Leo Laporte (; born November 29, 1956) is the former host of '' The Tech Guy'' weekly radio show and founder of TWiT.tv, an Internet

podcast A podcast is a Radio program, program made available in digital format for download over the Internet. Typically, a podcast is an Episode, episodic series of digital audio Computer file, files that users can download to a personal device or str ...

network focusing on technology. He is also a former

TechTV TechTV was an American cable television channel with a focus on technology. It was launched as ZDTV on May 11, 1998, by computer magazine publisher Ziff Davis, Ziff-Davis following two short-lived technology-based programs by the company. Init ...

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. 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 would take over in January with a weekly show, recorded on Saturdays, called "Rich On Tech."

Background

Laporte was born in New York City, the son of geologist Leo F. Laporte. He studied Chinese history at

Yale University Yale University is a Private university, private Ivy League research university in New Haven, Connecticut, United States. Founded in 1701, Yale is the List of Colonial Colleges, third-oldest institution of higher education in the United Stat ...

before dropping out in his junior year to pursue a career in radio broadcasting, where his early on-air names were Dave Allen and Dan Hayes. He began his association with computers with his first home computer, an Atari 400. By 1984 he owned a

Macintosh Mac is a brand of personal computers designed and marketed by Apple Inc., Apple since 1984. The name is short for Macintosh (its official name until 1999), a reference to the McIntosh (apple), McIntosh apple. The current product lineup inclu ...

and wrote a software review for Byte magazine.

Television and radio

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 San Francisco, officially the City and County of San Francisco, is a commercial, Financial District, San Francisco, financial, and Culture of San Francisco, cultural center of Northern California. With a population of 827,526 residents as of ...

. In 1997, Laporte was awarded a Northern California

Emmy The Emmy Awards, or Emmys, are an extensive range of awards for artistic and technical merit for the television industry. A number of annual Emmy Award ceremonies are held throughout the year, each with their own set of rules and award catego ...

for his role as Dev Null, a

motion capture Motion capture (sometimes referred as mocap or mo-cap, for short) is the process of recording high-resolution motion (physics), movement of objects or people into a computer system. It is used in Military science, military, entertainment, sports ...

character on the

MSNBC MSNBC is an American cable news channel owned by the NBCUniversal News Group division of NBCUniversal, a subsidiary of Comcast. Launched on July 15, 1996, and headquartered at 30 Rockefeller Plaza in Manhattan, the channel primarily broadcasts r ...

show ''

The Site ''The Site'' is an hour-long television program devoted to the Internet revolution. It debuted in July 1996 with MSNBC's launch, and aired Monday through Saturday, reaching 35 million homes. Soledad O'Brien hosted ''The Site'', along with her ...

''. In 1998, Laporte created and co-hosted ''

The Screen Savers ''The Screen Savers'' is an American TV show that aired on TechTV from 1998 to 2005. The show launched concurrently with the channel ZDTV (later known as TechTV) on May 11, 1998. ''The Screen Savers'' originally centered on computers, new techn ...

'', and the original version of ''Call for Help'' on the cable and satellite network ZDTV (later ''

''). Laporte hosted the daily television show ''The Lab with Leo Laporte'', recorded in

Vancouver Vancouver is a major city in Western Canada, located in the Lower Mainland region of British Columbia. As the List of cities in British Columbia, most populous city in the province, the 2021 Canadian census recorded 662,248 people in the cit ...

British Columbia British Columbia is the westernmost Provinces and territories of Canada, province of Canada. Situated in the Pacific Northwest between the Pacific Ocean and the Rocky Mountains, the province has a diverse geography, with rugged landscapes that ...

, Canada. The program was formerly known as ''Call for Help'' when it was recorded in the US and

Toronto Toronto ( , locally pronounced or ) is the List of the largest municipalities in Canada by population, most populous city in Canada. It is the capital city of the Provinces and territories of Canada, Canadian province of Ontario. With a p ...

Ontario Ontario is the southernmost Provinces and territories of Canada, province of Canada. Located in Central Canada, Ontario is the Population of Canada by province and territory, country's most populous province. As of the 2021 Canadian census, it ...

, Canada. The series aired on G4 Canada, on the

HOW TO Channel HOW TO Channel was an Australian cable and satellite television channel. It was carried on the Foxtel Digital, Optus TV featuring Foxtel Digital and Austar Digital platforms. It was owned by Premier Media Group, a 50/50 joint venture of Publi ...

in Australia, on several of Canada's

Citytv Citytv (sometimes shortened to City, which was the network's official branding from 2012 to 2018) is a Television in Canada, Canadian television network owned by the Rogers Sports & Media subsidiary of Rogers Communications. The network consis ...

affiliates, and on Google Video. On March 5, 2008, Laporte confirmed on ''net@nite'' that ''The Lab with Leo Laporte'' had been canceled by

Rogers Communications Rogers Communications Inc. is a Canadian communications and media company operating primarily in the fields of wireless communications, cable television, telephony and Internet, with significant additional telecommunications and mass media ass ...

. The

did not air the remaining episodes after it was announced the show had been canceled. He hosted, until December 2022, a weekend technology-oriented

talk radio Talk radio is a radio format containing discussion about topical issues and consisting entirely or almost entirely of original spoken word content rather than outside music. They may feature monologues, dialogues between the hosts, Interview (jo ...

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 ''Showbiz Tonight'' is a defunct American entertainment news program that aired from February 20, 2005, until February 6, 2014, on HLN. ''Showbiz Tonight'' was hosted by A. J. Hammer at CNN New York at the time of its cancellation. The show ...

'', '' Live with Kelly'', and ''

World News Now ''World News Now'' (or WNN) is an American overnight news broadcast seen on ABC and ABC News Live. Airing during the early morning hours each Monday through Friday, the program features a mix of general news and off-beat stories, along with ...

''. He holds an

amateur radio Amateur radio, also known as ham radio, is the use of the radio frequency radio spectrum, spectrum for purposes of non-commercial exchange of messages, wireless experimentation, self-training, private recreation, radiosport, contesting, and emer ...

license, W6TWT.

Bibliography

Laporte has written technology-oriented books including: * * * * * * He has published a yearly series of technology almanacs: *''Leo Laporte's Technology Almanac'' *''Poor Leo's Computer Almanac'' *''Leo Laporte's 2006 Technology Almanac'' Laporte announced in October 2006 that he would not renew his contract with

Que Publishing Pearson Education, known since 2011 as simply Pearson, is the educational publishing and services subsidiary of the international corporation Pearson plc. The subsidiary was formed in 1998, when Pearson plc acquired Simon & Schuster's educatio ...

, and had retired from publishing books. In 2008, Laporte did a voice narration of

Andrew Lang Andrew Lang (31 March 1844 – 20 July 1912) was a Scottish poet, novelist, literary critic, and contributor to the field of anthropology. He is best known as a folkloristics, collector of folklore, folk and fairy tales. The Andrew Lang lectur ...

's fable '' The True History of Little Golden-hood'' from Audible (Amazon), a sponsor.

Podcasting

Laporte owns and operates a

network, TWiT.tv with his wife Lisa Laporte. Before the expansion to new facilities in 2011, Laporte said TWiT earned million (equivalent to $ in ) annually on a production cost of (equivalent to $ in ). In a 2012

Reddit Reddit ( ) is an American Proprietary software, proprietary social news news aggregator, aggregation and Internet forum, forum Social media, social media platform. Registered users (commonly referred to as "redditors") submit content to the ...

posting, he commented that revenue was approaching million (equivalent to $ in ). The TWiT studios are located in Petaluma,

California California () is a U.S. state, state in the Western United States that lies on the West Coast of the United States, Pacific Coast. It borders Oregon to the north, Nevada and Arizona to the east, and shares Mexico–United States border, an ...

, where Laporte lives.

References

External links

* * * {{DEFAULTSORT:Laporte, Leo Living people American bloggers American talk radio hosts Television personalities from California Canadian television hosts TechTV people People from Sonoma County, California People from New York City Emmy Award winners Amateur radio people TWiT.tv people Berkeley Macintosh Users Group members 1956 births