Anyone who has ever watched PBS knows the call letters WQED. Pittsburgh’s public TV station is shorthand for TV excellence — and it extends its mission to entertain and inform hometown viewers in print with Pittsburgh. The snappy regional pub, which reaches nearly 300,000 monthly, chronicles an exciting, urbane city — one I never knew growing up.

It’s late August, time when the mail guy needs a forklift to deliver the September issues of women’s fashion mags. InStyle and Lucky, the two nontraditional young babes in this category, are no exception; both sport a seasonally chubby look. Though the two pubs were begun with different formulas — InStyle, in 1993, with a focus on celebrity fashion; Lucky, in 2001, as a shopping magalog — each has evolved to share traits of the other. So how do the two compare now?

After a lovely birthday/vacation spent relaxing in the Florida Keys, even a flight delay couldn’t bring me down. Off I headed to see what the Ft. Lauderdale airport newsstand might offer in the way of distraction. There’s nothing like spending the better part of a week wearing next to nothing to make you start to think twice about what you are stuffing in your pie hole, so Clean Eating immediately caught my attention. It struck me as more “healthy” than “diet,” which was definitely a turn-on. I’ve done enough Scarsdale/Atkins/South Beach for one lifetime, thank you very much.

Woman’s Day takes as its motto: “live well every day.” In my book, that covers health, money, work, family and food, and according to an expert source — my mother — Woman’s Day fills the bill. She is a huge fan of its clean cover, concise tips and wide appeal, insisting it speaks to young careerists and grandmothers alike. How would she sum it up? “Trustworthy.” And I concur.

Can Rodale, a magazine publisher best known as the kingdom of crunchy, fitness-oriented titles like Prevention and Men’s Health, publish a men’s magazine as literate and stylish as Esquire or GQ? That’s what Best Life seems to be shooting for — and hitting the mark more often than not.

I was thrown for a loop recently when my sister told me my great-niece, who just celebrated her 6th birthday, doesn’t have any magazine subscriptions. Furthermore, she isn’t really reading much. How can this be? By age 6, my mother was taking me to the library once a week to load up. And that was to satiate me after I’d already devoured Highlights, Jack & Jill and yes, even her Better Homes & Gardens. Great-Auntie to the rescue, I am going to remedy this situation, of course. But with what?

In its 30-year journey, Yoga Journal has gone from looking like something only a tree-hugging, granola-cruncher could love to an attractive, mainstream pub. Yoga may have been hippie-dippie in the 1960s and ’70s; today, it’s embraced by anyone who wants to be healthy, active and — a word not in my vocabulary — flexible. Jerry Seinfeld is a longtime practitioner. Yoga may be one of the few things in life you can’t yada yada.

‘Tis peak season for “do I look fat in this?” worries — and exercise can be an antidote. Maybe it’s a delusion, but I always feel thinner after a good workout. I need some extra inspiration now, though, since I injured my right arm trying a too-fast routine from a tough new video. So I turn to the two major mags in the women’s fitness category, Shape and Fitness. Which will prove a better read, and perhaps guide me gently back to the gym?

Science & Spirit makes a nice change of pace. Here, science is approached from dual perspectives, sometimes in conflict with religion, sometimes in harmony. But always, the topic is rendered with gravitas — not digestible bites of propaganda.

Like the imaginary love child of Tim Russert and Bonnie Fuller, Vanity Fair is an unholy blending of thoughtful journalism with headline-seeking celebrity and society fluff. Nothing else on the newsstand equals its high-low mix — akin to a movie studio whose vulgar blockbusters are meant to offset the cost of prestigious indie-type projects.