About Us

The only ethnic print/broadcast combo media founded and managed by a woman in North America, VIA TIMES (VT) & CHICAGO PHILIPPINE REPORTS TV (CPRTV) have evolved, surpassed and succeeded in its mission and vision of serving the Filipino/Asian/Hispanic communities in the Chicagoland area for many years.

VIA TIMES is a monthly publication distributed free with a circulation of 25,000 printed copies, and is considered to be one of the largest ethnic publications of its kind in the U.S. VT's avid readers are generally the adult members of the Filipino/Asian/Hispanic American families with an annual household of $67,000. It is also the favorite publication of the very young and the growing young professionals who have an estimated spending power of more than $13 billion.

Founded in August 1984 by a dynamic and visionary lady, Ms. Venus Veronica Bacatan Leighton (publisher/chief editor), VT has reached the unsurpassed stature of "Chronicler of Vital News, Vibrant Views for Filipino/Asian/Hispanic Americans in Chicagoland." Its "cover-to-cover" appeal makes it the best-loved and much-awaited ethnic community newsmagazine all through its many years of existence. Its hard-working and most talented and dedicated editorial staff, columnists, and contributors are largely prominent members of the community that represent diverse, meaningful, and interesting viewpoints of current news and topics

VT's sister company in broadcast media, the CPRTV, is a 20-year-old ethnic Filipino/Asian/Hispanic TV show in the Chicagoland area. Taking over the old television programming by the deposed President of the Philippines, Ferdinand Marcos, Veronica saw the opportunity to serve the community by continuing to broadcast news from the Philippines in 1989. She expanded the 30-minute show to one-hour show and nowadays, it is a 2-hour telecast show over all HD stations in Chicagoland (HD 26.6 FBT) after the mandated federal government conversion of regular tv's to hdtv's. It also airs on Digital Cable Comcast 248, RCN Cable 175 and WOW Channel 25 Cable, every Sunday from 12 noon until 2:00 P.M, in the Chicagoland area.

CPRTV carries a variety magazine format which features the following interesting segments: News from the Philippines, International News (host and anchor: Maria Girlie Pascual), Local News (hosts: Lou Maningas), interviews of personalities and celebrities (hosts Joe Mauricio & Veronica Leighton), Showbiz (host Jovie Calma-Santos), Talents (host Gerry Rebello), cooking (host Sarah Lee) and LOL (Laugh Out Loud by host James dela Cruz). The station's number for viewership is more than 6 million audiences.