It was a Love Supreme Friday on 1st Sky Omaha in the Morning, and hosts Paul B. and Buddy the God were in fine form — easing off the political throttle just a touch after a busy Nebraska primary season and leaning hard into the kind of conversation that makes this show feel like your favorite front-porch talk. “We’ve been talking a lot of politics for a while,” Paul B. said with a familiar ease, “and we got a little break after the primaries. Never going to go away completely, but it doesn’t have to dominate the show today.” What filled that space instead was something equally important: a deep, rich, and genuinely inspiring conversation about music, youth, community, and the future of North Omaha.
The centerpiece of the morning was an extended sit-down with Dana Murray, the founder and executive director of the North Omaha Music Academy — known to many around the community simply as NMA. Originally from South Omaha, Murray spent eleven years in New York City before returning home with a clear-eyed mission: build something on North 24th Street that the entire city would have reason to claim. And if Friday’s conversation was any indication, he’s well on his way.
Murray spoke with the kind of measured urgency that comes from someone who has thought deeply about a problem for a long time. When asked about his vision for the North 24th Street corridor — “the deuce,” as the hosts affectionately call it — he didn’t mince words. “The area that has the most history, and the one that can claim we are a cultural and arts district for real, is the North 24th Street corridor,” he said. “And we’ve been so far removed from that.” He laid out a practical blueprint: sufficient housing, services, parking, grocery access, and gas stations as the foundation — and then destinations. Restaurants, lounges, entertainment venues. A hotel, even, to anchor larger festivals and conferences right in the heart of the community.
He was equally candid about what has held the community back, drawing a pointed comparison between Native Omaha Days and South Omaha’s Cinco de Mayo celebration. “I love Native Omaha Days at its core,” Murray said, “but it’s a failed opportunity to showcase our culture because none of that is trying to invite the rest of Omaha down to partake in what we have to offer.” South Omaha, he noted, throws open the doors — and the whole city shows up. “People don’t have any problem coming from wherever they are in Omaha or Iowa to come down North 24th Street to hear jazz music.” Viewer Pops echoed the sentiment from the chat, noting that “artists like Fats Domino used to stay at your grandfather’s home when he came to town to perform — so yes, more infrastructure for the artist around the Deuce corridor would be a godsend.”
But NMA is about far more than jazz nights and performance space. Murray described the academy as a youth music program with a deeply layered purpose — what Paul B. called the “secondary matrix.” “We’re not only raising musicians,” Murray explained, “but more importantly we’re raising more critical thinking human beings, because all these young kids are not going to become musicians by choice. Some will become doctors, some lawyers, some business owners — whatever they choose to do, they’re going to be better because they were aligned with artistry.” Paul B. framed it beautifully from the host’s chair: “In Dana Murray’s case, he teaches kids music — and on the surface that’s what it is. But the secondary matrix is to create critical thinkers, people that can go further in their fields because they have the discipline of musical training and the mind-expanding benefits of it.”
Beyond instruments and music theory, NMA students are learning live sound engineering, broadcast production, and podcasting in the academy’s own broadcast lab. Murray described students conducting live interviews with visiting artists — not just being told what’s possible, but doing it in real time. “It’s not just telling them, ‘oh you can be this,'” he said. “No — you can be this right now. Once you remove those barriers, sky’s the limit.” Viewer Senator KML put it simply and sweetly from the chat: “Thank you, Uncle Dana. You’re changing lives in big ways. We are the students.”
Looking ahead, Murray shared that NMA is preparing to launch a capital campaign — with an initial phase of $20 million — toward building a full NMA campus. His reference point? Omaha Performing Arts, which brings in $40 to $50 million in annual revenue and serves as an economic engine for downtown. “We need a vehicle like that for North Omaha,” Murray said, “and I see NMA taking up that space.” Paul B. was unambiguous in his enthusiasm: “When I’m comparing festivals, I’m saying this one to me is the one. If I was going to put a festival together, it’d be this — and it’s going to be huge.”
Murray closed with a message that cut to the heart of the whole conversation. “What we have to sell in most Black communities is our culture,” he said. “The sooner we understand that our culture is equity — that our brilliance, our artistic genius is equity — the better off we’re going to be. Every music in America has been built off of our experience, from the hardest rock music to the jazziest jazz to the poppiest pop music. You trace it all the way back to the music that was brought over from Africa. That’s equity.” Buddy the God, reflecting on the broader picture, summed up the balancing act the community faces: “We got to do both — we have to build our own ecosystems and continue to do the things that we’re about to talk about.”
The show had its share of warm moments too. Viewer Aeros 402 shared some personal joy from the chat: “On a love note, my only daughter gave birth to my second granddaughter. They are both new and good. I feel blessed.” And Paul B., ever the poet when the moment calls for it, reached back for a piece of his grandmother’s wisdom: “Dance is the shortcut to happiness.” On a Love Supreme Friday, it’s hard to argue with that.
Educators interested in joining the NMA team can reach Dana Murray at dmurray@northomahamusic.org or assistant Andrew Bailey at abailey@northomahamusic.org. Murray was clear that NMA is selective and intentional about who comes in to work with its young people — “unless you’re able to inspire a young person,” he said, “they don’t really have the attention span for the X’s and O’s of music.”
It was the kind of Friday morning conversation that reminds you why community media matters — and why North Omaha’s story is far from finished. Join Paul B., Buddy the God, and the whole First Sky family back on the air Monday morning, and bring a neighbor along for the ride.
