Friday mornings on 1st Sky Omaha in the Morning have a rhythm all their own, and this week’s Love Supreme Friday was no exception. Hosts Paul B. and Buddy the God made a deliberate choice to shift the energy after a week heavy with election news, welcoming a conversation rooted in culture, community, and the kind of long-game thinking North Omaha deserves. The result was one of those episodes that reminds you why local television still matters.
The show opened with a nod to the Nebraska primary results — or more precisely, to the sobering lack of participation in them. Paul B. shared a post from Raquel Henderson of the mayor’s office that stopped the room:
“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.”
The hosts wrestled honestly with voter fatigue and frustration. Viewer Kimber Snipes offered a grounded perspective from the chat: “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 nuance the conversation needed.
Buddy the God ultimately framed it simply and powerfully: “We got to do both. We have to build our own ecosystems and continue to do the things that are about to be talked about. But in the long run, we do got to figure this out as a nation.” And with that, the show pivoted — eyes forward, energy up — to the work already being done right here at home.
That work has a name: the North Omaha Music Academy. Executive director Dana Murray joined the show and brought with him a vision so clear and so specific that it was hard not to lean in closer. Murray is a South Omaha native who spent eleven years in New York City before returning home, carrying with him more than two decades of music education experience and a blueprint for what North 24th Street could become.
Paul B. set the table with a question the community has been asking for years: what should the Deuce actually be? Murray didn’t hesitate. “The area that has the most history and the one that can truly claim to be a cultural and arts district is the North 24th Street corridor,” he said. “But for any district to succeed, you need enough housing, places of service, parking, laundromats, groceries, gas stations — all the things any area needs to be self-sustained. And then you need destinations: entertainment, restaurants, lounges, and ideally a hotel. With a hotel, you can throw larger music festivals and conferences right in the community.”
Murray was equally candid about the cultural work required alongside the infrastructure. He drew a striking comparison between Native Omaha Days and South Omaha’s Cinco de Mayo celebration. “I love Native Omaha Days at its core,” he said, “but it’s a failed opportunity to showcase our culture because it doesn’t try to invite the rest of Omaha to partake in what we have to offer. Compare that to South Omaha’s Cinco de Mayo — they champion their culture and invite everybody.” His message was clear: openness isn’t a compromise of identity. It’s a strategy for survival. Viewer Pops echoed the sentiment from the chat, recalling that artists like Fats Domino once stayed at his grandfather’s home when performing in the area, adding: “More infrastructure for the artist around the Deuce corridor would be a godsend.”
But the North Omaha Music Academy isn’t waiting for infrastructure to catch up. Already operating as a youth music academy and performance venue on North 24th Street, NMA offers far more than instrument lessons. Murray described a hands-on broadcast lab where students learn live sound engineering, podcast production, and livestream operations — and where kids don’t just hear about careers, they step into them. “It’s not just telling them, ‘Oh, you can be this,'” Murray said. “No — you can be this right now.”
Paul B. captured the philosophy behind it all with what he called the “secondary matrix” — the idea that everything NMA does has a deeper layer of meaning. Teaching kids music on the surface, he explained, is really about “creating critical thinkers who go further in life because of the discipline and mind-expanding benefits of musical training.” Murray agreed wholeheartedly: “We’re not just raising musicians. We’re raising more critical thinking human beings. Not all of these young kids are going to become musicians by choice — some will become doctors, lawyers, business owners — but whatever they choose, they’re going to be better because they were aligned with artistry.”
As for what’s next, Murray’s ambition is anything but modest. NMA is preparing to launch a capital campaign with a first phase goal of $20 million, with a full campus in its future. “I brought up Omaha Performing Arts because that is a vehicle for that area,” he said. “We need a vehicle like that for North Omaha, and I see NMA taking up that space.” He added something that landed like a quiet thunderclap: “What we have to sell in most black communities is our culture. If we don’t monetize it, the rest of the country will. 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 alive all morning. Viewer Senator KML wrote simply, “Thank you, Uncle Dana. You’re changing lives in big ways. We are the students.” And viewer Derek Higgins added his voice to the chorus: “Congrats, Dana, and what NMA is doing.” The love in the room — virtual and otherwise — was palpable.
NMA is currently seeking music instructors who can do more than teach technique. As Murray put it, “Unless you’re able to inspire a young person, they don’t really have the attention span for it. The ‘why’ they’re doing it is everything.” Interested educators can reach Murray at dmurray@northomusicmusic.org or assistant Andrew Bailey at abailey@northomusicmusic.org. And if you want to experience NMA in full swing, mark your calendar for the upcoming four-night NMA Fest — a celebration of everything this organization is building on North 24th Street.
Paul B. said it best as the show wrapped up: “I’ve always called it the most important black corner in Nebraska. We got to serve it. We have to be of service to it.” This Friday, 1st Sky Omaha in the Morning did exactly that. Join us again Monday morning — you won’t want to miss what’s next.
