Chris Beary is a businessman and philanthropist based out of the New Orleans area.
William Christopher (“Chris”) Beary is a CPA (inactive status), businessman, and community activist. Born and raised in New Orleans, he loves his home and currently resides there. Chris has four daughters. Chris attended the University of New Orleans where he got his Bachelor’s in Accounting; he later went onto Tulane University School of Law to complete his J.D. where he graduated Cum Laude. Chris’ entrepreneurial spirit has helped him get involved with several businesses in many different industry verticals. Some of Chris’ business endeavors include him as Owner, Officer, Manager or Board Member in industries such as healthcare, gaming, construction, real estate, restaurants, entertainment, retail sales and others. Chris also practiced law for over 25 years, 17 of which he spent as a managing partner of his own firm. During his time as a lawyer, Chris was awarded the “AV” rating by the Martindale-Hubbell rating service. The “AV” rating is the highest rating given to less than 1% of lawyers. In addition to Chris’ business interests, Chris has co-founded non-profits and participated in many community endeavors. Chris actively pursues the following current business and community opportunities:
B.S., University of New Orleans (Accounting) J.D., Tulane University (Cum Laude) Certified Public Accountant (inactive status)
Owner, Officer, Manager or Board Member of various businesses including hospitals, gaming, construction, real estate, restaurants, entertainment, retail sales and others.
25 years of the practice of law including transactions, litigation, tax and general business issues.
Grace at the Green Light, Inc., Founder and Board Chair
The Fat Bankers’ Social Aid & Pleasure Club, L.L.C. (Funky Tucks Group), Co-Founder and Co-Captain
Fridays from the Funky Uncle, Co-Founder and Co-Executive Producer
Northshore Radio, Inc. d/b/a WGSO 990am, Managing Member
The Jericho Road Episcopal Housing Initiative, L.L.C., Co-Founder
Christ Church Cathedral, Finance Committee
McGehee Mock Trial Team, Coach (Regional Champions 2015, 2016 and 2017)
AIMS Composites is the onshore and offshore industry leader in engineering design, fabrication and installation of fiberglass products. AIMS International is known for designing and constructing durable, long-lasting, and reliable Fiberglass Reinforced Products (FRP).
Grace at the Greenlight is a 501(c)(3) non-profit organization that serves the homeless in the New Orleans area. Grace at the Greenlight's mission is to offer New Orleans' homeless persons choices and to provide for their basic needs (water, food and community) in a loving manner that embraces the human spirit. As of March 15th, Grace at the Greenlight has served over 204,386 meals, distributed over 1,007,250 bottles of water, and has reunited over 2,460 participants with their families.
Francois Bend is a beautiful, amenity-rich, senior living campus with 108 apartments located on 7.5 acres in the community of Gonzales. The campus enjoys easy accessibility to Baton Rouge, the New Orleans Metro area and the North Shore. The campus is centrally located to acute care and rehabilitation hospitals, physician offices, churches, law enforcement agencies, city government offices, and shopping. Francois Bend offers a maintenance-free lifestyle with 5 levels of care as well as dedicated memory care. All apartments are licensed for assisted living so residents can remain in the same apartment even when more assistance is necessary. At Francois Bend, we believe a broad range of amenities and services are important and we also recognize and respect everyone’s right to privacy. We remain open to the personal preferences of each resident and work to provide a plan that best suits that person’s needs.
The Fat Bankers’ is a sub-group of the Krewe of Tucks. The Fat Bankers’ Social Aid & Pleasure Club is a social and charitable organization dedicated to serving the City of New Orleans by: Parading and pursuing Gniaule, Bière, Bourbon, Femmes, et Hommes; Helping its citizens to funkify themselves; and Relieving the distressed. Fat Bankers LLC. parades 200 riders on the Funky Tucks, Funky Fox, Love Child and the Funky Uncle Lounge.
Bougainvillea Productions and the Soul Project NOLA have partnered to bring you “Friday’s from the Funky Uncle,” a weekly webcast featuring New Orleans Musicians playing live to raise money for all members of the entertainment community in New Orleans who are in need.
Starting Friday April 3, 2020, we have presented weekly shows every Friday night at 7pm raising money for musician and gig worker Covid Relief. We continue this music stream every week, presenting a live performance from the shelter of the one of a kind Mardi Gras’ float, the Funky Uncle Lounge.
Combined with musician interviews and outreach news in the vein of Soul Train or the Midnight Special, the hour and a half program streams on this website, Facebook Live, Youtube, and Twitch raising money through virtual donations, sponsorships and the sale of live Frenchy paintings. The resulting fund, The Funk Fund, is distributed to musicians and entertainment workers impacted economically or medically by COVID-19. As of March 17th Fridays from the Funky Uncle has featured 54 shows over 50 weeks, has raised $293,619.21, and has helped over 440 musicians and gig-workers!
Frenchy’s work with FFFU since April has been monumental in our fundraising. Each piece perfectly captures the spirit of the Funky Uncle performances. We are an organization dedicated to helping members of the New Orleans music and entertainment community during a global pandemic through two major pieces of New Orleans culture: music and art.
The station was originally an AM day timer and throughout its life went through a series of call letters and formats before going 24 hours in the 1980s. In 2001, WGSO gave New Orleans its first Business Talk format.
Originally, 990 AM was WJMR. It joined the AM band on January 27, 1946. The station was owned by George Mayoral and broadcast from the Jung Hotel in downtown New Orleans. It later became the sister station of WJMR-FM (Currently WEZB-FM) and WJMR-TV (Currently WVUE-TV) (New Orleans second television station in 1953).
In the mid-1950s it was home to “Poppa Stoppa” whose program featured long runs of uninterrupted Rock and Roll music. When WJMR-AM was sold the station call sign was changed to WNNR (Winner Radio). The station briefly became WLTS in the fall of 1984. On June 4, 1985 it became WYAT (capitalizing on the local street expression “Where y’at?”), broadcasting a syndicated Oldies format with some local DJ’s during the day.
WGSO was launched in 1972 at 1280 AM with an adult contemporary format. In December of 1985, the name of the station was changed to WKMJ, “Magic 1280,” featuring R&B Oldies.
On December 1, 1993, the WGSO call letters were once again used, this time for 990-AM. Originally, the station broadcast an audio feed of CNN’s Headline News. From 2001 until 2004, it was billed as “City Business 990”, touting its relationship with the local “City Business” newspaper. From 2004-2005 WGSO was known as “BizRadio 990.” During this time there were local hosts during the day and syndicated programming with CNN newscasts overnight.
In June of 2007, the station was purchased by Northshore Radio LLC and moved to Slidell, LA to become the “Voice of the Northshore.” The station launched a variety of local talk programs, with hosts Jeff Crouere, Ed Clancy, and Ken Trahan among others, as well as news and traffic reports centered in St. Tammany Parish.
In April of 2010, the station of WGSO was moved to its current location in the Central Business District of New Orleans, 330 Carondelet Street. Their new moniker was “Speakin’ Easy New Orleans Style.” The station also started streaming their signal at their website, wgso.com.
WGSO continues to offer a variety of local talk programs, with 20 different hosts discussing topics such as politics, real estate, culture, entertainment, sports, local dining, spirits, and wine. Daily hosts include Jeff Crouere, Effie Chaisson, Tom and Mary Ann Fitzmorris, Tim McNally, and B.J. Rust. The station also broadcasts University of Louisiana at Lafayette football games, weekly religious services at Christ Church Cathedral and a variety of syndicated programming, from hosts such as Kate Delaney and Mark Levin.
In 2021, the station will be celebrating its 75th Anniversary. WGSO has received IRS approval for 501-C-3 status and will transition to a non-profit organization, accepting tax deductible donations from supporters that will be used to fulfill its broadcasting mission. The new moniker for the station is “Community Voice of the Crescent City.”
