Leo Laporte
| Leo Laporte | |
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| Birth name | Léo Gordon Laporte |
| Born | November 29, 1956 Manhattan, New York City |
| Show | Approx. 20 shows on the TWiT netcast network, also The Tech Guy through Premiere Radio Networks |
| Station(s) | TWiT TV LLC; Premiere Radio Networks |
| Time slot | Saturdays and Sundays live at 11:00AM PT (19:00 GMT/18:00 GMT during US DST), 3 hours |
| Website |
http://www.leoville.com/ |
| Leo Laporte | |
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| Children | 2 |
Léo Gordon Laporte (/ləˈpɔrt/; born November 29, 1956 in Manhattan, New York City)[1] is an Emmy Award winning American technology broadcaster, author, and entrepreneur.
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[edit] Background
Laporte studied Chinese history at Yale University before dropping out in his junior year to pursue his career in radio broadcasting,[2] where his early radio names were Dave Allen and Dan Hayes.[3] He began his association with computers with his first home PC, an Atari 400.[4] Laporte said he purchased his first Macintosh in 1984.[5] He operated one of the first Macintosh-only bulletin board systems, MacQueue, from 1985 to 1988.
[edit] Television and radio
Laporte has worked on technology-related broadcasting projects, including Dvorak On Computers in January 1991 (co-hosted with computer pundit John C. Dvorak), and Laporte On Computers on KGO Radio and KSFO in San Francisco. 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, where he created the motion capture character 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, and later left the network after a dispute with Vulcan Ventures, over stock ownership and the cancellation of Call for Help. 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 acted, playing Uncle Charlie in the movie Phoenix Rising.[6]
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 G4techTV 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[7] 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.[8][9]
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, and on XM Satellite Radio. Laporte also appears semi-regularly on Showbiz Tonight,[10] Live with Kelly,[11] World News Now, and briefly with Bill Handel on Friday mornings on KFI. He has also been a guest technology expert on numerous talk radio programs in local markets across the U.S. and Canada.
[edit] Books
Laporte has written technology-oriented books including 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. He has 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.
He has contributed to periodicals including 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.
In 2008, Laporte did the voice narration for the fable The True History of Little Golden-hood by Andrew Lang which was made available through Audible.
[edit] Podcasting
Laporte owns and operates a podcast network, TWiT.tv. It is available on iTunes and other podcast subscription services.[12][13][14][15] Before the expansion to new facilities in 2011, Laporte said TWiT earns $1.5 million annually on a production cost of only $350,000.[16] In a 2012 Reddit posting, he commented that revenue is approaching $4 million.[17]
Laporte calls his audio and video 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."[18]
[edit] References
- ^ Leo Laporte Information. TV.com
- ^ On the Record...Online with Leo Laporte of This Week in Tech
- ^ TwitLive Broadcast, after hours, 2008-12-09
- ^ Focus On: Leo G4
- ^ TWiT Episode 264 Transcript - September 5, 2010
- ^ imdb: Phoenix Rising
- ^ net@nite episode 46
- ^ Lab with Leo off TV in Australia - Let us See the Remaining Episodes
- ^ Response from How-To Channel Australia Regarding The Lab with Leo
- ^ Showbiz Tonight: Transcript for July 25, 2005
- ^ Leoville: Live with Regis and Kelly
- ^ "TWiT.tv on YouTube". http://www.youtube.com/user/twit.
- ^ "TWiT.tv on UStream". http://www.ustream.tv/leolaporte.
- ^ "TWiT.tv on Roku". http://www.rokuguide.com/channels/twit-tv.
- ^ "TWiT.tv on iTunes". http://itunes.apple.com/us/podcast/twit.tv/id269795738.
- ^ Pete Cashmore. "Leo Laporte Makes $1.5 Million Per Year from Podcasting". Mashable. http://mashable.com/2009/10/03/leo-laporte-video/. Retrieved 24 June 2011.
- ^ Leo Laporte. "TWiT revenue at $4 million". Reddit. http://www.reddit.com/r/IAmA/comments/xh75q/i_am_leo_laporte_chief_twit_ama/c5maz0q. Retrieved 02 August 2012.
- ^ The TWiT Netcast Network with Leo Laporte
[edit] External links
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Wikimedia Commons has media related to: Leo Laporte |
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Wikiquote has a collection of quotations related to: Leo Laporte |
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