Todd Frary
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Todd B. D. Frary (born 18 December 1962) is an American radio personality, writer, music critic, and public historian.
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[edit] Radio and Writing
Frary was born in Rockford, Illinois and grew up there before moving with his parents to Naples, Florida where he graduated from Lely High School. During high school he covered high school sports and other events for the Marco Island Eagle newspaper. While attending the University of South Florida in Tampa, Florida he served as a columnist for The Oracle, the university's student newspaper, joined the Pi Kappa Alpha Fraternity, and he began his involvement with WMNF radio, co-hosting and co-producing the alternative music show "Underground Circus" (1986-1989) along with other music and community affairs programs until as late as 1996. During this time he also playing electric bass and keyboards in a few short-lived local bands. Beginning in the late 1980s Frary served as music critic for Creative Loafing (later renamed Weekly Planet) as well as for other local alternative weekly newspapers until he discontinued his column in 1996. Frary was part of a larger alternative scene in Tampa during the 1980s and 1990s that included his contemporaries radio personality Mark St. John (a/k/a Harry Dangler), and performance artists Bud Mayhem and John Dean.
[edit] Professional career
Outside of his work in the media Frary was a manager with the former First Florida Bank (now part of Bank of America) and a manager with the former MCI (now part of Verizon). While with MCI Frary was involved with that company's Power Up lobbying efforts in Washington, DC, and later in the Georgia State Capitol. It was during his time with MCI that Frary moved to Atlanta, and he now resides in Woodstock, Georgia, northwest of Atlanta.
[edit] Personal life
Frary is descended from John Frary, an early American colonist, who settled in the Massachusetts Bay Colony in 1637. His ancestor Samson Frary was an early settler of Deerfield, Massachusetts who built the first Frary House in that town. The original home was destroyed in the French and Indian Raid in 1702/3 during which Samson Frary was killed and his wife Mary Frary was taken captive by the invaders. Frary House was subsequently rebuilt by Samson Frary's son, Nathaniel Frary and that home still stands and is open to tourists.
Frary is descended from a number of prominent families of New England and the South and is a member of a number of hereditary and genealogical societies.
[edit] Public history
While at Kennesaw State University he has been very active in that university's Public History Program. In Spring 2005 he was involved in development of the exhibit "Student Life at Kennesaw," celebrating the 40th anniversary of the university and which drew on the resources of the newly dedicated Kennesaw State University Archives. In Fall 2005 he playing a part in development of the Northwest Georgia Threatened Historic Sites Project, which helps to promote the preservation of the threatened sites of histoical significance in Northwest Georgia. In April 2006 Frary was a panelist at the Georgia Association of Historians, speaking on the topic of "Museums and Universities: Partnerships, Possibilities, and Challenges," speaking about the earlier student life exhibit and how develop and model similar programs and exhibits at other universities.
In Spring 2006 he conducted a series of interviews of past and present members of the Atlanta Symphony Orchestra as part of the university's Oral History program and those interviews were drawn upon for a monograph he completed on the Orly Crash of the Chateau de Sully in 1962 which killed a number of prominent members of Atlanta's arts community. The paper was the first to specifically focus exclusively on the impact the disaster had on the ASO and was well received at the "Lecturers of Note" series the ASO held in the Fall of 2006. In Spring 2006 he also completed a monograph on the life and work of Rev. Raimundo de Ovies, former Dean of the Episcopal Cathedral of St. Philip, Atlanta; the first such work on this influental author, columnist, and spiritual leader. In Fall 2006 he completed work on a series of audio pieces on and about place, specifically focusing on the Highway 5 corridor between Woodstock, Georgia and Canton, Georgia that will be airing in 2007.
[edit] References
- Frary Family in America: 1637-1980 by Margaret Murphy and Anne Frary Lepak, Frary Family Association, 1980.
- Frary Family in America: A Continuation by Anne Frary Lepak, Frary Family Association, 1985.
