Friday mornings have a certain feeling on 1st Sky Omaha in the Morning, and this past week’s “Love Supreme Friday” edition was no exception. Hosts Paul B. and Buddy the God opened the show with the kind of intentional energy that sets a tone before the first guest ever speaks. “It’s a decision,” Paul B. told viewers. “I have a lot going on that I could be feeling kind of low about… well, let’s make a decision. It’s going to be Love Supreme Friday today.” And with that, the show was off — touching on Nebraska primary results, community victories, and a conversation about arts, culture, and economic destiny that will stick with anyone who caught it live.
The hosts briefly addressed the Nebraska primary, noting that voter turnout had been strikingly low. Buddy the God read aloud from a post by community member Raquel Henderson:
“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.”
The chat lit up in response. Viewer Kimber Snipes offered some nuance, writing, “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.” Meanwhile, viewer Sean McCarthy pointed to a structural reality: “One huge problem is so many of these positions don’t pay a living wage, so only those who can afford to hold those positions run.” It was the kind of grounded, good-faith back-and-forth that makes the 1st Sky chat feel less like a comment section and more like a town hall.
But the heart of Friday’s show was a wide-ranging, deeply thoughtful conversation with Dana Murray, founder of the North Omaha Music Academy (NMA), located on historic North 24th Street. Murray — a South Omaha native who spent eleven years in New York City before returning home — has quietly been building something extraordinary in a neighborhood that Paul B. has long called “the most important Black corner in Nebraska.”
Murray was candid about both the promise and the challenges of the North 24th Street corridor. “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. The people that are there are so far removed from what that was that it is hard to build momentum from within.” He laid out a clear-eyed vision for what it would take to make the corridor thrive — sufficient housing, services, parking, eateries, and destinations like entertainment venues and restaurants. He even floated the idea of a hotel, which he noted would make the area capable of hosting larger festivals and conferences right in the community.
When the conversation turned to his own place in the North Omaha story — given that he grew up in South Omaha — Murray didn’t shy away. “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 pushed back gently 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,” he said, including a pointed reflection on Native Omaha Days. “I love it at its core — anything that can bring us together — but it’s a failed opportunity to showcase our culture because it doesn’t invite the rest of Omaha down to partake in what we have to offer.”
The conversation grew especially powerful when Murray described NMA’s deeper mission. Yes, it’s a youth music academy and performance space — but he invoked Omaha Performing Arts as a model, noting that OPA functions as an economic engine that brings $40 to $50 million in revenue to downtown each year. “That’s what we’re trying to build for North Omaha,” he said. Paul B. named what he was hearing as a “secondary matrix” — the idea that the surface activity points to something deeper. “He teaches kids music,” Paul B. explained, “but the secondary matrix is to create critical thinkers.” Viewer Pops connected with that idea personally, writing: “I experienced my secondary matrix in junior high when I took algebra. I was gaining proficiency and noticed I was suddenly able to think outside the box on several different levels. Music the same.”
Murray also described the breadth of what NMA actually offers: live sound engineering, broadcast training, a podcast and interview lab where students don’t just hear that careers in media are possible — they start living them. “It’s not just telling them ‘you can be this,'” he said. “No, you can be this right now. Once you remove those barriers, the sky’s the limit.”
Looking ahead, Murray announced that NMA is preparing to launch a capital campaign — with a first phase goal of $20 million — aimed at building a full NMA campus on the North 24th corridor. “Money is not our issue really in North Omaha,” he said. “It’s transformative ideas that are going to allow us to be not only sustainable but gainfully active.” He closed with a reflection on culture as equity that drew strong reactions in the chat: “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. Every music in America has been built off of our experience… That’s equity.”
The chat remained warm throughout, with viewer Pops adding a personal historical footnote: “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.” And in a sweet moment before the episode wrapped, viewer Aeros 402 shared some personal joy with the community: “On a love note, my only daughter gave birth to my second granddaughter. They are both new and good. I feel blessed.” It was a fitting note for a Love Supreme Friday.
For anyone who wants to connect with the North Omaha Music Academy — whether as a student family, a prospective teacher, or simply a community supporter — Dana Murray can be reached at dmurray@northomahusic.org. Join us again Monday morning when Paul B., Buddy the God, and the whole 1st Sky family are back at it — because in this community, the conversation never really stops.
