Some Fridays call for something a little extra — and this past Friday on 1st Sky Omaha in the Morning, hosts Paul B. and Buddy the God made the call early: it was going to be a Love Supreme Friday. With political tensions running high after Nebraska’s midterm primary results, the decision felt less like a programming choice and more like a community exhale.
“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,” said Paul B. “It’s going to be Love Supreme Friday today.” The chat room responded in kind. Viewer Judy Princ set the tone perfectly: “If you are sad or angry, go out and help others. Your attitude will change.” And in the middle of all of it, viewer Aeros 402 (Mary Sanchez) shared a quiet piece of joy: “On a love note, my only daughter gave birth to my second granddaughter. They are both new and good. I feel blessed.” It was exactly the kind of moment that reminds you why a show like this matters.
The hosts didn’t shy away from the civic conversation, though. With Nebraska’s midterm primary fresh in everyone’s mind, they dug into the sobering reality of voter turnout. Viewer Sean McCarthy noted that the Douglas County Election Commissioner had reported average primary voter turnout sitting around 35% in the county — a number that prompted Buddy the God to cut straight to it: “None of this — a lot of this — doesn’t matter if everybody voted. That’s a pretty valid point.”
But the undisputed heart of the episode was a wide-ranging, soul-stirring conversation with Dana Murray, executive director and founder of the North Omaha Music Academy (NMA), located right on North 24th Street. A musician and educator who grew up in South Omaha, spent eleven years honing his craft in New York City, and came back home to build something lasting, Murray brought a clarity of vision that had the chat room lighting up from start to finish.
The conversation opened with the big picture: what should the 24th Street corridor — “the Deuce,” as it’s known — actually become? 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. And we’ve been so far removed from that. A lot of the community within can’t relate to the power of what was.”
He laid out a practical blueprint — housing, services, destinations, restaurants, entertainment — and even floated the idea of a hotel that could anchor larger music festivals and conferences right in the neighborhood. “The X’s and O’s have to make sense,” he said, and you got the sense this was a man who had done that math many times over.
When asked about his own place in North Omaha’s story — especially as someone who grew up on the south side — Murray offered a perspective that was both generous and direct. He recalled how, growing up Black in Omaha in the ’70s and early ’80s, North Omaha was “the Mecca for us.” But he was candid about what he sees as a pattern of missed opportunity.
“At every opportunity, we fail at taking advantage of showcasing our culture. 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. People told me that was going to be very, very hard — and people don’t have any problem coming from wherever they are in Omaha or Iowa to come hear jazz music. That taboo about the area and its ability to be an attraction was false. We’ve proven that.”
NMA, Murray explained, is far more than a music school. He drew a direct comparison to Omaha Performing Arts and its economic impact on downtown — tens of millions of dollars in annual revenue — and said that’s the model he’s building toward for North Omaha. The Academy operates as a youth music academy, a performance space, and a live venue all at once. Students don’t just learn to play instruments; they learn live sound engineering, broadcasting, podcasting, and how to interview working artists.
“We’re not only raising musicians but, more importantly, raising more critical-thinking human beings. Whatever they choose to do, they’re going to be better because they were aligned with artistry.”
That idea — music as a vehicle for something deeper — landed squarely with Paul B., who used it to articulate what he called the “secondary matrix” running beneath everything NMA does. “Everything that we do has a secondary meaning, a deeper meaning,” Paul B. said. “In Dana Murray’s case, he teaches kids music — but on a deeper level, he’s creating critical thinkers.”
Murray also spoke about NMA’s upcoming capital campaign, with a first phase goal of $20 million, aimed at eventually building a full NMA campus. His framing of Black culture as equity — not sentiment — was one of the morning’s most striking moments. “Our culture is equity,” he said. “Our brilliance, our artistic genius is equity. Every music in America has been built off of our experience. The sooner we look at it not as ‘a cool little music thing’ but as equity for us to build and monetize for our community, the better we’re going to be.”
Viewer Pops summed up what many in the chat were feeling: “I love this interview. This brother’s vibe is so cool and his intentions are admirable. First Sky loves the kids.” And with NMA Fest on the horizon, Paul B. made his endorsement plain: “When I’m comparing festivals, I’m saying this one to me is the one. If I was going to put a festival together, it’d be this — and it’s going to be huge.”
Music instructors interested in joining the NMA team can reach Dana Murray directly at dmurray@northomahamusic.org or assistant Andrew Bailey at abailey@northomahamusic.org.
It was the kind of Friday morning that sends you into the weekend feeling like your city is building something real. Join Paul B., Buddy the God, and the whole First Sky community back on the air Monday morning — you won’t want to miss what’s next.
