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
(CPRTV), is a 32-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, CPRTV show
airs every Sunday, from 3:00 to 5:00 PM. CPRTV television broadcast is being
carried by Chicago Cable 25 on WOW Cable, RCN Cable, and Comcast Cable
throughout the city of Chicago and other neighboring suburbs. It claims a
viewership of about 500,000.
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 (host: Lou Maningas), interviews of personalities
and celebrities (hosts Joe Mauricio & Veronica Leighton), Showbiz (host Jovie
Calma), cooking (host Sarah Lee) and LOL (Laugh Out Loud by host James Dela
Cruz). The station's number for viewership is more than 500 thousand audiences.
