Hometime

Hometime Episode Recap

Last year, the PBS television show Hometime came to our shop to film an episode. This episode is part of a season-long project that involved completely building out a luxury townhome. Our job was to scan, print, stretch, and install custom-designed art. Hometime has been broadcast nationwide for 22 years and has a very loyal following.

It wasn't until the last month that we received final confirmation of the Hometime episode we participated in. PBS has a unique way of scheduling compared to other networks, allowing local affiliates to schedule at will, often around fundraising activities they might have going on.

So, the bottom line is that our episode (#2206, Townhome: Finale) will be broadcast nationwide on March 8th and in the Red Wing area (TPT, Channel 2) on March 15th at 9 am.

What can we expect? I have no idea. Hometime is carried by 240 PBS stations and is broadcast 340 times per week. The typical episode is seen by about 1 million households and 1.2 million viewers.

Bill Gibb, the producer/director for our episode, mentioned that it typically takes 8 hours of filmed tape to produce 8 minutes of on-air footage. I saw our episode, and there are about 7 minutes of dedicated air-time discussing our portion, with the art visible in the background throughout most of the show. One of the best parts for me was the shots taken of the Red Wing community at large. Bill followed up on a suggestion to take some footage from Memorial Park and captured some terrific footage of Downtown Red Wing.

I have several tools in place to try and measure the impact the show will have, and I promise to share the results as they unfold.