It was a Love Supreme Friday on 1st Sky Omaha in the Morning, and hosts Paul B. and Buddy the God made good on their promise to shift the energy as the week wound down. After days of heavy political conversation surrounding Nebraska’s midterm primary results, Paul B. set the tone early. “We’ve been talking a lot of politics for a while and it’s time to change our mindsets over to something else — we’re going to try to do that for the weekend,” he said. And with that, the show turned its full heart toward community, culture, and the people quietly doing the work that holds Omaha together.
The primary results weren’t entirely off the table, though. Voter turnout — or the lack of it — threaded its way through the morning’s conversation. Viewer Sean McCarthy dropped a sobering note into the chat: “The Douglas County Election Commissioner said the average primary voter turnout percentage was around 35% in Douglas County.” Buddy the God didn’t shy away from the frustration that number carries. “None of this really matters if everybody voted,” he said plainly. “It’s a pretty valid point that a lot of this doesn’t matter if everybody voted.” Viewer Kimber Snipes offered a nuanced counterpoint, sharing 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,” adding that she believes the focus should be on deeper education rather than slamming people for staying home. It was exactly the kind of thoughtful back-and-forth that makes the 1st Sky chat feel like a real town square.
But the morning’s centerpiece was an extended conversation with Dana Murray, the founder and executive director of the North Omaha Music Academy — known to many longtime Omahans as Love’s Jazz — located on North 24th Street. Murray, a musician and educator who spent eleven years in New York City before returning home, has quietly been building something remarkable on what Paul B. calls “the most important Black corner in Nebraska.”
Murray was candid about what it will take to truly resurrect the North 24th Street corridor as a living cultural district. “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.” He laid out a clear-eyed vision that goes beyond nostalgia, pointing to the practical infrastructure any thriving district needs — housing, eateries, services, parking, entertainment venues, and even a hotel. “With a hotel, you can throw larger music festivals and conferences right in the community,” he noted. “I hear a lot of talk about things people want to do to revitalize the area, but unless those metrics are there, it doesn’t matter.”
One of the most compelling threads of the interview was Murray’s perspective on culture as currency. Growing up in South Omaha, he described North Omaha as “the Mecca for us” — a shared spiritual and cultural home for Black Omahans regardless of what side of town they came from. He’s made it his mission to open NMA’s doors to all of Omaha, and the skeptics, he said, have been proven wrong. “People told me that was going to be very hard, but people have no problem coming from wherever they are in Omaha or Iowa to come hear jazz music or whatever we present.” Viewer Mark Manor backed that up from personal experience, writing in: “When I go there it is the same people at shows at Waiting Room, Slow Down, and the Jewels. So people are coming from all around town and getting down at NMA, which I find impressive.”
At its core, though, NMA is a youth program — and Murray is deliberate about the deeper purpose behind the music lessons. It’s what Paul B. described on air as the “secondary matrix”: the hidden architecture of impact underneath the visible work. “In Dana Murray’s case, he teaches kids music — on the surface that’s what it is,” Paul B. explained. “But the secondary matrix is to create critical thinkers. Everyone’s not going to become a musician, but they’re going to be better because they were aligned with artistry.” Murray echoed the thought precisely. “We’re not only raising musicians but more importantly 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.” Beyond instruments, NMA teaches live sound, broadcasting, live streaming, and podcast production — and the kids get to interview artists themselves.
Murray also spoke directly to the challenge of brain drain in North Omaha, describing NMA’s development work as “symbiotic with the community.” His long-term vision is sweeping: a $20 million capital campaign, a full NMA campus, and a cultural engine for North Omaha comparable to what Omaha Performing Arts means for downtown — an entity that generates tens of millions in annual economic activity. “Money is not our issue in North Omaha really — it’s transformative ideas,” he said. “Our culture is equity. Our artistic genius is equity, and the sooner we understand that, the better off we’re going to be.”
Music instructors interested in joining the NMA team can reach Murray directly at dmurray@northomahamusic.org or his assistant Andrew Bailey at abailey@northomahamusic.org. Murray was clear that inspiration is the non-negotiable qualification. “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,” he said. “The why of doing it is everything.”
The morning closed the way the best Friday shows do — with warmth and community spilling over into the chat. Viewer Aeros 402 (Mary Sanchez) shared a beautiful personal note: “On a love note, my only daughter gave birth to my second granddaughter. They are both well and good. I feel blessed.” Buddy the God closed with a challenge and an invitation all at once: “We got to do both — build our own ecosystems and continue to fix the systems we’re already in. And it’s happening. All you have to do is find where you fit in.”
That’s the 1st Sky spirit in a sentence. Tune in Monday morning — the conversation is always worth showing up for.
