Stop 01 — Who we are
About Portage Signal
Portage Signal is a news site and weekly podcast covering downtown Montréal — the Quartier des spectacles, Sainte-Catherine Street, Place Ville Marie, the Golden Square Mile, and the stretch between Concordia and McGill. Alongside our reporting, we sell advertising placements directly to the businesses and organizations that operate in this part of the city.
The site is operated by SOCIAL MEDIA 55 INC., a company registered under the Canada Business Corporations Act with its office at 1200 Avenue McGill College #1100, Montréal, QC H3B 4G7. Our newsroom and advertising team work from that address, on the doorstep of the neighbourhoods we cover.
Stop 02 — Terms we use
A short glossary
- Listing
- A profile of your business on our community page: logo, description and a link, live for 30 days.
- Mention
- A short, host-read segment inside a regular podcast episode, naming your business and what it offers.
- Partner-labelled feature
- A longer written piece on our site, clearly marked as a paid partnership rather than independent reporting.
- Run
- The scheduled period a placement is live, whether that's 30 days for a listing or six weeks for the full partnership.
Stop 03 — Lead times
How far ahead to book
Podcast mentions need at least one week's notice so we can fit your script into the recording schedule. Listings can usually go live within two working days of approval. The Full Coverage Partnership, because it touches every channel we publish, works best booked two weeks before your preferred start date.
Stop 04 — What isn't covered
The honest counterpart
- We do not design your logo or write your business description from nothing — you provide the raw material, we edit for length.
- We do not offer social-media management, website design or other marketing services beyond the three placements on our rate card.
- We do not run advertising outside downtown Montréal, and we don't claim reach in neighbourhoods we don't cover.
Stop 05 — What to send us
Getting your placement ready
- A logo file (PNG or SVG) for a listing.
- A short description of your business, in your own words.
- A contact name and the SITE_EMAIL or phone number we should use for approvals.
- For podcast mentions, pronunciation notes for any unusual names or addresses.
Stop 06 — How we work
Desk, microphone, and a downtown beat
Our reporting and our advertising sales sit in the same small office. The same team that writes the community page also books and schedules podcast mentions, so a placement is handled by someone who knows the neighbourhood it's about.
Most weeks, our small team splits its time between writing up what's happening around the Quartier des spectacles and the Golden Square Mile, editing the coming episode, and answering questions from businesses thinking about a listing or a mention. We keep the group small on purpose: it means the person who confirms your booking is usually the same person who reads your placement copy before it goes out, so nothing gets lost between departments that don't really exist here.
