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 lingers long after the stream ends. Between post-primary reflections, a community shoutout, and a deeply inspiring sit-down with a North Omaha culture-builder, Episode 53 of Season 4 reminded listeners exactly why this show has become, as viewer Pops put it, “a true pillar in the community.”
Paul B. opened the show in a reflective mood, welcoming the brief exhale that follows a primary season. “We’ve been talking a lot of politics for a while,” he said, “and we got a little break after the primaries — Love Supreme’s going down today for sure.” But even on a feel-good Friday, the civic conversation never strayed far. Buddy the God cut to the heart of a recurring theme: “None of that really matters if the people don’t vote — and as I’ve been listening to conversations, it’s a pretty valid point that a lot of this doesn’t matter if everybody voted.” Viewer Sean McCarthy added sobering context to that point, noting that Douglas County’s average primary voter turnout came in around 35 percent. Viewer Kimber Snipes offered a compassionate counterpoint from her own 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.”
Paul B. also took a moment to spotlight Charell Shelton and her diagnostic lab — an example, he said, of someone who truly walks the talk. “This is somebody who puts her money where her mouth is,” he said warmly. “Last time we had her on, she was running for office.” It was a brief aside, but one that felt very much in keeping with the show’s deeper mission — what Paul B. calls the “secondary matrix.” “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.” Viewer Pops connected that idea beautifully, sharing that he first experienced his own secondary matrix in a junior high algebra class: “I was gaining proficiency and noticed I was suddenly able to think outside the box on several different levels. Music the same.”
That bridge between the abstract and the applied led perfectly into the morning’s main guest: Dana Murray, founder and director of the North Omaha Music Academy (NMA), located right on the storied corner of 24th and Lake. Murray — a musician and educator who grew up in South Omaha, spent eleven years honing his craft in New York City, and eventually came home to pour that experience into Omaha’s youth — arrived with a vision as big as the corridor he’s chosen to serve.
When asked what North 24th Street should truly be, Murray didn’t hesitate. “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. “And we’ve been so far removed from that — not even what the rest of Omaha views North 24th Street as. 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.” He laid out a practical vision for what a self-sustaining district actually requires — housing, eateries, parking, services — and then raised the bar further, imagining destination attractions, music festivals, and even a hotel to anchor the area’s cultural economy.
Murray also addressed, with characteristic directness, the question of his place in the North Omaha ecosystem as someone who grew up south of the divide. “If you’re Black and you’re in Omaha, especially in the 70s and early 80s, everyone had a shared relationship with North Omaha,” he said. “That was the Mecca for us.” He pointed to what he sees as a missed opportunity in how the community presents itself to the broader city, offering a pointed but loving comparison: “South Omaha’s Cinco de Mayo — it is a festival that brings them together, but they invite everybody down to be part of that. I wish we did more of that.” And he had receipts to back up his optimism. “People told me it was going to be very hard to draw anyone to North 24th Street,” Murray said, “and people have no problem coming from wherever they are in Omaha or Iowa to come hear jazz music or whatever we present. That taboo about the area and its ability to be an attraction was false. We’ve proven that.”
NMA, Murray explained, is equal parts music academy, performance space, and community engine. He invoked Omaha Performing Arts — a downtown institution that generates $40 to $50 million in annual revenue — and said plainly: “That’s what we want to be for North Omaha.” The academy teaches live sound, broadcasting, and podcasting alongside traditional music instruction, giving students a hands-on experience that goes far beyond scales and theory. “It’s not just teaching them ‘you can be this’ — it’s showing them you can be this right now,” Murray said. And to underscore the deeper purpose, he added: “More importantly, we’re raising more critical-thinking human beings, because all these young kids are not going to become musicians by choice. Whatever they choose to do, they’re going to be better because they were aligned with artistry.”
Looking ahead, Murray shared that NMA is preparing to launch a capital campaign with a first phase target of $20 million, with a full campus as the long-term goal. His closing thought was one for the whole community to sit with: “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 it 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.”
Music educators interested in joining the NMA team can reach Dana Murray at dmurray@northomahamusic.org or his assistant Andrew Bailey at abailey@northomahamusic.org. The show’s live viewers were clearly moved — viewer Senator KML summed it up simply: “Thank you, Uncle Dana. You’re changing lives in big ways. We are the students.”
The morning closed on a joyful note, with viewer Aeros 402 sharing that his only daughter had just given birth to his second granddaughter — “They are both new and good. I feel blessed” — a reminder that the First Sky community is, at its core, a family. Paul B. says the show’s mission is to serve North 24th Street, “the most important Black corner in Nebraska.” On mornings like this one, it’s hard to argue otherwise. Tune in Monday — the conversation is just getting started.
