Friday mornings have a certain kind of energy on 1st Sky Omaha in the Morning, and this past “Love Supreme Friday” was no exception. Hosts Paul B. and Buddy the God brought their usual blend of community news, candid conversation, and genuine warmth to the screen — and by the time the hour was done, viewers had been treated to one of the more thought-provoking episodes of the season.
The show opened on the heels of Nebraska’s primary election, and the results — or rather, the lack of participation behind them — set a sobering tone. Paul B. shared a sobering data point from Raquel Henderson at the mayor’s office: “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. Posting on Facebook is not enough. Awareness without action changes nothing.” Viewer Sean McCarthy added context from the chat, noting that the Douglas County Election Commissioner reported average primary turnout in the county was around 35%.
Buddy the God didn’t sugarcoat his take. “None of this really matters if everybody voted,” he said. “It’s the missing piece — people having to fend for themselves — and the reality is until we do that, we’re going to have to keep building our own ecosystems.” That word — ecosystems — would thread itself through the entire morning.
It was Paul B. who put a name to the deeper current running beneath the show’s surface. He called it the “secondary matrix” — the idea that everything worthwhile carries a deeper meaning beneath the obvious one. “Everything that we do has a secondary meaning, a deeper meaning,” he explained. “In Dana Murray’s case, he teaches kids music — but we all know that when you learn music, your brain synapses start firing in different ways. You become a better student, more intelligent, and everything else.” Viewer Pops knew exactly what Paul meant, writing in: “I experienced my secondary matrix in junior high when I took algebra. I was gaining proficiency, and I noticed that I was suddenly able to think outside the box on several different levels. Music the same.”
And that brought the morning to its centerpiece: a rich, wide-ranging conversation with Dana Murray, founder and executive director of the North Omaha Music Academy (NMA), located on North 24th Street. Murray — a South Omaha native who spent eleven years in New York City before returning home — has been quietly building something remarkable in one of Omaha’s most historically significant corridors.
Paul B. set the stage with characteristic directness: “I’ve always called it the most important black corner in Nebraska. We have some history there and some legacy there, and that’s what it’s about. We have to be of service to it.” Murray didn’t disagree — and he came with a vision to match.
“Really 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. “There are metrics for the success of any district. You have to have enough housing, places of service, parking, laundromats, groceries, gas stations — all the things that any area needs to be self-sustained. And then you have to have destinations: entertainment, restaurants, lounges, things that are going to be your bread-and-butter attractions and draw people into the community.”
But Murray’s ambitions go well beyond bookings and foot traffic. At its heart, NMA is about developing human beings. “We’re not only raising musicians but raising more critical thinking human beings,” he said, “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.” Part of that process involves teaching students about the legends who came before them — figures like drummer Buddy Miles and jazz great Victor Lewis, both Omaha natives. “If you give kids context,” Murray explained, “they connect the dots for themselves and they start to see the wins and the losses in not only 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.”
When the conversation turned to growth, Murray made clear that what exists today is only the beginning. NMA is planning a capital campaign — with a first phase of $20 million — aimed at building a full campus that could serve North Omaha the way Omaha Performing Arts serves downtown. “Money is not our issue in North Omaha,” he said plainly. “It’s transformative ideas that are going to allow us to be not only sustainable but gainfully active.” Viewer Senator KML captured the feeling in the chat simply and powerfully: “Thank you, Uncle Dana. You’re changing lives in big ways. We are the students.”
The show also paused to celebrate several community wins worth savoring. Entrepreneur Charell Shelton took home a $52,000 diagnostic lab prize. Omaha North High School’s engineering program earned national recognition. And the Heart Ministry Center announced plans for a forthcoming grocery store — a deeply needed addition for the area. Good news has a way of landing differently when it’s about your own neighbors.
Buddy the God closed out the show’s big ideas by pulling back to name what 1st Sky Omaha is really trying to do. “On the surface we’re a couple of talking heads that talk about some news with the community,” he said. “But what we’re really trying to do is build community, build some coalition, be able to speak to and build a family of people that we can regularly talk to and come to some conclusions and get to some action.” And viewer Pops, never one to miss a send-off, put it as well as anyone could: “Thanks for another great week of shows. You and the Chat Chimers have made First Sky a true pillar in the community.”
Hard to argue with that. If you missed this one, make sure you’re up and tuned in next Friday morning — something tells us the conversation is just getting started.
