Chris Beary is a businessman and philanthropist based out of the New Orleans area.
William Christopher (“Chris”) Beary is a Social Entrepreneur. He is a lifetime New Orleanian with four amazing daughters. Chris attended the University of New Orleans where he received 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 is also a CPA (inactive status).
Chris has focused on many community endeavors moving from law and business to service work in recent years. Over the past three decades, Chris has founded 6 non-profits and is currently managing 5 of them including Grace at the Green Light, The Fat Bankers Social Aid & Pleasure Club, The Funky Uncle Live, Northshore Radio and, his latest endeavor, The Louisiana Music & Heritage Experience. Chris has been actively involved in his girls’ school and the family Church too. To hear more about Chris’ involvement, CLICK HERE .
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 which also awarded him the Silver Client Champion Award (given to less than 1% of lawyers).
Chris actively pursues the following current business and community opportunities:
What started as Funky Uncle webcast may grow into a %160 million Louisiana music museum
April 23, 2023
Chris Beary-A Man on a Mission-bringing healing to the hungry and music to our community!
January 10, 2022
Throw me some music, mister! Krewe of Tucks to hand out new vinyl album of New Orleans funk
February 23, 2022
Funky Uncle Live Announces Final Livestream Show To Mark Two-Year Anniversary
April 4, 2022
Live from the Funky Uncle Lounge: Krewe of Tucks float hosts weekly livestreaming concerts
September 3, 2020
Tucks parade’s Funky Uncle Lounge float to double as stage at free Central City funk festival
May 2, 2018
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
FunkyUncle.Live, Co-Founder and Co-Executive Producer
Northshore Radio, Inc. d/b/a WGSO 990am, Managing Member
The Louisiana Music & Heritage Experience, Inc, Co-Founder, Developer and Board Chair
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).
Learn more at www.aimscomposites.com
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, clothing and community) in a loving manner that embraces the human spirit. As it's 8th anniversary, Grace at the Greenlight has served over 234,000 meals, distributed over 1,000,000 bottles of water, given out over 4,000 hygiene & clothing items and has reunited over 2,600 participants with their families.
Learn more at www.graceatthegreenlight.org
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.
Learn more at www.francoisbend.com
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.
Learn more at www.funkytucks.com
Bougainvillea Productions and the Soul Project NOLA have partnered to bring you “FunkyUncle.Live,” 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 presented weekly shows every Friday night at 7pm raising money for musician and gig worker Covid Relief. 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. After two years, the Funky Uncle has featured shows over 106 weeks raising over $650,000 that has helped over 865 musicians and gig-workers!
Frenchy’s work with FFFU since April 2020 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.
Learn more at www.funkyuncle.live
The Louisiana Music & Heritage Experience, celebrates and interprets the rich musical legacy of New Orleans and greater Louisiana by way of thought-provoking exhibitions, dynamic public programs and performances, and engaging educational workshops, tours and seminars.
Learn more at www.lmhe.live
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.”
Learn more at www.wgso.com
