It was a Love Supreme Friday on 1st Sky Omaha in the Morning, and hosts Paul B. and Buddy the God brought the kind of conversation that makes you want to pull up a chair and stay a while. Season 4’s fifty-third episode centered on a guest whose work is quietly — and not so quietly — reshaping the soul of North Omaha: Dana Murray, executive director of the North Omaha Music Academy (NMA).
Before Dana took the virtual stage, the hosts paused to reflect on Nebraska’s primary election results. The numbers were sobering. Viewer Raquel Henderson summed it up with a post the hosts couldn’t help but share aloud: “Only 339,000 out of more than 1.2 million registered voters in Nebraska showed up yesterday. Think about that for a second. And yet everybody has something to say. Posting on Facebook is not enough. Awareness without action changes nothing.” Buddy the God leaned into the point, noting, “None of this really matters if everybody voted… it’s a pretty valid point that a lot of this doesn’t matter if everybody voted.” Viewer Kimber Snipes offered a gentler angle, writing that in her conversations with people between the ages of 20 and 35, “most of them don’t really know what to do and know nothing about the candidates,” arguing for more education and deeper civic discussions rather than shaming those who stayed home. The exchange felt like exactly what the show does best — holding tension with grace.
Paul B. also introduced what he calls the “secondary matrix,” a framework for understanding what 1st Sky Omaha in the Morning is really about beneath the surface. “Everything that we do has a secondary meaning, a deeper meaning,” he explained. “On the surface, we’re a couple of talking heads that talk about some news with the community — but what we’re really trying to do is build community, build some coalition.” Buddy extended the thought, tying it to the season’s overarching theme: “Follow the money — and people think money, they think economy and economics, but I’m thinking ecosystem in the sense of real systems, how they circle back and loop back and regenerate.”
That ecosystem framing set the table perfectly for Dana Murray. A South Omaha native who spent eleven years in New York City before returning home to build something lasting, Dana now leads NMA — formerly known as Love’s Jazz — from its home on North 24th Street. His passion for that corridor is unmistakable, and his vision for it is sweeping.
Paul B. has long held a reverence for that stretch of street, calling it “the most important black corner in Nebraska.” Dana agreed, and went further. “Really, 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. But he was honest about the challenge of building momentum from within when so much institutional memory has faded. “I’m more talking to the people that are there who are so far removed from what that was that it is hard to build momentum from within when a lot of the community can’t relate to the power of what was.”
He laid out a practical blueprint for what a truly self-sustained district looks like: housing, services, parking, laundromats, grocery stores, gas stations — and then destinations. “Entertainment, restaurants, lounges, things that are going to be your bread-and-butter attractions to draw people into the community,” he said. “It would be great to have a hotel — with a hotel, now you can throw larger attractions, music festivals, conferences right in the community.” Viewer Pops connected the dots beautifully, recalling that “artists like Fats Domino used to stay at your grandfather’s home when he came to town to perform,” adding that “more infrastructure for the artist around the Deuce corridor would be a godsend.”
When asked about his place in North Omaha’s story as someone who grew up on the south side, Dana didn’t sidestep the question. “If you’re black and you’re in Omaha, especially in the 70s and early 80s, everyone had a shared relationship with North Omaha. That was the Mecca for us.” He pushed back on what he called “a false sense of security with pride,” arguing that territorial thinking has cost the community real opportunities. “At every opportunity, we fail at taking advantage of showcasing our culture and highlighting the excellence of who we are.” His remedy? Open the doors wide. “One of the things I’ve tried to do was reach out and be a beacon for all of Omaha to come down to North 24th Street. People told me that was going to be very hard, and 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 Mark Manor backed that up firsthand, noting that the same faces he sees at the Waiting Room and Slow Down show up at NMA — “which I find impressive.”
At its heart, NMA is a youth music academy and performance venue, but Dana’s vision stretches well beyond music lessons. He drew a deliberate parallel to Omaha Performing Arts, which generates $40 to $50 million in revenue annually for downtown. “We’re not only raising musicians but, more importantly, we’re raising more critical-thinking human beings,” he said. “Whatever they choose to do, they’re going to be better because they were aligned with artistry.” He’s equally clear-eyed about brain drain — the steady loss of North Omaha’s brightest to larger cities — and sees NMA as part of the answer.
The growth plans are ambitious. A capital campaign with a first phase of $20 million. An NMA campus. And a cultural argument he returned to again and again: “What we have to sell in most black communities is our culture. Because if we don’t monetize it — and 99% of the time we don’t — the rest of the country monetizes our culture for us. The sooner we understand that our culture is equity, that our brilliance and our artistic genius is equity, the better off we’re going to be.”
For those inspired to get involved — whether as instructors, supporters, or simply curious neighbors — Dana Murray can be reached at dmurray@northomahusic.org, or through his assistant Andrew Bailey at abailey@northomahusic.org.
The show wrapped on a high note, with community celebrations woven through the chat. Viewer Aeros 402 (Mary Sanchez) shared the sweetest news of the morning: “My only daughter gave birth to my second granddaughter. They are both new and good. I feel blessed.” The room — virtual as it may be — felt it.
Paul B. closed out the week with NMA Fest on his mind, calling it the festival he’d build himself if given the chance: “When I’m comparing festivals, I’m saying this one to me is the one — and it’s going to be huge.” If this episode is any indication of the energy behind it, that’s easy to believe.
Tune in Monday morning and join the conversation — because on 1st Sky Omaha in the Morning, the community isn’t just the topic. It’s the whole point.
