It was a Love Supreme Friday on 1st Sky Omaha in the Morning, and hosts Paul B. and Buddy the God made good on that promise — setting aside the post-primary political noise in favor of something they believe runs just as deep: community, culture, and the kind of work that changes lives one young person at a time.
Paul B. set the tone early. “We started talking a lot of politics for a while and we got a little break after the primaries,” he told viewers. “Love Supreme is going down today for sure.” Buddy the God echoed that spirit, framing the day’s energy as a deliberate pivot. “I want to direct the energy on this day towards something else,” he said, “towards some Love Supreme, towards some art, towards other ways that we can fight back — and really what the real assignment is.”
That assignment, as the show made clear, isn’t just about entertainment. Paul B. described what he calls the “secondary matrix” — the deeper current running beneath every conversation. “On the surface we’re a couple of talking heads,” he said, “but what we’re really trying to do is build community, build coalition, build a family of people that we can regularly talk to and come to some conclusions so we can get to some action.” Viewer Pops put it warmly in the chat: “Thanks for another great week of shows. You and the Chat Chimers have made First Sky a true pillar in the community.”
The heart of the show was a rich, wide-ranging conversation with Dana Murray, executive director and founder of the North Omaha Music Academy (NMA), located 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 built something remarkable — a youth music academy, live performance venue, broadcast lab, and, in his own words, an engine for critical thinking.
“NMA is obviously a youth music academy, a performance space, a performance venue,” Murray explained. “If you think of Omaha Performing Arts and what it means to downtown — not only as a cultural and music entertainment entity, but as an economic vehicle that brings in $40, $45, $50 million in revenue every year — that’s what we’re trying to be for North Omaha.”
But Murray was quick to point out that the mission goes far beyond producing musicians. “We’re not only raising musicians — more importantly, we’re raising more critical thinking human beings,” he said. “Not every young kid is going to become a musician by choice. Some will become doctors, lawyers, business owners. Whatever they choose, they’re going to be better because they were aligned with artistry.” That philosophy extends to the curriculum itself, where students learn not just their instruments, but live sound engineering, broadcasting, podcasting, and how to interview professional artists. “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, sky’s the limit.”
History is woven into the fabric of that teaching. Murray described how NMA introduces students to North Omaha’s towering musical legacy — figures like Buddy Miles and Victor Lewis, one of the most recorded jazz drummers in history. “If you give kids context, they connect the dots for themselves,” he said, “and they start to see the wins and the losses — not only in black people, but the rest of the country. Then they can see how they can be impactful within that ecosystem. Now you’ve got a critical thinking human. That’s ultimately what we’re trying to do.” Viewer Senator KML offered a simple tribute in the chat: “Thank you, Uncle Dana. You’re changing lives in big ways. We are the students.”
The conversation turned to the broader vision for North 24th Street — what Paul B. has long called “the most important black corner in Nebraska.” Murray was both candid and hopeful. “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,” he said. “And we’ve been so far removed from that.” He laid out what it takes to build a thriving district: sufficient housing, essential services, parking, eateries — and then the destination draws that bring people in. A hotel, he suggested, could be transformative, unlocking the possibility of music festivals and conferences anchored right in the community.
He also addressed, directly and graciously, the question of his own place in a neighborhood where he didn’t grow up. “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 pointed to South Omaha’s Cinco de Mayo celebration as a model for how a community can champion its culture as an open invitation. “I’ve tried to 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, very hard — and people don’t have any problem coming from wherever they are in Omaha or Iowa to come down and hear jazz music. That taboo about the area and its ability to be an attraction was false. We’ve proven that.”
Viewer Pops connected personally to that history in 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.”
Looking ahead, Murray described a $20 million capital campaign as the first phase of an NMA campus — a permanent, expanded home for the academy’s growing footprint. “Money is not our issue really in North Omaha,” he said. “It’s transformative ideas that are going to allow us to be not only sustainable but gainfully active.” Paul B., who has visited the current space, noted the transformation already underway. “The sound is incredible in there,” he said. “It’s set up like the Blue Note New York now — and it’s that level of sound quality.”
For music educators interested in joining the NMA team, Murray welcomed outreach — with a caveat that reflects the academy’s values. “Every educator is not — we’re very particular about who we bring in to raise these young people,” he said. “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. The instructors we bring in have to embody the ability to inspire another human being.” Interested educators can reach Murray at dmurray@northomahamusic.org or his assistant Andrew Bailey at abailey@northomahamusic.org.
The show closed on the same warm note it opened with. Buddy the God reminded viewers that building something new doesn’t mean abandoning the systems that still need fixing. “Most of our kids are still in public school, most of us are still in this ecosystem,” he said. “We got to do both — and it’s happening. Just get in where you fit in and make it happen.” And amid the big ideas and bold visions, the chat offered its own moment of pure joy: 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.”
That’s 1st Sky Omaha in the Morning — equal parts community meeting, jazz club, and front porch conversation. Tune in Monday and bring a neighbor.
