Friday mornings have a certain energy on 1st Sky Omaha in the Morning — but this past Friday, hosts Paul B. and Buddy the God decided to turn the dial up a little higher. Before the first segment even got rolling, Paul B. made an executive decision.
“There’s a lot of chatter going on on Friends of First Sky Omaha. 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 tone was set. What followed was one of the richest, most community-rooted episodes of the season — touching on Nebraska’s primary election results, the future of North 24th Street, and an inspiring conversation with one of Omaha’s most quietly transformative educators.
The election results sparked an honest reckoning in the chat. Viewer Sean McCarthy pointed out that the average primary voter turnout in Douglas County hovered around 35%, prompting Buddy the God to cut right to the heart of it: “None of this really matters if everybody voted. That’s a pretty valid point — a lot of this doesn’t matter if everybody voted.” Viewer Mama God echoed that frustration, writing, “People say they want younger leaders, but are they prepared to donate and vote? Low to average turnout even when Spivey, McKini, Kimra, Wayne, etc. are on the ballot.” It was the kind of real talk the show does so well — no spin, just community accountability.
Paul B. used the political moment to zoom out and reflect on what First Sky Omaha is really trying to do. “Everything that we do has a secondary meaning, a deeper meaning,” he said. “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, be able to speak to and build a family of people that we can regularly talk to and come to some conclusions so we can get to some action.” Viewer Pops drew a lovely parallel, noting that when he took algebra in junior high, he suddenly found himself thinking outside the box in entirely new ways. “Music the same,” he added simply.
That thread connected beautifully to the morning’s main guest: Dana Murray, founder and director of the North Omaha Music Academy (NMA), located right on the North 24th Street corridor that Paul B. has long called “the most important Black corner in Nebraska.” Murray — a musician and educator who grew up in South Omaha, spent eleven years in New York City, and came home to build something lasting — brought the kind of vision and candor that made the chat light up.
When asked about the role of the arts in community healing, Murray didn’t mince words.
“With a lot of the development going on infrastructure-wise, there’s very little talked about the social, people development, and healing that has to happen to even take advantage of all the opportunities. A lot of that is unquantifiable — which as an artist and someone who has lived their life as an artist, I know the power of that.”
Murray’s vision for NMA reaches far beyond music lessons. He described a program that teaches young people live sound engineering, broadcasting, podcasting, and how to interview professional artists — skills they can use right now, not someday. “It’s not just telling them, oh you can be this — no, you can be this right now,” he said. “Once you remove those barriers, the sky is the limit.” He was equally clear-eyed about the challenge: “We are in crisis with education, not just young black kids but young kids in general, because we are losing the ability to inspire them.” The instructors NMA recruits, he emphasized, must do more than know their craft. “Unless you’re able to inspire a young person, they don’t really have the attention span for the X’s and O’s of music. The why you’re doing it is everything.”
On the question of North 24th Street’s future, Murray painted a picture that was both practical and ambitious. He outlined the infrastructure a true cultural district requires — housing, eateries, parking, transportation, destinations — and made the case that NMA could one day serve the North Omaha corridor the way Omaha Performing Arts serves downtown, generating tens of millions in economic activity while keeping local talent rooted at home. “Brain drain is a killer for Omaha,” he said plainly. As for the cultural argument, he was direct: “Our culture is equity. Our brilliance, our artistic genius is equity. The sooner we understand that and monetize it, the better off we’re going to be.”
Murray also addressed, with grace and humor, questions about his place in the North Omaha ecosystem as someone who grew up on the south side. “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 South Omaha’s Cinco de Mayo celebration as a model worth learning from — an event that champions culture by opening its doors to all of Omaha. “I wish we did more of that,” he said. Viewer Mark Manor seemed to agree, noting that when he attends NMA events, he sees the same crowd that fills the Waiting Room and Slowdown — people coming from all corners of the city. “I find that impressive,” he wrote.
The show also lifted up several other community bright spots: Charell Shelton’s Core Science Bio Diagnostics lab, Omaha North’s nationally recognized engineering program, and an upcoming neighborhood grocery store from Heart Ministry Center — all evidence, the hosts suggested, that the ecosystem is alive and growing.
Buddy the God closed out the morning the way only he can: “All you have to do is find get in where you fit in. That’s all you got to do. It’s all happening. The lanes are running. The lanes are wide open. Just get in where you fit in and make it happen.”
It was, in every sense, a Love Supreme Friday. And if you missed it, there’s good news — Monday morning comes early, and 1st Sky Omaha in the Morning will be right there waiting for you.
