There’s something intentional about the way Friday mornings feel on 1st Sky Omaha in the Morning. This past week, hosts Paul B. and Buddy the God made that intention explicit right from the top. “We have to make a decision,” Paul B. told viewers. “It’s going to be Love Supreme Friday today. And we’re going to change our mindsets over to something else.” With the Nebraska primary results still fresh and a national political climate that can weigh heavy, the hosts chose to pivot — not away from reality, but toward the work that gives that reality meaning: community, culture, and the people quietly building something lasting right here in Omaha.
The show opened with a brief but honest reckoning with voter turnout. Viewer Sean McCarthy dropped a sobering number into the chat early on, noting that the Douglas County Election Commissioner reported average primary turnout of around 35%. Buddy the God didn’t shy away from it. “None of this really matters if the people don’t vote,” he said. “And as I’ve been listening to conversations, that’s a pretty valid point — a lot of this doesn’t matter if everybody voted.” Viewer Kimber Snipes added texture to that conversation, sharing observations from talks with people between 20 and 35 years old: “What I hear the most is most of them 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.” It was the kind of nuanced, neighborhood-level conversation that makes First Sky feel less like a broadcast and more like a front porch.
The hosts also highlighted a handful of local wins worth celebrating. Core Science Bio Diagnostics took home a $52,000 prize, and Omaha North’s engineering program earned national recognition — the kind of stories that don’t always make the front page but matter deeply to the people building this city from the ground up. The show also gave a shout-out to an upcoming Film Streams screening of Boots Riley’s I Love Boosters, a reminder that Omaha’s arts scene continues to punch well above its weight.
But the heart of the morning belonged to Dana Murray, founder and director of the North Omaha Music Academy (NMA) — formerly known as Love’s Jazz — located on North 24th Street. Murray, a musician and educator who grew up in South Omaha and spent eleven years in New York City before returning home, brought the kind of calm, visionary energy that makes you want to pull up a chair and stay awhile.
Paul B. set the stage with a question about the role of the arts in building community. Murray’s answer was immediate and grounded. “The arts are the core of who we are as people — definitely as black people — and the history of North Omaha and really Omaha as a whole,” he said. “With a lot of the development and infrastructure changes going on, there’s very little discussion about the social and people development, the healing, that has to happen to even take advantage of all the opportunities.”
When the conversation turned to North 24th Street — what Paul B. has long called “the most important black corner in Nebraska” — Murray was candid about both its potential and its present challenges. “Really, the area that has the most history and can claim to be a cultural and arts district for real is the North 24th Street corridor,” he said. “We’ve been so far removed from that. The community within is so far removed from what that was that it is hard to build momentum from within.” He was equally direct about what it takes for any district to truly thrive — enough housing, services, parking, groceries, destinations — and the uncomfortable truth that “there’s been a whole lot of stuff on North 24th Street that wasn’t sustainable.”
Coming from South Omaha, Murray has had to earn his place in that ecosystem — and he knows it. But he speaks with the authority of someone who has actually done the work. “I’ve tried to be a beacon for all of Omaha to come down to North 24th Street,” he said, “and people have no problem coming from wherever they are in Omaha or Iowa to hear jazz music or whatever we present.” Viewer Pops echoed the sentiment 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.”
NMA, Murray explained, is both a youth music academy and a performance venue — and its ambitions go well beyond music lessons. Paul B. captured the organization’s deeper mission with what he called the “secondary matrix”: developing critical thinkers through the discipline and mind-expanding benefits of musical training. Murray put it plainly: “We’re not only raising musicians but, more importantly, raising more critical thinking human beings. Not all these young kids are 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.” Beyond their instruments, NMA students learn live sound production, broadcast work, live streaming, and even conduct their own artist interviews in a dedicated broadcast lab. “It’s not just telling them they can be something someday,” Murray said. “It’s showing them they can be it right now.”
Looking ahead, Murray described plans for a capital campaign with a first phase of $20 million, with the long-term goal of an NMA campus that could serve North Omaha the way Omaha Performing Arts serves downtown — not just culturally, but economically. “Money is not our issue in North Omaha,” he said. “It’s transformative ideas that are going to allow us to be not only sustainable but gainfully active.” His larger argument was one that resonated deeply through the morning’s theme: that Black culture is equity, and the sooner communities recognize and monetize that truth, the more powerful the returns. “Every music in America has been built off of our experience,” he said. “That’s equity, and the sooner we look at it that way, the better.”
For those interested in joining NMA’s teaching staff, Murray welcomed outreach at dmurray@northomahamusic.org, or through his assistant Andrew Bailey at abailey@northomahamusic.org. He was clear about what they’re looking for: technical skill matters, but inspiration matters more. “The why is everything,” he said. “The instructors we bring in have to have in their arsenal the ability to inspire another human being.”
The morning closed the way the best Fridays do — with warmth, gratitude, and a little grace. Viewer Pops summed it up for the chat: “Thanks for another great week of shows. You and the Chat Chimers have made First Sky a true pillar in the community.” And on a personal note of joy that floated above the whole conversation, viewer Aeros 402 shared that his only daughter had just given birth to his second granddaughter. “They are both new and good,” he wrote. “I feel blessed.” On Love Supreme Friday, that feels exactly right.
Tune in Monday morning for another hour of community, conversation, and Omaha at its best — right here on 1st Sky Omaha in the Morning.
