Leo Laporte

Lore & Background

Leo Laporte was born in New York City, the son of geologist Leo F. Laporte, and grew up in Providence, Rhode Island. From 1973 to 1976, he studied Chinese history at Yale University 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. His association with computers began with his first home computer, an Atari 400, and by 1984 he owned a Macintosh and wrote a software review for Byte magazine. From 1985 to 1988, he operated one of the first Macintosh-only bulletin board systems, MacQueue.

From December 1977 to May 1998, Laporte hosted newstalk and interview shows on KGO, KSFO, and KNBR in San Francisco, and was a personality DJ on KLOK and KMBY. He created and co-hosted the tech talk radio show On Computers from January 1991 to July 1994, syndicated to over 60 stations and the American Forces Network. In 1997, he was awarded a Northern California Emmy for his role as Dev Null, a motion capture character on the MSNBC show The Site. In 1998, he created and co-hosted The Screen Savers and the original version of Call for Help on ZDTV (later TechTV). He later hosted The Lab with Leo Laporte, recorded in Vancouver, Canada, which was canceled by Rogers Communications in 2008.

Laporte hosted the weekend technology-oriented talk radio program Leo Laporte: The Tech Guy, which started on KFI AM 640 and was syndicated through Premiere Radio Networks. On November 19, 2022, Steve Martin called into the show to announce Laporte's retirement from The Tech Guy. His last new radio show was December 18, 2022, with reruns for the remainder of the year; Rich DeMuro later took over with a weekly show called 'Rich On Tech.' Laporte holds an amateur radio license, W6TWT.

Reader's Guide

Leo Laporte's significance lies in his pioneering role in technology broadcasting across multiple media. He transitioned from traditional radio and television to become a major figure in podcasting, founding the TWiT.tv network in 2005, which he owns and operates with his wife Lisa Laporte. The network earned substantial revenue, with Laporte noting in 2012 that revenue was approaching $2 million. His long-running syndicated radio show The Tech Guy, which aired on over 200 stations from 2004 to 2022, provided consumer technology advice to a wide audience. Laporte's television work on The Site, The Screen Savers, and Call for Help helped popularize tech-focused programming on cable and satellite networks. His legacy includes authoring a yearly series of technology almanacs, though he retired from publishing books in 2006. Laporte's career demonstrates the evolution of tech media from broadcast to digital platforms, and his amateur radio license reflects a personal connection to the hobby that parallels his professional focus on technology communication.

Did You Know?

• Leo Laporte earned a Northern California Emmy in 1997 for his role as Dev Null, a motion capture character on The Site.
• His early on-air names in radio were Dave Allen and Dan Hayes.
• Actor Steve Martin called into Laporte's radio show on November 19, 2022, to announce Laporte's retirement from The Tech Guy.