The Recess Bell

Audio from April 22, 2026's episode of 'The Recess Bell: On Air', airing live every Wednesday from 6-8pm on 90.3 WHPC-FM. (This show, TRBOA was only on from 6-7pm. 6-7!!) Joshua, Lay, Meleny, and Kory 'Double Agent' David discuss, among other things, the Knicks' all-too-familiar late-game collapse in Game 2 of their first round series vs the Atlanta Hawks at MSG on Monday, as well as the Mets' cataclysmic start to the season, punctuated by their 12th consecutive defeat on Tuesday. Then, the crew ventures back to a familiar topic: singer 'd4vd' and the homicide of 14-year-old Celeste Rivas Hernandez — an...

Audio from TRB Sports' twitter stream on April 21, 2026. Joshua, ErikSincere and Kory "double-agent" David react to the Knicks' 107-106 loss to the Atlanta Hawks in Game 2 of that Eastern Conference first round series. The trio discusses who should shoulder the most blame between Knicks' head coach Mike Brown, captain & point guard Jalen Brunson, and others. The trio also raise the question: why does this keep happening to the Knicks at Madison Square Garden on a historical basis?

Joshua and Niki reunite at last to end the hiatus for Mentality Monday with the launch of a new project: The People-Pleasing Project. "People-pleasing" is defined as the following: a person who has an emotional need to please others often at the expense of the person's own needs or desires. On the intro pod episode of this project, Joshua and Niki give their own personal examples and anecdotes on their experience with people-pleasing, dive into the two major psychological roots of people-pleasing behavior, and discuss how people-pleasing can rear its ugly head in the lives of creatives.

Audio from Hour 2 of April 15, 2026's episode of 'The Recess Bell: On Air', airing live every Wednesday from 6-8pm on 90.3 WHPC-FM. Meleny debuts her new segment: (and soon-to-be new project in production) Chronically Online — with this first update tackling the Season 3 debut of HBO's hit show 'Euphoria'. She and the crew break down some of the viral moments from the first episode concerning characters Nate, Cassie, Rue, and Laurie. Joshua issues his weekly Sports Report, squarely focused on hoops the incredible beginning to the NBA Play-In with thrilling wins from the Charlotte Hornets and the Portland Trail Blazers, as well...

Audio from Hour 1 of April 15, 2026's episode of 'The Recess Bell: On Air', airing live every Wednesday from 6-8pm on 90.3 WHPC-FM. Joshua opens the show by locking in on the recent trend of New York cathing shots and slander from all angles. Aided by the fact that the New York Knicks will face off against the rival Atlanta Hawks in the first round of this year's NBA Playoffs beginning Saturday, TRB is especially in a "New York vs Everybody" type of mood. Then, after Lay & Meleny hilariously out Kory for not engaging with their social media content, Kory's social me...

Audio from April 8, 2026's episode of 'The Recess Bell: On Air', airing live every Wednesday from 6-8pm on 90.3 WHPC-FM. Joshua, Lay, and Kory kick off the evening's festivities by ringing in this episode's central topic: the poor leadership pandemic. The trio rattle off their personal experiences of witnessing poor leadership while also pointing towards examples of lacking leadership in other avenues. On Week #2 of National Poetry Month, Lay reads one of her poems — titled 'Answers' — live on air to Joshua and Kory's delight. In Hour #2, the crew welcomes the return of Prime Videos hit series 'The Boys' by playing some...

Audio from Hour 2 of April 1, 2026's episode of 'The Recess Bell: On Air' — airing live every Wednesday at 6-8pm on 90.3 WHPC-FM. Joshua, Meleny, Lay and Kory welcome Nessa of TRB's Turntables Music to the program! She calls in to join the Recess Roundtable's discussion on Nick Cannon telling Amber Rose that "republicans freed the slaves" and that "the democrats were the party of the KKK" — in addition to TLC's Chilli finding herself embroiled in controversy regarding her financial ties to MAGA and her repost of an hateful post towards former First Lady Michelle Obama. Lastly, Nessa unleashes her thoughts abou...

Audio from Hour 1 of April 1, 2026's episode of 'The Recess Bell: On Air' — airing live every Wednesday from 6-8pm on 90.3 WHPC-FM. Joshua welcomes Meleny, Lay and Kory to TRBOA's April Fools special! The crew engages in shenanigans in celebration of the holiday, and recap their collective outing to Citi Field to watch the Mets this past Sunday. Appropriately on April Fools Day, Joshua hosts an interesting conversation on Druski skits, the state of comedy, and people's inconsistent double standards.

Audio from March 11, 2026's episode of 'The Recess Bell: On Air', airing live every Wednesday from 6-8pm on 90.3 WHPC-FM. Joshua and friends welcome BxPolar to the 'Creator Chats' portion of the program. BxPolar is a deeply multi-faceted creative who met Joshua and TRB's Gina Halstead at Starr Bar in Bushwick, Brooklyn following his music performance in the middle of a wildly entertaining tournament. "Bx" discussed his performance, gave more detail on everything that he does in the creative realm from being a musical artist, producer, photographer, an A&R, and more. Bx also expanded on his stage name and i...

Audio from March 18, 2026's episode of 'The Recess Bell: On Air,' airing live every Wednesday from 6-8pm on 90.3 WHPC-FM. Joshua welcomes in a full house of co-hosts — Meleny, Lay, ErikSincere, and Kory — to ring in TRB's first ever "White Women Wednesday", inspired by Kory's longstanding affection for the WNBA superstar Caitlin Clark and Joshua's self-proclaimed love for "white girl music", among other things. Dicussions include white women tendencies, and the most notable white women of all-time. In Hour 2, TRB's beloved NikiMarie surprised the cast and issued a long-awaited Recess Rundown, bringing to the forum an upcoming Tank vs Tyre...

Audio from Hour 2 of March 4, 2026's episode of The Recess Bell: On Air, airing live every Wednesday from 6-8pm on 90.3 WHPC-FM. Joshua kicks off the hour awarding the coveted 'Sha Boing Boing of the Week' award to none other than California Gov. Gavin Newsom for his suspiciously well-timed flip on opinion on Israel. Then, the wonderful NikiMarie calls into the show to issue her Recess Rundown on the Department of Education's strange move to hang a banner of Charlie Kirk next to a banner of Martin Luther King Jr. & the protest from two NBA players vs the Atlanta Hawks' pl...

Audio from Hour 1 of March 4, 2026's episode of The Recess Bell: On Air, airing live every Wednesday from 6-8pm on 90.3 WHPC-FM. Joshua, Meleny, Lay and Kory ring in Women's History Month in a fashion only they can. Then, given the United States' action against Iran in conjuction with Israel, Joshua presents some stats into Gen Z; specifically the much-maligned generation's significant differences in views on capitalism, celebrity culture, mental health, therapy, and, yes: Israel.

For the fourth and final 'TRB: On Air' interview for The Recess Bell's 'Celebrating Black Creatives' campaign for 2026, Joshua Umahi sits down with Brooklyn-born Max Ragusa: a true multihyphenate creative in every sense of the term. The owner and founder of his own clothing brand, a music producer and the creative director of one of the more powerful annual movements in Brooklyn, Max discusses all of his talents in-depth and details his many inspirations while growing up as a young Black man in today's day and age.

Audio from Hour 2 of February, 18, 2026's episode of The Recess Bell: On Air, airing live every Wednesday from 6-8pm on 90.3 WHPC-FM. A discussion about Kevin Durant's twitter burner leak turns into a convo on the crew's history of using "finstas" (Instagram burners). After the crew grills Joshua on his lack of snack-providing, Joshua issues this week's Sports Report – a recap of NBA All-Star Weekend from Inglewood, CA and an update on Stefom Diggs' felony strangulation, assault, and battery charges following his first appearance in Massachusetts court.

Audio from February 18, 2026's episode of The Recess Bell: On Air, airing live every Wednesday from 6-8pm on 90.3 WHPC-FM. Joshua and the team welcome artists and event curators Robert Provilus (robertprovilus, Instagram) and Gabrielle Narcisse (gabriellenarcisse, Instagram) to the program for TRB's third radio interview for 'Celebrating Black Creatives' 2026. On Sunday, February 15, the BLACK STARS BHM Art Exhibition opened to the public. A two-week event that runs through the final day of Black History Month (Sat, 2.28); BLACK STARS is a living historical archive of sleected works from 16 Black New York-based artists, housed at Make Manifest on Tompkins Avenue in Be...

Audio from Hour 1 of February 18, 2026's episode of The Recess Bell: On Air, airing live every Wednesday from 6-8pm on 90.3 WHPC-FM. Joshua welcomes Meleny, Lay and Kory to this week's program, as Joshua opens with some thoughts on the ramifications (or lack thereof) for the world's elite after the latest explosive batch of the Epstein Files. Then, after discussing problems for two pro sports stars – Kevin Durant and Stefon Diggs – Kory presents this week's "Moments In Black History Nobody Really Talks About" featuring an underdiscussed Ike and Tina Turner story. Joshua also teases a 'Celebrating Black Creatives' nterview with the tw...

Audio from Hour 2 of February 11, 2025's episode of The Recess Bell: On Air, airing live every Wednesday from 6-8pm on 90.3 WHPC-FM. Kory and Joshua discuss the crazy, harrowing details of Atlanta Falcons defensive star James Pearce Jr., following his alleged stalking and vehicular assault of his ex-girlfriend, WNBA star Rickea Jackson. Kory goes on to give his weekly "Black History That Nobody Really Talks About" story — focusing on Bobby Brown and Whitney Houston's crazy story of love. To close, Joshua, Kory and Lay do their first ever TRB 'Versus', going love song for love song ahead of Valentine's Day. Whi...

Audio from February 11, 2026's epsiode of The Recess Bell: On Air, airing live every Wednesday from 6-8pm on 90.3 WHPC-FM. During each February, The Recess Bell's Black History Month campaign, 'Celebrating Black Creatives', takes center stage. In the second of 4 radio interviews this month, TRBOA welcomes Nia (iamnia._ on Instagram) to the program. Nia, an NYU alum and a skilled business strategist, discusses her agency Eban Noire; self-described as a consulting agency for the creative. Nia also expands on how her personal journey through life, the boroughs of NYC, and the creative sphere has shaped Eban Noire and its overall miss

Audio from Hour 1 of February 11, 2026's episode of The Recess Bell: On Air, airing live every Wednesday from 6-8pm on 90.3 WHPC-FM. Joshua and his co-hosts Kory and Lay react to Valentine's Day being mere days away, and also give their Super Bowl LX takeaways from the past weekend. Meleny then calls into the show to discuss her range of reactions to Bad Bunny's halftime show; more specifically her piece on Substack reflecting on the performance from a deeper scope and lens as a Dominican-American and hispanic woman.

turntables; The Recess Bell's music hub, is quarterbacked by Nessa (no pun intended on Super Bowl Sunday). The music review maven welcomes her guest co-host Debbie to the pod to discuss the wild world of the music industry at an extremely eventful time: days after the 2026 Grammy Awards and HOURS before tonight's Super Bowl LX (60) from Santa Clara, CA – and hours before Bad Bunny's highly-anticipated, much-discussed, and somehow controversial halftime show performance. Additionally, the girls give their takes on who had the best Grammys red carpet looks, and react to Kendrick Lamar, the aforementioned Bad Bunny, Leon Thomas, Justin Bieber, an...

Audio from February 4, 2026's episode of 'The Recess Bell: On Air', airing live every Wednesday from 6-8pm on 90.3 WHPC-FM. Following their Celebrating Black Creatives interview, Joshua, Meleny, Kory and Lay embark on a rapid Recess Roundtable, discussing piping hot topics: everyone's highlights from the 2026 Grammys over the weekend, picks for Super Bowl 60 on Sunday between the Seattle Seahawks and New England Patriots and anticipation for Bad Bunny's halftime show, and the flurry of high-impact deals taking place just before the NBA trade deadline.

Audio from February 4, 2026's episode of 'The Recess Bell: On Air', airing live every Wednesday from 6-8pm on 90.3 WHPC-FM. During each February since the platform's inception, The Recess Bell dedicates itself to highlighting Black excellence with the annual 'Celebrating Black Creatives' campaign – website features, social media shoutouts, and... media interviews! TRB: On Air welcomes Cole (ice.coleyy on IG) to the show to discuss his journey as a creative, his identity as a Black man, and the increidble success of his yearly Dreamers N' Doers basketball tournament – as he even announces the tentative dates for 2026's tourney!

Audio from February 4, 2026's episode of 'The Recess Bell: On Air', airing live every Wednesday from 6-8pm on 90.3 WHPC-FM. Joshua welcomes Meleny, Lay and Kory to this week's episode as they ring in Black History Month – but not without some shenanigans, of course. Before unveiling their first of four radio interviews this month as part of TRB's annual 'Celebrating Black Creatives' campaign throughout February, the quartet couldn't (completely) avoid the bombshell drop of additional pages of the Epstein Files over the past week.

Audio from Hour 2 of January 28, 2026's episode of 'The Recess Bell: On Air', airing live every Wednesday from 6pm-8pm on 90.3 WHPC-FM. Joshua, Meleny, Lay, Erik and Kory hold a roundtable on some of the biggest trending news from the past week: MIN Rep. Ilhan Omar getting attacked at her Town Hall by a MAGA-supporting psychopath with an insane digital footprint, Nicki Minaj self-proclaiming herself as Trump's #1 fan during their on-stage meeting, Kanye's apology letter to EVERYONE, and more grifting from Erika Kirk. Then, Joshua issues his 'TRB Sports' Sports Report: Super Bowl LX's matchup is set and Giannis FINALLY...

Audio from Hour 1 of January 28, 2026's episode of 'The Recess Bell: On Air', airing live every Wednesday from 6pm-8pm on 90.3 WHPC-FM. Joshua welcomes Meleny, Lay, ErikSincere and Kory David to this week's episode as they delve deep into ICE's murders of 37-year-old Minnesotans Renee Good and Alex Pretti this month – and give commentary on the extremely controversial reactions from the government following the murders.

Audio from January 21, 2026's episode of 'The Recess Bell: On Air', airing live eveery Wednesday from 6pm-8pm on 90.3 WHPC-FM. Joshua welcomes Meleny, Lay and ErikSincere to the program to discuss how bad we should feel when bad things happen to objectively horrible people, inspired by updates about former NFL QB Brett Favre and his battle with Parkinson's. Joshua and Erik pick the NFL Conference Championships and ponder on a bounce back opportunity for the reeling Knicks. In Hour #2? Tomfoolery.

Audio from January 14th, 2026's episode of 'The Recess Bell: On Air', airing live every Wednesday from 6pm-8pm on 90.3 WHPC-FM. Joshua welcomes in Meleny, Lay, ErikSincere, and Kory to the show; in Hour 1, Joshua, Kory and Erik pick the upcoming weekend's NFL Divisional Round matchups. In Hour 2, the crew welcomes the beloved NikiMarie for her weekly Recess Rundown. In between? Unhinged hilarity, as always.

Audio from Hour 2 of December 31st, 2025's episode of 'The Recess Bell: On Air', airing live every Wednesday from 6pm-8pm on 90.3 WHPC-FM. Joshua, Kory, and Erik open the second hour of TRBOA's NYE special with 'TRB Game Picks', which focuses on a handful of highly important games from the final weekend of the NFL regular season, as well as the Knicks/Spurs NBA Cup rematch from San Antonio. Then to close out 2025, Lay joins in to crown the winners of TRB's first 'End-of-Year' awards. Who took home the prestiguous honors of winning the 'Sports Moment of the Year', 'Movie...

Audio from Hour 1 of December 31, 2025's episode of 'The Recess Bell: On Air', airing live every Wednesday from 6pm-8pm om 90.3 WHPC-FM. Happy New Year! Joshua, Lay, Erik, and Kory close the book on 2025 in a way that only TRB can.

Audio from December 10th, 2025's episode of 'The Recess Bell: On Air', airing live every Wednesday from 6pm-8pm on 90.3 WHPC-FM. Joshua starts the show by issuing his main takeaway from the intensely popular 'Sean Combs: The Reckoning' documentary on Netflix. From there, Joshua brings back the 'Sha Boing Boing of the Week' award with a historic THREE winners this go-around. Joshua and Kory pick this week's upcoming NFL and NBA action on TRB Game Picks and Niki gives her Recess Rundown, while the crew discusses Joshua's dirt with talk of 'The Umahi Files.'

Mentality Monday returns with a very important and relevant topic: cognitive dissonance. The theory of cognitive dissonance was coined in 1957 by American social psychologist Leon Festinger, who outlined the internal, silent chaos that can take place when our actions don't match with our beliefs, or when our long-held notions don't line up with facts. Joshua and NikiMarie delve into the many different types of cognitive dissonance, and -- as always -- provide plenty of personal anecdotes of their experiences with the mental health phenomenon.

Audio from December 3rd, 2025's episode of 'The Recess Bell: On Air', airing live every Wednesday from 6pm-8pm on 90.3 WHPC-FM. Joshua welcomes in co-hosts Meleny, Lay and Kory as they open the show talking about the sensitive topic of all sensitive topics that comedian Druski and his latest skit inspired: the male hairline. Following, Erik joins the crew to talk about the recent rise of his Dallas Cowboys amidst their recent winning streak over some tough opponents, before joining Joshua and Kory in their weekly sports betting segment, TRB Game Picks. In Hour #2, NikiMarie graces the show with her...

Audio from November 12th, 2025's episode of 'The Recess Bell: On Air', live every Wednesday from 6pm-8pm on 90.3 WHPC-FM. Joshua, Kory, and Lay review some of the NFL's craziest & funniest headlines from the past week -- starring Eagles WR AJ Brown, Dolphins HC Mike McDaniel, and Giants QB Jameis Winston. Then, the news of the day: Joshua brings back the 'Why You Mad?' segment to rant about the House Democrats' major chess move to release a litany of emails from deceased sex offender Jeffrey Epstein that implicate President Donald Trump in some nasty behavior.

On the 4th episode of Mentality Monday, Joshua Umahi and NikiMarie tackle the topic of narcissism. In a world where it's become a sort of buzzword, Joshua and Niki emphasize how the flippant use of the term today is equal parts delegitimizing and dangerous. The tandem explain how someone can have clear narcissistic tendenices, but cannot officially be deemed a narcissist until diagnoses as such by a psychiatric professional. The two give both personal and celebrity examples of narcissism, while highlighting the main traits and types of narcissism. Then, Niki actually (finally) gives Joshua a narcissism test. Will he finally...

Audio from Hour 2 of October 23rd, 2025's episode of 'The Recess Bell: On Air', airing live every week on 90.3 WHPC-FM. Joshua, NikiMarie, Lay, and Kory dive headfirst into the stunning arrests of the NBA's Chauncey Billups, Damon Jones, and Terry Rozier in connection to an illegal gambling scandal. Niki gives her weekly Recess Rundown, discussing Jennifer Lopez, Diddy, KAT, Jordyn Woods, and record label misgivings. Then, Joshua issues his weekly Sports Report on the Knicks, NBA Tip-Off, the state of the NFL, and the incoming 2025 World Series between the Los Angeles Dodgers and the Toronto Blue Jays.

Audio from Hour 1 of October 23rd, 2025's episode of 'The Recess Bell: On Air' on 90.3 WHPC-FM. Joshua welcomes in co-hosts NikiMarie, Lay, and Kory as they tackle a wild week of news. Joshua describes his time at the Knicks season opener at MSG, and introduces 'TRB Game Picks' with Kory as they pick some NFL and NBA games. Joshua issues his 'News Flashes' updates, which this week included Mike Johnson still refusing to swear in Adelita Grijalva, Trump's ballroom, and the homebuying crisis on Long Island. The group then prepares themselves to cover the story of the day: the shocking...

Audio from Thursday, October 16th, 2025's episode of 'The Recess Bell: On Air' on 90.3 WHPC-FM. Joshua makes a special show announcement and proceeds to get into another weird week of news out of the White House. Niki gives her weekly Recess Rundown, discussing Kim K's new "hairy underwear" launch and Diddy's prospects in jail, among other topics. The group -- Meleny, Lay, and Kory -- all join in on a discussion about the legacy of the late R&B powerhouse D'Angelo, and why there's so much story within the story of his life. Joshua discusses the concept of "choosing your...

The third episode of 'Mentality Monday' featuring Joshua Umahi and NikiMarie tackles the widespread phenomenon of impostor syndrome, which is defined as "the persistent inability to believe that one's success is deserved or has been legitimately achieved as a result of one's own efforts or skills." How does one begin to suffer from this syndrome in their career field or creative craft, and what can be done to dispel it?

Audio from Hour 2 of October 9th, 2025's episode of 'The Recess Bell: On Air'. Niki gets into her weekly 'Recess Rundown', which features the news of Drake's infamous lawsuit asserted against UMG and Kendrick Lamar's 'Not Like Us' getting thrown out in court, as well as the fallout from the Mark Sanchez stabbing incident. Joshua issues the 'Sha Boing Boing of the Week' to a Pro Football Hall of Fame running back, and tells us why he's mad about Bad Bunny slander and also how advanced AI videos are getting. Lastly, the Sports Report, where Joshua gives updates on Eagles...

Audio from Hour 1 of October 9th, 2025's episode of 'The Recess Bell: On Air'. Joshua Umahi is joined by NikiMarie, Lay and Meleny, as Niki kicks off the show by discussing her fear of spiders and her anger at her husband for not killing one recently. After some TRB platform annoucements, Joshua issues this week's TRB News Flashes, which includes Pam Bondi's heavily criticized performance at her hearing in front of the Senate Judiciary Committee and, of course, a weekly update on the government's handling of the Epstein Files. Then, the top story of the evening: former Jets QB Mark...