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 energy that makes you want to pull up a chair, pour a cup of coffee, and stay a while. From post-primary election reflections to a conversation about the future of North Omaha’s cultural heartbeat, the show delivered the thoughtful, community-rooted dialogue its audience has come to count on.
The morning opened with some candid talk about Nebraska’s recent primary election — and the numbers weren’t pretty. Paul B. shared a post from Raquel Henderson of the mayor’s office that stopped the room cold: “Only 339,032 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.” Viewer Sean McCarthy weighed in from the chat, noting that “the Douglas County Election Commissioner said the average primary voter turnout percentage was around 35% in Douglas County,” and adding a pointed observation: “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’s the kind of structural truth that doesn’t get said enough out loud.
Buddy the God framed the civic conversation with his trademark grounded directness: “We got to do both. We got to build our own ecosystems and continue to do the things that we’re about to talk about. But in the long run, we do got to figure this out as far as a nation.” It set the tone perfectly for what would become the heart of the show — a rich, wide-ranging interview with Dana Murray, founder and director of the North Omaha Music Academy.
Murray, a South Omaha native who spent eleven years in New York City before returning home, now runs the NMA out of a performance space on North 24th Street — a corridor steeped in history and, in Murray’s vision, enormous untapped potential. “The area that has the most history and can truly claim to be a cultural and arts district is the North 24th Street corridor,” he said. “But we’ve been so far removed from that — not just in how the rest of Omaha views it, but the people within the community are so far removed from what that was that it is hard to build momentum from within.”
That observation resonated deeply with Paul B., who shared a personal memory tying his own family history to the very block where the NMA now stands. He recalled stories of his great-grandfather’s showcase, where touring artists who couldn’t stay in downtown hotels would lodge in apartments right there on “the deuce.” Viewer Pops confirmed it from the chat: “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.” History, it seems, has a long memory on 24th Street.
Murray was unflinching in his assessment of missed opportunities. He spoke warmly of Native Omaha Days in spirit, but challenged its execution: “I love Native Omaha Days at its core — anything that can bring us together — but it’s a failed opportunity to showcase our culture because none of that is trying to invite the rest of Omaha down to partake in what we have to offer.” He noted that his own programming has already broken through that perceived barrier. “I’ve tried to be a beacon for all of Omaha to come down to North 24th Street, and people have no 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.”
At its core, the NMA is far more than a music school. Murray described a bustling institution where young people learn live sound engineering, live streaming, podcasting, and interviewing alongside their instruments. “It’s not just telling them, ‘oh, you can be this,'” Murray said. “No — you can be this right now. Once you remove those barriers, the sky’s the limit.” Paul B. captured the deeper philosophy neatly, describing what he called the “secondary matrix” behind the academy: “The secondary matrix for him is to create critical thinkers… create people that can go further in their fields because they have the discipline of musical training and the mind-expanding benefits of musical training.”
Murray’s ambitions are bold and unapologetically large. He spoke of a planned $20 million capital campaign — phase one of a full NMA campus — and invoked Omaha Performing Arts as the model: an institution that generates $40 to $50 million in economic activity for its surrounding area. “That’s what we’re trying to build for North Omaha,” he said. His message on community wealth was equally direct: “Our culture is equity. Our brilliance and artistic genius is equity. The sooner we understand that, the better off we’re going to be.” Viewer Senator KML summed up the room’s feeling simply: “Thank you, Uncle Dana. You’re changing lives in big ways. We are the students.”
Music instructors interested in joining the NMA team can reach Dana Murray directly at dmurray@northomahahusic.org or his assistant Andrew Bailey at abailey@northomahahusic.org. Murray was clear that the bar is high — not for credentials, but for inspiration. “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 show wrapped on the kind of note that makes Friday feel like Friday. Viewer Judy Princ offered a quiet gem from the chat — “If you are sad or angry, go out and help others. Your attitude will change” — while viewer Pops closed warmly: “Thanks for another great week of shows. You and the Chat Chimers have made First Sky a true pillar in the community.” Buddy the God echoed that spirit in his parting words: “All you have to do is find get in where you fit in. That’s all you got to do. The lanes are running. The lanes are wide open. Just get in where you fit in and make it happen.”
If this Friday’s show is any indication, those lanes are very much open — and a lot of good people are already in them. Tune in Monday morning and join the conversation. 1st Sky Omaha in the Morning — your neighbors are waiting for you.
