Birth name Leo Gordon Laporte Ex-spouse Jennifer Laporte | Role Broadcaster Name Leo Laporte | |
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Station(s) TWiT TV LLC; Premiere Networks Time slot Saturdays and Sundays live at 11:00 am PT (19:00 UTC/18:00 UTC during US DST), 3 hours Website Children Henry Laporte, Abby Laporte Books Leo Laporte's PC Help, Leo Laporte's guide to T, Leo Laporte's Guide to, Poor Leo's 2002 Computer, TechTV Leo Laporte's Similar People Gina Smith, Gareth Branwyn, Morgan Webb, Martin Sargent, Chris Pirillo Profiles | ||
Leo laporte
Leo Gordon Laporte (; born November 29, 1956) is an American technology broadcaster, author, entrepreneur, and head of TWiT.tv.
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Background
Laporte, the son of a geologist, studied Chinese history at Yale University before dropping out in his junior year to pursue his 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 PC, an Atari 400.
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.
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, and the original version of Call for Help on the cable and satellite network ZDTV (later TechTV).
Laporte was the host of the daily television show The Lab with Leo Laporte, recorded in Vancouver, Canada. The program had formerly been known as Call for Help when it was recorded in the U.S. and Toronto. 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 had been canceled by Rogers Communications. The HOW TO Channel refused to air the remaining episodes after it was announced the show had been canceled.
He hosts a weekend technology-oriented talk radio program show titled Leo Laporte: The Tech Guy. The show, started on KFI AM 640 (Los Angeles), is now syndicated through Premiere Radio Networks. Laporte also appears on Friday mornings on KFI with Bill Handel, and previously on such shows as Showbiz Tonight, Live with Kelly, and World News Now.
Books
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 the public domain fable The True History of Little Golden-hood by Andrew Lang from Audible (Amazon), a sponsor.
Podcasting
Laporte owns and operates a podcast network, TWiT.tv with his wife Lisa Laporte. Its shows are available on iTunes and other podcast subscription services. Before the expansion to new facilities in 2011, Laporte said TWiT earned $1.5 million annually on a production cost of $350,000. In a 2012 Reddit posting, he commented that revenue was approaching $4 million. Laporte has a net worth of $5 million.
The TWiT studios are located in Petaluma, California, where Laporte lives. On August 21, 2016, they moved into their current facilities at 1351-B Redwood Way. The TWiT studios have always been in Petaluma, but in three different locations. TWiT identified the first as the "TWiT Cottage," the second as the "TWiT Brick House," and the current location as the "TWiT Eastside Studios."