Lower-city Hamilton · News & Podcast
The lower city, reported and read aloud.
Muskeg Signal covers Corktown, Gore Park, the International Village, Durand and the escarpment stairs — in a daily news page and a weekly podcast. We sell the advertising ourselves, directly to the businesses on these streets.
Advertising
Three ways to reach the lower city
Placement 01
Episode Shout-Out Spot
$150 CAD
A single 30-second sponsor mention placed mid-episode in our lower-city Hamilton podcast, read by the host from a script you approve. It is a gentle entry point for a shop on Augusta Street, a café near Gore Park, or a seasonal event on the escarpment stairs — the kind of business that wants to be heard by name rather than lost in a banner.
What's included
- Script polishing with your input before recording
- One host read, mid-episode
- Stays in the public archive after airing
- Listen count sent 14 days after release
Placement 02
Local Life Section Sponsorship
$590 CAD
Your name and a short supporting line appear on the Local Life section of our website for four weeks, with a matching credit in two newsletters sent out over the same period. It suits organizations connected to community, culture or food anywhere from Corktown through the International Village and up toward Durand.
What's included
- Placement mock-up sent for approval before launch
- Four weeks on the Local Life section
- Credit in two newsletter editions
- One mid-run copy change included
- Page-view summary at the end of the run
Placement 03
Seasonal Partner Package
$1,180 CAD
A three-month package pairing a monthly partner-labelled article, six podcast mentions and a recurring newsletter credit, planned around the seasons our lower-city readers actually notice — patio season on King William, the first frost on the escarpment stairs, the run-up to the holidays around Gore Park.
What's included
- Kickoff call to plan the three-month calendar
- One partner-labelled article per month
- Six podcast mentions across the run
- Recurring newsletter credit
- Monthly check-in with a plain-language summary
See the full breakdown, process and pricing notes on our Advertise page.
Coverage
Where we report from
Our beat is narrow on purpose: Corktown, Gore Park, the International Village, Durand and the escarpment stairs. If a story or a sponsor sits within a five-minute walk of those places, it is ours to cover.
- Corktown, along Wellington and Ferguson
- Gore Park and the surrounding business strip
- The International Village on King Street East
- Durand, from Herkimer to the escarpment brow
- The escarpment stairs and the trailheads at their base
How it's made
What we use to put it together
Episodes are recorded on a small studio setup — a dynamic microphone, an audio interface and editing software — in a room set aside for the purpose rather than a converted closet.
The website and newsletter run on the same content system, so a sponsor credit written once for the Local Life section can be reused, unchanged, in the newsletter without a second round of proofreading.
Page-view and listen figures come from the site's own analytics and the podcast host's episode statistics — plain counts, not projections.
Booking
How a placement goes live
Step 01
Enquiry
Step 02
Script or mock-up
Step 03
Your approval
Step 04
It runs, then we report back
Ready to reach the lower city?
Editorial
How a lower-city story gets made
E1
A tip or a note from a resident, a business owner or the beat itself.
E2
A short verification pass — a phone call, a walk to the address, a look at the public record.
E3
Writing or recording, kept to what was actually confirmed.
E4
Publication on the site or in the next episode, with the story staying in the archive afterward.
Questions
A few common questions
What exactly do I get with each placement?
Each placement is a fixed format: a 30-second host-read mention in one podcast episode, a four-week credit on the Local Life section of our website with two newsletter mentions, or the three-month Seasonal Partner Package described on our Advertise page. What is included is listed against each price and does not change once you have booked.
What area does Muskeg Signal actually cover?
We report and advertise for lower-city Hamilton — Corktown, Gore Park, the International Village, Durand and the escarpment stairs. If your business or event sits outside that stretch, tell us before booking; we will say plainly whether it is a fit.
How do I start a booking?
Send a message through the contact form or call us during business hours. We reply with the next available slot for the placement you want and a short brief so we can draft your script or web copy.
What does the listed price include?
The three prices on our Advertise page are the full cost of each placement as described there — no separate production fee. They do not include a second production run if you ask for the creative to be reworked after approval.
Get in touch
Book a placement or ask a question
Muskeg Signal
- 7 West Avenue South, Hamilton, ON L8N 2R9
- +1 905-572-7474
- [email protected]
- Monday – Friday
08:00–16:30 - Eastern Time (ET) — Hamilton
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