Friday mornings have a certain energy on 1st Sky Omaha in the Morning, and this past “Love Supreme Friday” was no exception. Hosts Paul B. and Buddy the God welcomed a guest whose work is quietly — and not so quietly — reshaping the future of North Omaha: Dana Murray, founder and director of the North Omaha Music Academy (NMA), located right on the historic North 24th Street corridor.
The show opened with Paul B. setting a lighter tone after weeks of heavy political coverage. “We’ve been talking a lot of politics for a while and — we got a little break after the primaries,” he said with a smile in his voice. “Love Supreme’s going down today for sure.” Still, both hosts made clear that civic life was never far from mind. Buddy the God put it plainly: “Don’t pay taxes and see what happens. And if you’re going to pay taxes, then you should at least care about where it’s going and what it’s doing.” Viewer Kimber Snipes echoed that sentiment from a different angle, writing in: “I’ve been having conversations with people between the ages of 20 and 35. 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, community-grounded conversation that makes this show feel less like a broadcast and more like a front porch gathering.
But the morning’s heart belonged to Dana Murray and the vision he is building, brick by brick, on North 24th Street. A South Omaha native and longtime Omaha musician, Murray spent eleven years in New York City before returning home with a purpose. What he found on his return was a corridor rich in history but in need of intentional investment. “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,” Murray said. “And we’ve been so far removed from that.”
Murray didn’t mince words about what sustainable revitalization actually requires. “There are metrics for the success of any district,” he explained. “You have to have enough housing, places of service, parking, laundromats, groceries, gas stations — all the things any area needs to be self-sustained. As a district, you’d also need destinations: entertainment, restaurants, lounges.” He even floated the idea of a hotel on the corridor, noting that without one, larger festivals and conferences simply can’t be anchored in the community. “The X’s and O’s have to make sense,” he said. Paul B., who has long described 24th and Lake as “the most important Black corner in Nebraska,” nodded in agreement: “We got to serve it. We have to be of service to it.” Viewer Pops added a beautiful piece of living history to that idea, writing: “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.”
Some listeners had questioned whether Murray, as a South Omaha native, had a place leading a North Omaha institution. He addressed it with candor and heart. “If you’re Black and you’re in Omaha, especially in the 70s and early 80s, everyone had a shared relationship with North Omaha,” he said. “That was the Mecca for us.” He went on to challenge the community’s tendency to turn inward when it comes to cultural celebration, pointing to South Omaha’s Cinco de Mayo as a model of a festival that honors culture while openly inviting everyone to participate. “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,” Murray said. “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. That taboo about the area and its ability to be an attraction was false. We’ve proven that.”
At its core, NMA is a youth music academy and performance venue — but Murray’s vision stretches far beyond teaching scales and chord progressions. Paul B. framed it through what he called the “secondary matrix”: “In Dana Murray’s case, he teaches kids music, but on the surface that’s what it is. 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.” Murray himself put it this way: “We’re not only raising musicians but raising more critical thinking human beings, because all these young kids are not going to become musicians by choice. Some will become doctors, lawyers, business owners. Whatever they choose to do, they’re going to be better because they were aligned with artistry.”
The long-term ambition is sweeping. Murray envisions an NMA campus anchored by a $20 million first-phase capital campaign, eventually functioning for North Omaha the way Omaha Performing Arts functions for downtown — as both a cultural destination and an economic engine. “Money is not our issue in North Omaha,” he said firmly. “It’s transformative ideas that are going to allow us to be not only sustainable but gainfully active. What we have to sell in most Black communities is our culture. Because if we don’t monetize it — and 99% of the time we don’t — the rest of the country monetizes our culture for us. The sooner we understand that our culture is equity, that our artistic genius is equity, the better off we’re going to be.”
NMA is also actively seeking music instructors who bring more than technical skill to the table. “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,” Murray said. “They don’t need us for the what — they can go to YouTube and see anything we’re trying to teach them. The instructors we bring in have to have in their arsenal the ability to inspire another human being.” Interested instructors can reach Murray at dmurray@northomahamusic.org or his assistant Andrew Bailey at abailey@northomahamusic.org.
The morning wasn’t all business, either. Viewer Aeros 402 brought a warm moment to the chat, sharing: “On a love note, my only daughter gave birth to my second granddaughter. They are both new and good. I feel blessed.” The whole chat seemed to pause and smile at that one — a small, perfect reminder of what Love Supreme Fridays are really about.
It was, by any measure, a morning worth tuning in for — full of big ideas, honest conversation, and the kind of community love that makes Omaha feel like home. Join Paul B., Buddy the God, and the whole 1st Sky Omaha in the Morning family again next week. You won’t want to miss what’s coming.
