Leo Laporte
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Leo Laporte (Template:IPAc-en; born November 29, 1956)<ref name="TechGuy_1849">Template:Cite podcast</ref> is the former host of The Tech Guy weekly radio show<ref name="Leo_Premiere" /> 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.<ref>{{#invoke:citation/CS1|citation |CitationClass=web }}</ref> 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."<ref>{{#invoke:citation/CS1|citation |CitationClass=web }}</ref>
BackgroundEdit
Laporte was born in New York City,<ref name="Leo_G4" /> 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,<ref>Template:Cite podcast</ref> where his early on-air names were Dave Allen and Dan Hayes.<ref>TwitLive Broadcast, after hours, 9 December 2008</ref> He began his association with computers with his first home computer, an Atari 400.<ref name="Leo_G4" /> By 1984 he owned a Macintosh and wrote a software review for Byte magazine.<ref>Template:Cite magazine</ref>
Television and radioEdit
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.<ref name="Wired">Template:Cite magazine</ref>
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,<ref name=zd/> and the original version of Call for Help on the cable and satellite network ZDTV (later TechTV).<ref name=nyt />
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<ref>{{#invoke:citation/CS1|citation |CitationClass=web }}</ref> 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.<ref name="vapor1" /><ref name="vapor2" />
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,<ref name="ShowBizTonight" /> Live with Kelly,<ref name="Regis&Kelly" /> and World News Now.
He holds an amateur radio license, W6TWT.
BibliographyEdit
Laporte has written technology-oriented books including: Template:Refbegin
- Template:Cite book
- Template:Cite book
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Template:Refend He has published a yearly series of technology almanacs: Template:Refbegin
- Leo Laporte's Technology Almanac
- Poor Leo's Computer Almanac Template:ISBN
- Leo Laporte's 2006 Technology Almanac Template:ISBN
Template:Refend 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<ref>{{#invoke:citation/CS1|citation |CitationClass=web }}</ref> from Audible (Amazon), a sponsor.<ref name="TWiT152_20080721">{{#invoke:citation/CS1|citation |CitationClass=web }}</ref>
PodcastingEdit
Laporte owns and operates a podcast network, TWiT.tv with his wife<ref name="MarriedLisa">Template:Triangulation</ref> Lisa Laporte. Before the expansion to new facilities in 2011, Laporte said TWiT earned Template:US$Template:Nbspmillion (equivalent to $Template:Inflation in Template:Inflation/year) annually on a production cost of Template:US$ (equivalent to $Template:Inflation in Template:Inflation/year).<ref>Template:Cite news</ref> In a 2012 Reddit posting, he commented that revenue was approaching Template:US$Template:Nbspmillion (equivalent to $Template:Inflation in Template:Inflation/year).<ref name="Leo Laporte">{{#invoke:citation/CS1|citation |CitationClass=web }}</ref> The TWiT studios are located in Petaluma, California,<ref name=zd>{{#invoke:citation/CS1|citation |CitationClass=web }}</ref> where Laporte lives.<ref name=eastside>{{#invoke:citation/CS1|citation |CitationClass=web }}</ref>
ReferencesEdit
External linksEdit
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