To promote its online local news platform NewsWorks, Philadelphia’s WHYY developed an unconventional campaign mimicking over-the-top advertising techniques and the limitations of news published in print. A team of designers and editors created a “print edition” of the online news site and used various tactics to distribute more than 36,000 copies to Philadelphia residents.  Beginning Oct. 22 commuters could pick up copies as a handout offered at public transit stations and temporary newsstands. In addition, residents of some neighborhoods received copies that were delivered to their doorsteps. The eight-page newspaper featured snippets from NewsWorks articles and cost about $14,700 to produce and distribute.

Editorial employees at Chicago Public Media filed a petition to unionize with the National Labor Relations Board Oct 18 after earlier efforts to gain recognition from management were rebuffed. Nearly 80 percent of the 54 employees who work at CPM as on-air talent, producers, web staff, reporters, editors and production assistants support the petition, according to a statement provided by the employees. The group initially notified interim CEO Alison Scholly of their request for union recognition Sept. 25. That request was rejected Oct. 1, according to the new petition. The organizers turned to a neutral third party to make another bid for recognition Oct.

Vivian Schiller, NPR president from 2009 to 2011, will join Twitter as head of its newly created News Partnerships division. Schiller, who announced the job change Oct. 24, steps down as chief digital officer for NBC News to join the social media network. At Twitter, she will cultivate and oversee partnerships with established news outlets, including NPR, according to the New York Times. During her short tenure at NPR, Schiller played a key role in developing grant-funded projects and services that accelerated public radio’s capacity to deliver news coverage online. But Schiller’s presidency was ultimately marred by her role in the controversial 2010 firing of commentator Juan Williams and the political firestorm that later engulfed the network.

Joyce Herring, s.v.p. of station services for PBS, is leaving the network Oct. 31, President Paula Kerger announced today in an email to station executives. Kerger attributed Herring’s departure “to a series of unexpected circumstances requiring her immediate attention.” Herring, who joined PBS in 2007, is the third senior executive to depart in the past month. John McCoskey, the network’s top engineer, recently left to join the Motion Picture Association of America; Jason Seiken, head of digital media, took a position with the Telegraph Media Group in London. As head of station services, Herring’s main responsibility has been ensuring that the interests of member stations are represented in decisions regarding PBS’s management and strategic direction.

Twin Cities Public Television launched Sparticl, a new STEM-focused sharing website geared toward middle-school students, Oct. 1 with support from a major corporate sponsor. Manufacturing company 3M backed more than two years of research and development of the site prior to its launch early this month. Sparticl curates links to articles, videos and games built around Science, Technology, Engineering and Mathematics–related themes, ranging from the environment to nutrition to outer space. Links are geared toward an audience of seventh- through ninth-graders. “Some of our executives noticed that it’s really hard to find good science content for kids, in particular on the web,” said Richard Hudson, TPT’s director of science production.

WVPT-TV has struck a deal to sell the building it has used as its headquarters since 1968 and move to a larger facility in Harrisonburg, Va. The station currently owns its building on the James Madison University campus in Harrisonburg but leases the land from the university. In the $2.35 million deal, the university will purchase the building. WVPT President David Mullins told Current that the station hopes to complete the move by April 30, 2014. “We have been actively searching for the best facility to renovate and lease,” Mullins said. “We should have this determined by the end of the year.”

Nashville Public Television is tackling the complex issues surrounding aging and death in an “NPT Reports” multiplatform project, “Aging Matters: End of Life,” reports the local Tennessean newspaper. For the next three to five years, NPT will produce at least six documentaries and interstitials, air town halls and panel discussions, host a website and distribute DVDs. The first documentary, “End of Life,” premiered in September, with Grammy winner Kathy Mattea. “My own dad just died in hospice care three years ago,” Beth Curley, NPT president, told the newspaper. “That’s very personal, and many in the baby boomer generation have similar stories.

The demise of NPR’s Talk of the Nation ended Ken Rudin’s regular appearances on many public radio stations, but the “Political Junkie” is aiming to reengage his devoted audience with a weekly radio segment that launched yesterday. The 8-minute Political Junkie segments, distributed by Public Radio Exchange, reprise many of the features Rudin wove into his TOTN appearances. The first installment features Rudin and NPR Senior Political Editor Ron Elving discussing the aftermath of the government shutdown. Rudin also plans to offer Political Junkie in extended form as a podcast. Since TOTN wound down in June and Rudin departed from NPR, thousands of listeners emailed the commentator to ask for his return to the Web and to radio.

NPR hired voice-over and theater actress Sabrina Farhi as the new voice of its underwriting credits, with her on-air debut to come next month. Farhi has previously lent her voice to ads for TIAA–CREF and Bioré Skincare and performed extensively in independent theater productions in New York. She will work out of NPR’s Washington, D.C., headquarters in her new job. “Out of hundreds of voices, Sabrina’s immediately stood out for its warmth and conversational approach,” said Eric Nuzum, NPR’s v.p. of programming, in a press release. “We think listeners and supporters will find her engaging.” In a brief audio introduction (hear it here), Farhi reveals that she enjoys Scrabble and Mad Men and tells listeners that “I’m not as serious as I sound.”

PBS is pairing two Masterpiece favorites on Sunday nights: the upcoming third season of its hit Sherlock and ratings blockbuster Downton Abbey, the network announced today. “We continue to execute on our programming strategy to focus on our key genres, build on our night-by-night schedule, and develop new brand-defining content that sets PBS apart in the changing media landscape,” PBS program chief Beth Hoppe told member station executives in an email today. PBS also announced that its 2012–13 primetime programming ratings increased 7 percent over last season, elevating the network to No. 8 among all broadcast and cable outlets from its previous rank of No.

StoryCorps begins marking its 10-year anniversary this week with a special series airing on NPR’s Morning Edition. The segments include an interview with StoryCorps founder and indie producer Dave Isay, and a series of features catching up with some of the most popular characters to share personal stories during the first decade of the oral history project. StoryCorps will also be celebrating its accomplishments and longevity with a gala event hosted by comic Stephen Colbert, a new book and a Thanksgiving special presented on PBS. Attendees at the Oct. 30 fundraiser in New York City who reserve an entire table for $25,000 get an opportunity to record a StoryCorps interview in their own home.

Pubradio producer Hillary Frank channeled her experiences during a difficult pregnancy into parenting podcast The Longest Shortest Time, which recently completed a successful Kickstarter campaign and landed a series of high-profile sponsors. Frank is a contributor to This American Life, Marketplace and other programs, and has written three novels for young adults. She began producing and self-distributing her podcast in 2010 while caring for her infant daughter, whose “sunny-side up” reversal in the womb rendered her mother unable to walk for months after giving birth. “I just felt like I couldn’t be the mom that I wanted to be,” she said of her convalescence and recovery.

After a combative online exchange with CPB Ombudsman Joel Kaplan over a perceived conflict of interest between his political aspirations and his role as president of an NPR-affiliated public station, Marshall Miles of WHDD-FM/AM in Sharon, Conn., temporarily resigned from his pubcasting job Oct. 15. Miles, who until last week ran the station that calls itself “Robin Hood Radio,” recently decided to run for a seat on the Region One Board of Education, which oversees a largely rural district in northwestern Connecticut. After local critics complained that Miles’s candidacy conflicted with his work as a pubcasting manager, Kaplan agreed with them in an online column published Oct.

Oprah Winfrey, George Clooney, Julia Roberts and Forest Whitaker are among the stars scheduled to appear on a series of hourlong entertainment roundtable interviews to air on PBS SoCal in December, co-produced by the station and The Hollywood Reporter. The upcoming Hollywood Reporter Roundtables, moderated by the publication’s Executive Editor Matthew Belloni and Features Editor Stephen Galloway, each feature six Oscar contenders. Actors kick off the series, followed by episodes with directors, writers and producers. The trade publication debuted the series online in 2005. Participants discuss their careers, personal lives, industry trends and pet projects. “PBS’s highly engaged audience is a perfect match for the quality, gravitas, fun and insight that the roundtables consistently deliver,” Hollywood Reporter Editorial Director Janice Min said in today’s announcement.