Pittsburgh Quarterly has, for the past 20 years, been a steady yet innovative regional magazine delivering quarterly magazines, including narrative-driven coverage paired with photography and illustrations to Western Pennsylvania readers.

The magazine’s founding editor and publisher, Douglas Heuck, started Pittsburgh Quarterly in 2005 after 20 years at The Pittsburgh Press and Pittsburgh Post-Gazette. He was an investigative reporter and became business editor at the PG.

Publishing four times a year, the magazine focuses its attention on stories relating to public infrastructure, recently published books, theater, interior design, business innovation and sports. Rather than putting out daily or weekly news, the publication comments on trends, giving its readers a seasonal synopsis of sorts. Its writers explicitly avoid list-based or promotional content, prioritizing insightful stories engaged with the area’s most influential community leaders and decision-makers.

In 2023, Heuck also founded Pittsburgh Tomorrow, a nonprofit organization dedicated to growing the population, fostering community engagement, and promoting Pittsburgh.

Heuck answered questions posed by TribLive.

Website:pittsburgh quarterly.com

Location: Fox Chapel

Newsroom size: 4 (with large network of freelance contributors)

Communities served: Greater Pittsburgh area, including Allegheny, Armstrong, Beaver, Butler, Fayette, Greene, Indiana, Lawrence, Washington and Westmoreland counties.

Established in: 2005

Known for: In-depth, narrative-driven stories about Western Pennsylvania, recapping community highlights that avoid ranking or advertising motives.

Who is your core audience, and how do you stay connected to them? Our audience is the 5,000 or so people in this region who make things happen. They are the top echelon of leaders of Pittsburgh, the wealthiest and highest educated media consumers in the area. We are a magazine that values great writing. We stay connected to them by providing a magazine that is worth their time.

What makes your coverage different from others in Pennsylvania? I have been doing investigative journalism for most of my adult life. I have been writing about this area; I know Pittsburgh. I’ve met great writers who have lived in Pittsburgh and who know what people need. They’ve now come together to work on this. A lot of other publications have a lot of advertisements and rely on those advertisements. Our magazine is quarterly and because of that, again, we can focus on the quality.

What’s one goal your organization has for the next year? To continue to provide a magazine that is worth people’s time. We are quarterly and because of that, we can continue to provide valuable writing about this area.

If your newsroom were a TV show, what would it be called? I’d say “Pittsburgh Trek.” I don’t think we are a newsroom. We are a group of constellations coming together.