Format
Roland Martin and one guest
Each episode is a single conversation between Roland Martin and one guest, from nine to twenty-four minutes long, filmed on the Be Woke.Vote set.
- Guests
Nine voices, ten episodes
Zulay Henao, Erica Ash, DeVon Franklin, Chuck D, Dr. James Lawson, Representative Maxine Waters, Ali Siddiq, Erika Alexander and LisaRaye McCoy. Ali Siddiq’s conversation runs in two parts.
- Creative direction
Led by Darrick Angelone and AONE
We led the creative direction of the series, and Darrick produced it with Roxanne Avent, Heather Kritzer and Suzanne Summerville, working with its directors Deon Taylor and Omar Joseph.
- Podcast
Audio first, then video
The ten episodes went out as a podcast from October 30 to November 5, 2018, then again as video podcast episodes on Be Woke.Vote from April to August 2019.
- Distribution
YouTube and Be Woke.Vote
Every episode went up on the Be Woke.Vote YouTube channel, and Be Woke.Vote carried the episodes next to its voter tools.
- 2020
Back for the next election
In October 2020 the conversations returned as seven short cuts for the 2020 election, with Erica Ash, Zulay Henao, Maxine Waters, Chuck D, James Lawson and LisaRaye McCoy, plus a 38-second spot with Roland Martin.
- Watch
All ten episodes, here
Every episode now plays on its own page on this site, from the series page.
Results
Reach and recognition
- 10Episodes, released October 30 to November 6, 2018
- 1.2M+YouTube views across the ten episodes
- 839K+Views of Ali Siddiq, Part 1, the most watched
- Ali Siddiq’s conversation has more than 1.1 million views on YouTube across its two parts
- In October 2020, seven short cuts brought the conversations back for the 2020 election
- Be Woke.Vote at the Webby Awards, 2019: a nomination in Social, News and Politics, and a Webby Honoree in Podcasts, Best Host
YouTube views: the Be Woke Vote channel, October 2026.
On set
Across the table
Each conversation was filmed on the Be Woke.Vote set, with the host and one guest at the table. See every episode
What it taught us
Put history at the table
Young voters heard from people who had fought for the vote and from people they already followed, in the same week. Conversations like these carry a message further than an ad can, and we build every series and campaign with that in mind.
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Series
Have a host and a message that matter?
Roland Martin Unfiltered turned ten conversations into a podcast, full episodes and short cuts that passed 1.2 million views. Tell us who is talking and who needs to hear it.