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Leo Laporte

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Leo Laporte (/ləˈpɔːrt/; born November 29, 1956)[1] is the former host of The Tech Guy weekly radio show[2] and founder of TWiT.tv, an Internet podcast network focusing on technology. He is also a former TechTV technology host (1998–2008) and a technology author. On November 19, 2022, actor, writer, musician, and comedian Steve Martin called into Laporte's radio show to announce Leo's retirement from The Tech Guy radio show.[3] Laporte's last new radio show was December 18, 2022 with reruns for the remainder of the year. Rich DeMuro later appeared on the show to announce that he will be taking over in January with a weekly show, recorded on Saturdays, called "Rich On Tech."[4]

Leo Laporte
Photograph of Leo Laporte's head and shoulders. Leo is pictured wearing a patterned shirt. There is a black background and Leo is smiling.
Laporte pictured in 2007
Born (1956-11-29) November 29, 1956 (age 67)
New York City, U.S.
Occupations
  • TV and radio presenter
  • podcaster
Known forFounding TWiT.tv
Notable credits
TelevisionInternet! (PBS), The Site (MSNBC), Call for Help (ZDTV/TechTV), The Screen Savers (ZDTV/TechTV)
Spouses
  • Jennifer Laporte (divorced)
  • Lisa Laporte (m. c. 2015)
Websiteleo.fm Edit this at Wikidata

Background

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Laporte was born in New York City,[5] the son of geologist Leo F. Laporte. He studied Chinese history at Yale University before dropping out in his junior year to pursue a career in radio broadcasting,[6] where his early on-air names were Dave Allen and Dan Hayes.[7] He began his association with computers with his first home computer, an Atari 400.[5] By 1984 he owned a Macintosh and wrote a software review for Byte magazine.[8]

Television and radio

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Laporte has worked on technology-related broadcasting projects, including Dvorak on Computers in January 1991 (co-hosted with technology writer John C. Dvorak), and Laporte on Computers on KGO Radio and KSFO in San Francisco.[9]

In 1997, Laporte was awarded a Northern California Emmy for his role as Dev Null, a motion capture character on the MSNBC show The Site.

In 1998, Laporte created and co-hosted The Screen Savers,[10] and the original version of Call for Help on the cable and satellite network ZDTV (later TechTV).[11]

Laporte hosted the daily television show The Lab with Leo Laporte, recorded in Vancouver, British Columbia, Canada. The program was formerly known as Call for Help when it was recorded in the US and Toronto, Ontario, Canada. The series aired on G4 Canada, on the HOW TO Channel in Australia, on several of Canada's Citytv affiliates, and on Google Video. On March 5, 2008, Laporte confirmed on net@nite that The Lab with Leo Laporte[12] had been canceled by Rogers Communications. The HOW TO Channel did not air the remaining episodes after it was announced the show had been canceled.[13][14]

He hosted, until December 2022, a weekend technology-oriented talk radio program show titled Leo Laporte: The Tech Guy. The show, started on KFI AM 640 (Los Angeles), was syndicated through Premiere Radio Networks. Laporte appeared on Friday mornings on KFI with Bill Handel, and previously on such shows as Showbiz Tonight,[15] Live with Kelly,[16] and World News Now.

He holds an amateur radio license, W6TWT.

Bibliography

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Laporte has written technology-oriented books including:

He has published a yearly series of technology almanacs:

Laporte announced in October 2006 that he would not renew his contract with Que Publishing, and had retired from publishing books.

In 2008, Laporte did a voice narration of Andrew Lang's fable The True History of Little Golden-hood[17] from Audible (Amazon), a sponsor.[18]

Podcasting

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Laporte owns and operates a podcast network, TWiT.tv with his wife[19] Lisa Laporte. Before the expansion to new facilities in 2011, Laporte said TWiT earned US$1.5 million (equivalent to $2,030,000 in 2023) annually on a production cost of US$350,000 (equivalent to $474,000 in 2023).[20] In a 2012 Reddit posting, he commented that revenue was approaching US$4 million (equivalent to $5,420,000 in 2023).[21] The TWiT studios are located in Petaluma, California,[10] where Laporte lives.[22]

References

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  1. ^ — (December 4, 2021). "The Tech Guy #1849". TWiT.tv (Podcast). Event occurs at 17:37. Retrieved December 31, 2021.
  2. ^ "Leo Laporte, Your Go-To Gadget Guy". Premiere Networks. n.d. Archived from the original on November 10, 2021. Retrieved January 3, 2022.
  3. ^ Laporte, Lisa. "The Secret Is Out!". TWiT.tv. Retrieved November 21, 2022.
  4. ^ "Rich on Tech | Premiere Networks". www.premierenetworks.com. Retrieved December 21, 2022.
  5. ^ a b "Focus On: Leo". G4. n.d. Archived from the original on September 26, 2006. Retrieved January 1, 2022.
  6. ^ Schwartzman, Eric (1 September 2005). "How to Pitch Leo Laporte of TWiT". On the Record Online Podcast (Podcast). Retrieved 31 December 2021.
  7. ^ TwitLive Broadcast, after hours, 9 December 2008
  8. ^ Laporte, Leo (1 December 1984). "Habadex on Apple's Macintosh". Byte. Vol. 9, no. 13. pp. A102–A105. ISSN 0360-5280. Retrieved 29 October 2022 – via Internet Archive.
  9. ^ Friess, Steve (October 3, 2006). "Podcasting's Reluctant Evangelist". WIRED. eISSN 1078-3148. ISSN 1059-1028. OCLC 24479723. Archived from the original on November 9, 2020. Retrieved December 31, 2021.
  10. ^ a b Hiner, Jason (April 19, 2015). "The New Screen Savers: TWiT resurrects the show that launched tech video into the stratosphere". ZDNet. Archived from the original on November 23, 2021. Retrieved January 1, 2022.
  11. ^ Marriott, Michael (December 21, 2003). "COVER STORY; Plug In, Boot Up, Feel Free to Melt Down". The New York Times. eISSN 1553-8095. ISSN 0362-4331. OCLC 1645522. Archived from the original on October 27, 2021. Retrieved December 31, 2021.
  12. ^ "The Lab with Leo Laporte". Internet Archive. n.d. Retrieved January 1, 2022.
  13. ^ Vapor, Matt (March 27, 2008). "Lab with Leo off TV in Australia – Let us See the Remaining Episodes". Matt Vapor's Blog | Advocating Technology for Everyone. Archived from the original on August 4, 2008. Retrieved January 1, 2022.
  14. ^ Vapor, Matt (March 27, 2008). "Response from How-To Channel Australia Regarding The Lab with Leo". Matt Vapor's Blog | Advocating Technology for Everyone. Archived from the original on August 4, 2008. Retrieved January 1, 2022.
  15. ^ Bryant, Karyn; Hammer, A.J. (July 25, 2005). "Man Convicted for Cameron Diaz Nude Photo Scam; Clay Aiken Answers Questions About Charity; iPod Nation: Why Are They So Popular?". Showbiz Tonight. Season 1. Episode 76. CNN. RUSH TRANSCRIPT.
  16. ^ "Leoville: Live with Regis and Kelly". January 22, 2007. Archived from the original on March 12, 2007. Retrieved January 1, 2022.
  17. ^ "The Red Fairy Book, by Andrew Lang : THE TRUE HISTORY OF LITTLE GOLDEN HOOD". Archived from the original on January 21, 2015. Retrieved January 21, 2015.
  18. ^ "this WEEK in TECH 152". TWiT.tv. 21 July 2008. Archived from the original (XML) on 21 January 2015. Retrieved 20 February 2023.
  19. ^ Danae Ringelmann interviewed on the TV show Triangulation on the TWiT.tv network
  20. ^ Cashmore, Pete (October 3, 2009). "Leo Laporte Makes $1.5 Million Per Year from Podcasting". Mashable. Archived from the original on April 19, 2021. Retrieved January 1, 2022.
  21. ^ — (2012). "Reddit - /r/IAmA | I am Leo Laporte, Chief TWiT. AMA!". Reddit. Retrieved January 1, 2022.
  22. ^ "TWiT Eastside Studio FAQ". The Official TWiT Wiki.
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