Tom Merritt

Thomas Andrew Merritt (born June 28, 1970) is an American technology journalist, writer, and broadcaster best known as the host of several podcasts. He is a former co-host of Tech News Today on the TWiT.tv Network, and was previously an executive editor for CNET and developer and co-host of the daily podcast Buzz Out Loud. As of March 2023, Merritt hosts Daily Tech News Show, Cordkillers and Sword and Laser, among other programs. Early life Merritt was born in Greenville, Illinois, to Bill Merritt, a food scientist who worked on the Coffee-Mate project. Merritt received a BS in journalism from the University of Illinois at Urbana–Champaign and pursued graduate work in communications at the University of Texas at Austin. Career Merritt's career in radio began in 1986 as a DJ for WGEL, a country music station located in Greenville, Illinois. In 1993, he worked as an intern for National Public Radio's Morning Edition. From 1999 to 2004, he worked for TechTV in San Francisco as an executive web producer and was a radio host with TechTV until 2003. CNET Merritt started with CNET in 2004. In addition to his duties as co-host of Buzz Out Loud with Molly Wood, he also had a regular column and podcast (co-hosted with Rafe Needleman) dealing with consumer technology. He also co-hosted the tech support call-in program CNET Live with fellow editor Brian Cooley, and was the host of CNET Top 5.