10 Questions with ... Leo Laporte

NAME:Leo Laporte TITLE:Host SHOW:The Tech Guy MARKET:16 markets and XM Satellite Radio COMPANY:Premiere Radio Networks BORN:New York City, 1956 RAISED:Providence, RI and Santa Cruz, CA

BRIEF CAREER SYNOPSIS:

I fell in love with radio in college and have been working in it for the past 30 years, starting as a DJ, then moving to talk and interviews in 1987, finally focusing entirely on computers and technology in 1991. I have hosted TV shows on the subject since 1994, including a six year stint hosting two daily live shows on TechTV. I currently host a daily TV show called The Lab with Leo Laporte that airs in Canada and Australia. We shoot it in hi-def in Vancouver, BC. For the past few years I've been the Tech Guy on KFI Los Angeles, hosting two weekend talk shows on technology. Last month Premiere Radio Networks picked up the show for syndication. I live in Petaluma, CA with my wife and two teenage kids.

(See the full bio at leoville.com/Main/Bio)

1. You were in radio before you started talking about tech stuff- what turned you from a radio guy to a tech guru (and radio guy)?

I fell in love with tech very early on. My first computer was an Atari 400 in 1978. I wrote for magazines to support my habit, but I didn't start working tech talk into my radio shows until the late 80s. In 1991 I started doing nothing but talking about tech, and I love it! Radio and technology are the two things I enjoy most, so I feel very lucky to be able to do both.

2. About what are you most passionate these days?

The way this new digital technology gives everybody a voice. Whether you're a musician, writer, animator, or movie maker the tools are affordable and the Internet makes it possible to reach a vast audience. We're seeing this in the success of YouTube, blogging, and podcasting.

3. Your TWiT network is one of the leaders in podcasting (or, as you prefer, netcasting). Take a look forward a few years- do you see podcasts replacing the broadcast model in whole or in part, or will it remain more supplementary to broadcast and streaming audio?

Podcasting will never replace broadcasting -- as listeners we want both -- but podcasts do offer everyone the chance to be heard, and every niche to be served, no matter how tiny. Podcasting will continue to grow, and eventually will compete with broadcast for listeners and advertising, but there's always going to be a demand for live programming. Talk radio was the first truly interactive mass medium. In truth, podcasting is just another form of radio, and is a very useful way for broadcasters to broaden their reach.

4. Radio has taken a beating on Wall Street and among industry pundits in the past few years. If you owned stations, what would you be doing (besides, naturally, picking up "The Tech Guy") to prepare your stations for the next phase of media development? What should the smart station be doing to remain viable and strong amidst the wider range of entertainment choices and technologies?

I believe in radio. There is no other medium that has the power to be such a direct part of people's lives. But as broadcasters we have to understand that our business has nothing to do with transmitter towers, it's about communication and serving a community. Technology is a great way to extend our value to both listeners and advertisers. Broadcasters should be embracing the web, chat, forums, podcasts, YouTube, and other social networking technologies as a way to reach a bigger audience and to engage the audience they already have.

5. You have widescreen HDTVs but you recently dumped cable and satellite and have gone to getting your TV through downloads. How is that working out? Is the old model- watching TV when the networks feed you the shows rather than on your own schedule- dead? And does this portend the end of the social element where everyone talks about last night's episodes at the water cooler the next morning?

I don't watch broadcast television, but I do watch TV shows. I buy Studio 60, Heroes, Lost, The Office, and other programming online and watch them on my HDTV. I buy and rent TV shows and movies on DVD. My kids and I watch hours of viral video on YouTube. In fact, we consume more content than ever before (and spend more on it, too!).

I believe this is the beginning of a complete transformation in the way we consume media. It's why I say it's so important for broadcasters to understand that our business is about the content, the community, the conversation, not about how it gets delivered. The Internet is rapidly going to take over as the dominant distribution vehicle; in the next decade, fiber to the home is going to increase bandwidth hundreds of times. But as broadcasters, the content we create, the conversations we engender, the communities we build, are only going to be empowered by this change. It's a fantastic opportunity for us to increase our reach and our value.

6. One of the byproducts of the new tech age is the seeming end of the plug-it-in-and-it-works device- even a simple TV needs more instruction to get working these days. Will devices get more complicated, or will a market emerge for the simple plug-and-play (such as simpler cell phones that DON'T do video or play games but just do calls well)?

Hey, don't forget I make my living teaching people how to use this stuff! Fortunately for me, it doesn't look like it's getting any easier to use. Notice, though, how comfortable younger people are with technology. Humans have an amazing ability to adapt to complexity - and that ability is being taxed to the limit these days. We older folks may crave a return to simpler times, but it ain't going to happen.

7. What one piece of future tech most excites you- is there a technology you can't wait to see become reality that isn't yet here?

We're very close to 4K video. The displays and cameras are nearly ready. The industry has already settled on a standard. In the next five years HDTV will look like a fuzzy dinosaur, and hyper-realistic television with twice the resolution will become commonplace. Combine that with bandwidth in the gigabit range and computers that are an order of magnitude smarter, and you'll see technologies like telepresence become an every day thing. By 2020 something very like the holodeck will become a reality, just in time for me to retire.

8. What's the one question callers to the show seem to ask the most- what topic or problem comes up the most?

My callers show an unending curiosity about what's new, what's different, what they should buy, what new technology is going to change their lives. I try to keep the show focused on what's here today, and how to use the stuff you've already got, but for every caller trying to keep a 10 year old computer alive, there are another five who can't wait to find out what their next computer, or TV, or camera will do.

9. Fill in the blank: I can't make it through the day without _____________.

...my Mac Pro and 30" cinema display, but you knew that, didn't you? And I do love coming home to my HDTV, my wife, and a great movie.

10. What's the best advice you've ever gotten? The worst?

When I first moved up into the major markets, one of my long time heroes, KSFO's Buddy Hatton, gave me some great advice: "Kid," he said, "rent, don't buy."

Fortunately, I managed to survive in the majors, so I suppose, given what's happened in the real estate market since then, it was also the worst advice ever!

What's John C. Dvorak really like?

He's just a big teddy bear, who never met a technology he didn't like!