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 conversation that sticks with you long after the stream goes dark. From the sobering reality of Nebraska’s primary turnout numbers to a deeply inspiring vision for the future of North 24th Street, Episode 53 of Season 4 was exactly the kind of community-centered dialogue that has made this show a pillar in the Omaha metro.
The morning opened on a civic note, with Paul B. sharing a post from Raquel Henderson of the mayor’s office that gave the room pause.
“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 responded immediately. Viewer Kimber Snipes offered some context: “I’ve been having conversations with people between the ages of 20 and 35. What I hear most is that they don’t really know what to do and know nothing about the candidates. 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.” Viewer Sean McCarthy added a structural critique of his own: “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.”
Buddy the God steered the conversation toward a theme of self-determination that would thread through the entire episode. “We got to do both — build our own ecosystems and continue to do the things we’re about to talk about,” he said. “In the long run, we do got to figure this out as a nation, but for now, there are other things we got to figure out as far as how we can do for ourselves.”
Paul B. also took a moment to celebrate a North Omaha success story before the main interview. He shouted out Charell Shelton and her company, Core Science Bio Diagnostics — a North Omaha diagnostic lab that recently received a $52,000 prize. “This is somebody who puts her money where her mouth is,” Paul B. said. “Last time we had her on, she was running for office.” It was a quick but meaningful nod to the kind of entrepreneurial, community-rooted hustle the show loves to amplify.
Then came the centerpiece of the morning: a rich, wide-ranging conversation with Dana Murray, executive director and founder of the North Omaha Music Academy (NMA) — formerly known as Love’s Jazz — located right on the historic North 24th Street corridor. A South Omaha native who spent eleven years in New York City before returning home, Murray has quietly been building something extraordinary.
When asked about his vision for the Deuce, Murray didn’t mince words.
“Really, the area that has the most history and can truly claim to be a cultural and arts district is the North 24th Street corridor. But we’ve been so far removed from that — not even what the rest of Omaha views it as. The people within the community are so far removed from what it was that it’s hard to build momentum from within.”
He laid out a pragmatic framework for what a thriving district actually requires — housing, eateries, parking, destinations, entertainment — and even floated the idea of a hotel that could support larger music festivals and conferences. “There’s been a whole lot of stuff on North 24th Street that wasn’t sustainable,” he said. “I can’t get caught up in the emotion of the redevelopment — the X’s and O’s have to make sense.”
Murray also addressed a question that might have made a less self-assured man squirm: what right does a South Omaha native have to plant his flag on North 24th? His answer was disarming and direct.
“If you’re Black and you’re in Omaha, especially in the ’70s and early ’80s, everyone had a shared relationship with North Omaha. That was the Mecca for us.”
He went on to challenge what he called a “false sense of pride” that he believes has cost the community real opportunities, pointing to South Omaha’s Cinco de Mayo celebration as a model — an event that champions Latino culture while actively inviting all of Omaha to the table. “People told me that was going to be very hard,” Murray said of his effort to draw the broader city to NMA events, “but people have no problem coming from wherever they are in Omaha or Iowa to hear jazz music or whatever we present.”
The conversation about NMA’s mission was where things got genuinely moving. Murray described a vision that goes far beyond music lessons. He drew a direct comparison to Omaha Performing Arts — a downtown institution that generates $40 to $50 million in economic activity annually — and said plainly: that’s what NMA is building toward for North Omaha.
“We’re not only raising musicians; more importantly, we’re raising more critical-thinking human beings. These young kids are not all going to become musicians. Some will become doctors, lawyers, business owners — whatever they choose, they’re going to be better because they were aligned with artistry.”
Paul B. had a name for that idea. “Dana Murray teaches kids music, but the secondary matrix is to create critical thinkers,” he said. “He knows everybody’s not going to make it as a musician, but they become better at whatever field they go into because of musical training.”
Beyond instruments, NMA is teaching young people live sound engineering, broadcast production, live streaming, and podcasting. Murray described a broadcast lab where students don’t just watch professionals work — they are the professionals. “So it’s not just telling them, ‘You can be this someday,'” he said. “No — you can be this right now.” He was equally candid about the challenge of inspiring a generation raised on Google, YouTube, and Instagram: “We can act like that’s going away, but it’s not. So we have to figure out how to inspire them within the world they live in.”
As for what’s next, Murray revealed that NMA is preparing to launch a capital campaign with a first phase goal of $20 million, with the long-term dream of a full NMA campus. “Money is not our issue in North Omaha — it’s transformative ideas,” he said. “What we have to sell in most Black communities is our culture. The sooner we understand that our culture is equity — that our artistic genius is equity — the better off we’re going to be.”
The chat was feeling every word. Viewer Pops connected it to living history: “Artists like Fats Domino used to stay at your grandfather’s home when he came to town to perform. So yes, more infrastructure for artists around the Deuce corridor would be a godsend.” And the love for Murray was palpable — one viewer, Senator KML, simply wrote: “Thank you, Uncle Dana. You’re changing lives in big ways. We are the students.”
NMA is actively looking for music instructors who carry both skill and the ability to inspire. Anyone interested can reach Dana Murray at dmurray@northomahamusic.org or his assistant Andrew Bailey at abailey@northomahamusic.org.
The morning closed the way the best Fridays do — with a little joy tucked in at the edges. Viewer Aeros 402 shared a love note to the chat: “My only daughter gave birth to my second granddaughter. They are both new and good. I feel blessed.” And on that note, First Sky headed into the weekend.
If this episode is any indication, Monday morning can’t come soon enough. Tune in to 1st Sky Omaha in the Morning and be part of the conversation that’s keeping Omaha connected, challenged, and inspired.
