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Revision as of 00:42, 17 November 2007 by Tbone2001 (talk | contribs) (Undid revision 171996482 by Shniken (talk)rv)(diff) ← Previous revision | Latest revision (diff) | Newer revision → (diff)| Leo Laporte | |
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| Born | Leo Gordon Laporte |
| Career | |
| Show | The Tech Guy |
| Station | Premiere Radio Networks |
| Time slot | Saturdays and Sundays Live at 11:00AM PST |
| Show | The Lab With Leo Laporte |
| Station | G4techTV Canada & HOW TO Channel Australia |
| Time slot | Daily, 6:00 PM EST on G4techTV Canada, |
| Website | http://leoville.com/ |
Leo Gordon Laporte (born November 29, 1956 in New York City, New York) is an American technology broadcaster and author. Currently he lives in Petaluma, California, with his wife Jennifer and two children, Henry and Abby.
Early career
Laporte studied Chinese History at Yale University. He began his association with computers with his first home PC, an Atari 400. He operated one of the first Macintosh-only bulletin board systems, MacQueue, from 1985 to 1988.
Television and radio
Laporte is the host of G4techTV Canada's daily television show The Lab with Leo Laporte, formerly known as Call for Help. The series also airs in Australia on the HOW TO Channel, as well as Google Video.
He also hosts a technology-oriented talk radio program titled Leo Laporte: The Tech Guy. The show, once an exclusive to KFI AM 640 (Los Angeles), is now syndicated on Premiere Radio Networks. Laporte appears semi-regularly on Showbiz Tonight, Live with Regis and Kelly, World News Now, and briefly with Bill Handel on Friday mornings on KFI.
Laporte has created, hosted, and contributed to a number of technology-related broadcasting projects. He created and co-hosted Dvorak On Computers in January 1991, and hosted Laporte On Computers on KGO Radio and KSFO in San Francisco. In addition, Laporte also hosted Internet! on PBS, and The Personal Computing Show on CNBC. In 1997 he earned an Emmy Award for his work on MSNBC's The Site, a daily Monday through Saturday hour-long newsmagazine he helped create and appeared on in the role of a computer-generated character named Dev Null.
In 1998, he created and co-hosted The Screen Savers and the original version of Call for Help on the cable and satellite network ZDTV (later TechTV). Laporte left The Screen Savers in 2004 due to a dispute with TechTV's then-outgoing owner, Vulcan Ventures, over stock ownership. His contract ended on March 31, and his absence from The Screen Savers on April 1 was originally believed to be an April Fool's Day joke. Laporte has also pursued acting, playing Uncle Charlie in the movie Phoenix Rising.
Books
Laporte has authored a number of technology-oriented books writings such as 101 Computer Answers You Need to Know, Leo Laporte's 2005 Gadget Guide, Leo Laporte's Guide to TiVo, Leo Laporte's Guide to Mac OS X Tiger and Leo Laporte's PC Help Desk. Laporte has also published a yearly series of technology almanacs: Leo Laporte's Technology Almanac and Poor Leo's Computer Almanac. Laporte's latest and last book is Leo Laporte's 2006 Technology Almanac.
Throughout his career, he has contributed to a number of periodicals such as BYTE, InfoWorld, and MacUser. Laporte announced in October, 2006 that he will not renew his contract with Que Publishing and has retired from publishing his long series of books. He said, "Writing books is hard work and, love-starved groupies aside, the compensations are scant. I’ll put my energies into something I love to do, talking for a living."
Podcasting
Laporte currently owns and operates a podcast network named "TWiT.tv." The name is derived from the network's flagship podcast This WEEK in TECH (aka TWiT) which is hosted by Laporte along with a rotating panel of guests usually made up of several other former TechTV employees. This show remains one of the most popular podcasts on iTunes and other podcast subscription services, as evidenced by winning an award at the November 2005 Podcasting Expo in California for the year's best podcast and by its over 280,000 weekly downloads.
Laporte prefers to call his shows "netcasts," saying "I've never liked the word podcast. It causes confusion... people have told me that they can't listen to my shows because they 'don't own an iPod'... I propose the word 'netcast.' It's a little clearer that these are broadcasts over the Internet. It's catchy and even kind of a pun."
References
- Leo Laporte Information. TV.com
- Leo Laporte. "Leo Laporte's Official Biography".
- On the Record...Online with Leo Laporte of This Week in Tech
- Focus On: Leo G4
- Kava, Brad (2007-02-14). "Leo Laporte back on KGO-AM, replacing Michael Finney". The Mercury News. Retrieved 2007-03-13.
{{cite news}}: Cite has empty unknown parameter:|coauthors=(help) - Showbiz Tonight: Transcript for July 25, 2005
- Leoville: Live with Regis and Kelly
- imdb: Phoenix Rising
- http://leoville.vox.com/library/post/dont-buy-my-book.html
- http://www.twit.tv/2006/09/22/a_cast_by_any_other_name
External links
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- Leo Laporte's official website
- Leo Laporte's The Tech Guy radio show notes site
- This Week in Tech Netcast/Podcast Network official website
- The Lab with Leo Laporte official website
- Leo Laporte's ClaimID page