Entry from Tom DeWolf’s blog

I’ve now had Nielsen “ratings” and “shares” of television audiences explained to me. It doesn’t mean I fully understand them, mind you, but it does allow me to pass along one significant conclusion. On the evening of the premiere of Traces of the Trade on PBS’s acclaimed documentary series P.O.V. approximately 1.1 million people tuned in to watch all, or most, of the film. As many as 1.7 million–which includes channel surfers–watched at least part of Traces of the Trade that evening. I don’t know what this means in terms of markets–like Oregon and Rhode Island, for instance–in which the film was broadcast on a date other than June 24. In other words, I’m not sure how the total audience would, or could, be calculated.

On the evening of June 24, P.O.V. received a .8 rating and a 1 share. The “rating” is calculated from metered stations in the top fifty markets that aired Traces and refers to the percentage of households who own TVs in each market who tuned in to watch. The “share” refers to the percentage of households with their televisions turned on that tuned in to watch. For comparison’s sake, on that same evening, NOVA at 8:00pm received a 1.1 rating. Frontline at 9:00pm received 0.9. Cable ratings for the 10:00pm hour (Traces was intended to be broadcast at 10:00pm in most markets) include CNN/0.8, Bravo/0.7, Comedy Central/0.8, HBO/0.3, History/1.0, and MSNBC/0.5.

At appearances I’ve made since June 24 I’ve had many people tell me they watched Traces on P.O.V. I’ve had many more tell me they saw or heard previews, interviews, or articles about it. The numbers of people logging onto the Traces website shot up significantly, as well as visitors to my blog. At the P.O.V. blog, where they offered people the opportunity to ask questions of the author here, the filmmaker here, and to comment on the film here, there are more than 750 postings.

P.O.V. is very pleased with these numbers. We’re also quite pleased. Interest in the film, the book, and the message of hope inherent in this ongoing American journey continues to grow.

http://inheritingthetrade.com/blog/?p=146

The Early Show on CBS aired a live interview on Monday, July 14 with director Katrina Browne, co-producer Juanita Brown, and family member Tom DeWolf. Tom appears in the film and has written a book, Inheriting the Trade, chronicling his personal transformation during and after the journey.

The interview was conducted by Early Show anchor Harry Smith, who wrote about the film when it first aired on PBS:

… the journey is painful, tearful and revealing. …and the film displays the difficult road toward reconciliation. See it or get it or pick up the book by Katrina’s cousin Tom DeWolf.

The Washington Post ran a feature story on Saturday, June 28, on Traces of the Trade, headlined “A Family Discovers Its History of Shackles and Shame.”

The article, on the front page of the Post‘s Style section, features interviews with director Katrina Browne and co-producer Juanita Brown. The story ran in advance of the Washington-area television premiere of the documentary on June 29.