It was a Love Supreme Friday on 1st Sky Omaha in the Morning, and host Paul B. had his reasons. With political tensions still simmering in the wake of the recent primary election — and the show’s online community feeling the heat — Paul B. made a call early in the broadcast. “There’s a lot of chatter going on on Friends of First Sky Omaha,” he said. “There’s a lot of back and forth, friends breaking up, all kinds of stuff happening over politics — and that just is like, okay, well, we have to make a decision. It’s going to be Love Supreme Friday today.” And with that, the show settled into something warmer, deeper, and — as it turned out — genuinely inspiring.
Co-host Buddy the God didn’t sidestep the civic conversation entirely, though. Reflecting on voter disengagement after the primaries, he offered a candid take: “None of this really matters if everybody voted. You can sit it out — I understand why a lot of people are just disengaged — but it’s the missing piece. Until we do that, we’re going to have to keep building our own ecosystems.” Viewer Kimber Snipes echoed that nuance from the chat, writing, “I’ve been having conversations with people between the ages of 20 and 35. What I hear the most is most of them don’t really know what to do and know nothing about the candidates. I don’t think we should be slamming people for not voting when the system is really what has caused this. I think we need to have more education and deep dive discussions.” It was exactly the kind of grounded, community-level conversation that makes Friday mornings on 1st Sky feel like a town hall with your most thoughtful neighbors.
The heart of the episode, though, belonged to a guest who has been quietly doing the work of community building for years. Dana Murray — founder and executive director of the North Omaha Music Academy (NMA), located on the historic North 24th Street corridor — joined Paul B. and Buddy for a wide-ranging conversation about arts, education, culture, and the economic future of one of Omaha’s most storied neighborhoods.
Murray, a jazz musician who spent eleven years in New York City before returning home to Omaha, didn’t mince words about the challenges facing the North 24th Street corridor — what the hosts affectionately call “the Deuce.” “The North 24th Street corridor is the area that can truly claim to be a cultural and arts district,” he said. “But a lot of the community within is so far removed from what that corridor once was that it’s hard to build momentum from within.” His vision is ambitious and practical in equal measure: enough housing, eateries, services, and parking to make the area self-sustaining — and enough destination-worthy attractions, including a hotel, to draw visitors from across the city and beyond for music festivals and cultural events. “The X’s and O’s have to make sense,” he said plainly.
Murray grew up in South Omaha, and he addressed that directly when the hosts asked about his sense of place on the Deuce. “If you were Black and in Omaha in the ’70s and early ’80s, North Omaha was the Mecca for all of us,” he said. But he’s also been candid about missed opportunities. Comparing Native Omaha Days to South Omaha’s Cinco de Mayo celebration, he observed, “South Omaha champions their culture and invites everybody down. 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.” The skeptics, he said, told him it would be nearly impossible. He proved them wrong. “People have no problem coming from wherever they are in Omaha or Iowa to come hear jazz music. That taboo about the area being an attraction was false — we’ve proven that.”
Viewer Pops added a little living history to that point, writing in the chat: “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.”
NMA, Murray explained, is far more than a music school. It’s a youth academy, a performance space, and — in his long-term vision — a cultural and economic engine modeled after what Omaha Performing Arts means to downtown. “We’re not only raising musicians,” he said. “More importantly, we’re raising more critical-thinking human beings.” That vision landed squarely with Paul B., who introduced what he called the “secondary matrix” — the idea that learning music rewires the brain in ways that make students better thinkers across every discipline of their lives. Viewer Pops knew it firsthand: “I experienced my secondary matrix in junior high when I took algebra. I was gaining proficiency. I noticed that I was suddenly able to think outside the box on several different levels. Music the same.”
Murray also spoke passionately about the challenge of engaging young learners in the digital age. “We are in crisis with education — not just young Black kids, young kids in general — because we are losing the ability to inspire them,” he said. NMA’s answer isn’t to fight the tide — it’s to meet students where they are, offering courses in live sound, broadcasting, and podcasting alongside traditional music instruction. “It’s not just telling them ‘you can be this’ — no, you can be this right now,” Murray said. “Once you remove those barriers, the sky’s the limit.”
Looking ahead, Murray outlined plans for a $20 million capital campaign and an eventual NMA campus. His larger thesis was clear and urgent: “What we have to sell in most Black communities is our culture. If we don’t monetize it — which 99% of the time we don’t — the rest of the country will. The sooner we understand that our culture is equity, that our artistic genius is equity, the better off we’re going to be.”
“I love this interview. This brother’s vibe is so cool and his intentions are admirable. First Sky loves the kids.” — viewer Pops
The show wrapped on a note of genuine community warmth. Viewer Aeros 402 (Mary Sanchez) shared a personal joy mid-broadcast: “My only daughter gave birth to my second granddaughter. They are both new and good. I feel blessed.” It was the kind of moment that reminds you what Love Supreme Fridays are really all about.
Music educators interested in joining the NMA team can reach Dana Murray directly at dmurray@northomahamusic.org or his assistant Andrew Bailey at abailey@northomahamusic.org.
If this episode is any indication, Season 4 of 1st Sky Omaha in the Morning is shaping up to be essential viewing for anyone who cares about the future of this city. Tune in Monday — the conversation is just getting started.
