World Renowned Radio Personality Says Petaluma Can Become Hub for Internet Business

Leo Laporte is a hard man to track down.

His phone number is not listed anywhere on his site and whenever I drop in at his TWIT cottage on Keller Street, he is either not there or recording in the studio. An email goes unanswered as do messages left on a number his producer hands me.

That is until one day while walking downtown, I run into Leo, a local celebrity you may have never heard of unless you’re a bit of technology geek. In which case, you know Laporte as the technology broadcaster and pundit who draws 250,000 listeners a week with his flagship “This Week in Tech” podcast and whose “netcasts” are downloaded 5 million times a month. Oh yeah, and French President Nicolas Sarkozy has just invited him to a conference to present a white paper on the Internet.

Leo Laporte is not avoiding me. He is just extremely busy.

Since starting in 2005, Laporte’s TWiT network (which stands for This Week in Technology) has grown to 30 shows on a variety of topics such as the Android, Google, Windows, green technology, iPads and more. That’s right—a separate program devoted to each topic.

“We’ve learned that what our audience wants and expects of us is coverage of technology,” says Laporte, 54, who studied Chinese at Yale before dropping out to work in radio. “We provide insight and analysis on what’s going inside the world of technology, information on gadgets and gear, and how to use it.”

In fact, one of his most popular shows— The Tech Guy— has attracted such a following that today it’s broadcast on 140 stations around the country and frequently makes iTunes’ Top 20 podcast list. The company, which has 15 employees, is also about to move into new and much larger digs, a 9,000 square foot ‘industrial chic’ space on Keller Street, formerly occupied by BIAS, a radio software company.

“The truth is if you are really interested in technology, you don’t see any good coverage of it in the mainstream media because they don’t understand it enough and they don’t care enough” says Laporte, adding that TWiT is about to launch a show devoted entirely to gaming. “But there is a lot more that we could be doing. There is no lack of content.”

Laporte has found a lucrative niche talking about technology in an approachable, yet detailed way. In the late ‘90s, he appeared on cable television shows such as “Screen Savers” and “Call for Help.” It was at TechTV in San Francisco, today ZDTV, that he made important contacts that led him to branch out on his own when the show ended in 2004. And he hasn’t looked back since.

On any given day, dozens of visitors stream in and out of the cottage, including tech industry commentators, entrepreneurs from Silicon Valley and San Francisco startups and guests curious to see Laporte in action.

In the front room, sound engineers and producers sitting around an oval dining table locate guests, prep material and generally make sure the show runs smoothly. Meanwhile, Laporte is in the studio, sitting on a blue exercise ball, gesticulating as he talks in front of several cameras with a running feed from the program’s online chat displayed on large screens.

The interactivity is important, he says, to keeping the show engaging and in touch with what’s on listeners’ minds.

On the day that I visit him, Laporte hams it up a bit and puts on some Mickey Mouse ears, embroidered with his name on the front. He is silly, for sure, but when he talks about his belief in the power of Internet technology to boost our local economy, he is dead serious.

“These are the kinds of jobs Petaluma can and should attract,” he says of the Internet sector. “The impact on the environment is low, they are good-paying jobs, there’s a real opportunity here because of our proximity to San Francisco, but also because of our quality of life to attract those kinds of industries.”

He says the city has made a good effort in trying to attract Internet companies, but can go further, including by renegotiating its broadband deal with Comcast. Currently Petaluma residents must chose between Comcast and AT&T for Internet service, which allows the two companies to keep prices high. Instead, Laporte says, he would like residents be able to chose between four to five providers.

“The city didn’t extract from Comcast all they could have in terms of bandwidth to the schools, the government, cable access and a bunch of other stuff other cities have,” he says. “That’s because they didn’t know to ask.” 

But before we can talk further, Laporte’s assistant walks in to remind him of an appointment and our long-awaited-for meeting abruptly ends. Luckily, I can log on to iTunes and hear him riff on any number of subjects. And, as I learn from watching him constantly play with his iPhone, Mr. Laporte (@leolaporte) is a big fan of Twitter. In case I ever want to catch up with him again.

Correction: The original article incorrectly stated the distribution for one of TWiT's shows. "The Tech Guy" is distributed to 140 radio stations around the country, while "This Week in Tech" is only available through downloads.