The Recess Bell

Audio from Hour 2 of July 15, 2026's episode of 'The Recess Bell: On Air', airing live every Wednesday from 6-8pm on 90.3 WHPC-FM. Joshua, alongside NikiMarie of 'NikiMarie Radio' who helped conduct the interview welcomes the audience to William Person: a former Team USA bobsledder who now has taken up one of the most powerful missions around: helping potential CTE patients while raising awareness on its crippling symptoms and even battling the powers-that-be in a the court of law to do so. CTE (Chronic Traumatic Encephalopathy) is a progressive neurodegenerative disease that gained widespread notoriety through Nigerian-American neuropathologist Dr. Bennet Omalu a...

Audio from Hour 1 of July 15, 2026's episode of 'The Recess Bell - On Air', airing live every Wednesday from 6-8pm on 90.3 WHPC-FM. Joshua, for the first time ever on TRBOA, is riding solo in the studio, as he discusses the events of the past week: his time in Philadelphia right in the middle of this summer's MLB's All-Star festivities, the good news in his life that he's choosing to keep lowkey and why that is, and of course, the major news events of the past week: the madness that ensued at Day 3 of the Jay-Z weekend-long concert event at Y...

Audio from July 8, 2026's episode of 'The Recess Bell: On Air', airing live every Wednesday from 6-8pm on 90.3 WHPC-FM. Joshua and Ny discuss the emotion of anger; why it's a very multifaceted and complex emotion and whether people should look to shy away from anger as a whole or instead embrace anger more in some areas of their lives. After Ny opines on everyone else's troubling opinions regarding 'Love Island', Joshua issues the TRB News Report on the latest health mystery on Capitol Hill: the health status of longtime Kentucky senator Mitch McConnell, who was hospitalized three weeks ago wi...

Audio from Hour 2 of July 1, 2026's episode of 'The Recess Bell: On Air', airing live every Wednesday from 6-8pm on 90.3 WHPC-FM. Joshua issues the longest Sports Report in TRBOA history, covering the madness of the NBA offseason thus far, with LeBron leaving the Lakers, Kawhi Leonard going back to Toronto, Jaylen Brown getting dealt to Philadelphia, Mitchell Robinson departing the champion Knicks for the archrival Celtics and MUCH more, including the recent gambling arrests of multiple notable NBA figures. In addition, the crew discusses the USA's advancement in the World Cup, Serena Williams' stunning return at Wimbledon, and the re...

Audio from Hour 1 of July 1, 2026's episode of 'The Recess Bell: On Air', airing live every Wednesday from 6-8pm on 90.3 WHPC-FM. Joshua introduces the show theme, which is the deterioration of people's value of the human element of life, highlighted by the reckless fashion in which people discuss sports/atheltes, entertainers, and celebrities overall, among other subjects. Joshua and Kory discuss the insanity that the NBA offseason has proved to be to this point — and even had a MAJOR blockbuster deal break during the intro. Then: it's Show and Tell time, where Lay tells a story about her old vibr...

TRB Sports: restoring the feeling of REAL sports media. Erik recaps what experts claim to be the most talent-rich NBA drafts in years — a draft that saw AJ Dybantsa selected at #1 overall by the Washington Wizards and Darryn Peterson taken at #2 overall by the Utah Jazz, and so on and so forth. What about all the other potential future stars and big trades that were made around the draft, with what should be a hectic free agency period looming? Also, as we head into July, we inch one step closer to the start of NFL training camps and preseason. With th...

Audio from Hour 2 of June 24, 2026's episode of 'The Recess Bell: On Air', airing live every Wednesday from 6-8pm on 90.3 WHPC-FM. Joshua issues his TRB News Report on Angie Baez, the now-fired JPMorgan exec who bizarrely emptied a Knicks-themed trash can onto the Manhattan streets and walked off with it. Joshua then introduces Erik, Meleny, Lay and Ny to an unhinged Tubi show segment involving "big booty lightskins" and a diabolical gaslighting plot within a relationship. That later leads to a group mental exercise: if your romantic partner leaves their phone unattended and you decide to go through it, w...

Audio from Hour 1 of June 24, 2026's episode of 'The Recess Bell: On Air', airing live every Wednesday from 6-8pm on 90.3 WHPC-FM. Joshua welcomes Erik, Lay, Meleny and Ny to this week's program as he re-hashes the origin of The Recess Bell as a network and reflects philosophically on the Knicks' Finals victory. Kory calls the program up to cause chaos while Joshua demands an apology for Kory's initial doubts on Jalen Brunson upon Brunson's free-agency signing with the Knicks 4 years ago.

Audio from Hour 2 of June 17, 2026's episode of 'The Recess Bell: On Air', airing live every Wednesday from 6-8pm on 90.3 WHPC-FM. Joshua, Kory, Meleny and Lay discuss their (potential) plans for the Knicks championship parade, while Joshua makes history with his presitgious 'Sha Boin Boing of the Week' award. 

0:00 TRB's Knicks title celebration and prospective plans for parade
31:50 Sha Boing Boing OTW — James Dolan (again)
49:54 Meleny's Chronically Online Update — Love Island S8

Audio from June 17, 2026's episode of 'The Recess Bell: On Air', airing live every Wednesday from 6-8pm on 90.3 WHPC-FM. Joshua welcomes longtime Newsday sports columnist Steve Popper back to TRB. The Knicks have won their first championship in 53 years, and the fans are getting set to party like it's 1973 — especially at the Canyon of Heroes ticker tape parade. Joshua and Steve chat about whether there is a historical precedent for the run the Knicks just went on, James Dolan's extremely recent comments about his unwillingness to go into the second apron, Mike Brown's success story, where Jalen Brunson now rank...

They've done it! The New York Knicks defeated the San Antonio Spurs by the score of 94-90 in Game 5 of the 2026 NBA Finals to win the franchise's first championship since 1973, with Knicks captain Jalen Brunson winning Finals MVP. Erik reacts to everything that this incredible Finals brought us: the Knicks' repetitive comeback efforts in literally every single game of the series, what the championship means for NYC, and where the Spurs go from here. Also, does Erik have any regrets for leaving the Knicks for the Phoenix Suns as a fan a decade ago? And will he really pull up...

Audio from June 10, 2026's episode of 'The Recess Bell: On Air', airing live every Wednesday from 6-8pm on 90.3 WHPC-FM. Season 8 of Love Island is in full swing, and you know the 'Chronically Online' queen, Meleny, is very much locked in. Mel with Love Island fans Joshua and Lay discuss all that's happened in Fiji thus far: Sincere and Melanie's tumultous (and highly entertaining) relationship, which relationship is the most legitimate, and who will be next to depart the villa?

The latest development in what has already become a classic NBA Finals: the Knicks overcoming a 29-point deficit to pull off an incredible and impossible win, marking the largest single-game comeback in Finals history. Was the game truly more about the Spurs choking it away? Erik reacts to Wemby's lacking performance in the clutch in this series, if the Spurs can mentally recover from such a devastating loss, and how the Knicks pieced together an all-time "walk-down."

0:00 Intro, is Erik valid at a Knicks parade?
3:07 Is it fair to question Wemby in big moments?
5:53 How can...

Audio from June 10, 2026's episode of 'The Recess Bell: On Air', airing live every Wednesday from 6-8pm on 90.3 WHPC-FM. Joshua, Meleny, Lay, Erik and Kory preview a monumentally big Game 4 of the NBA Finals between the hometown Knicks and the San Antonio Spurs, as Joshua laments that the fact that the NBA has allowed the conversation of a classic Finals matchup to be dominated by "ref talk". The crew then discusses the many challenges of dating in today's day and age, and Joshua airs out a problem with Kory on the airwaves in another edition of TRB Court.

Unfortunately, one of the most anticipated NBA Finals in years has been dominated by ref talk in each of the first three games — getting progressively louder following each game. Erik reacts to the controversial calls in NYK/SAS Game 3 and gives his opinion on whether the conversation is fair or has gotten to a point of insanity. Erik also opines on a recent AJ Dybantsa's quote about his NBA future as the presumptive #1 overall pick in the upcoming draft and the ongoing Brendan Sorsby gambling scandal in college football.

0:00 Intro, ref talk reaction
2:22 Individual performances of note in...

The Knicks, if you haven't heard, are up 2-0 in the NBA Finals over the San Antonio Spurs, and have done so by winning a historic 13 straight games in the playoffs overall. While many different people are talking about many different things and are spelling out many different narratives — Joshua (of course) decides to take note of the Knicks' MENTAL approach in these Finals and why it may be they key reason above all else that they find themselves two wins away from ending a 53-year title drought.

0:00 Intro, "Calm within the circus"
2:45 Knicks' supreme talent and ma...

The New York Knicks have taken a super-commanding 2-games-to-none lead in the 2026 NBA Finals, doing so by winning both games on San Antonio's home floor. No team in NBA history has ever come back from losing the first two games at home, but why might Erik think this series could be a different story? He breaks down the Spurs' chances to come back, how the Knicks have gotten themselves to the point of 13 (!!!) consecutive playoff victories, and explains a coaching mismatch playing out between Knicks' HC Mike Brown and Spurs HC Mitch Johnson.

0:00 Intro, State of the NBA...

Audio from June 3, 2026's episode of 'The Recess Bell: On Air', airing live every Wednesday from 6-8pm on 90.3 WHPC-FM. It's NBA Finals Day! As the Knicks get set to tip off Game 1 in San Antonio vs the Spurs in their quest to end a 53-year title drought, Joshua, Kory, Meleny and Lay break down the series from statistical, gameplan and narrative perspectives. Joshua wrote on the TRB website about both Jalen Brunson and Victor Wembanyama's shared use of spite as motivation and fuel for their individual greatness. Also, New York is heating up, and with the new season of L...

RECORDED 6/2/26 — Erik welcomes you for another TRB Sports pod, where he discusses a crazy start to the month of June in the sports world. The Knicks and the Spurs meet in the NBA Finals; an NBA Finals that should be a classic. Who does Erik think will prevail? Additionally in the NFL, not only was AJ Brown finally traded from the Philadelphia Eagles to the New England Patriots (as was rumored all offseason), but the Cleveland Browns also dealt Myles Garrett, the reigning Defensive Player of the Year, to the Los Angeles Rams for a steep price. And OBJ is ba...

Audio from Hour 2 of May 27, 2026's episode of 'The Recess Bell: On Air' , airing live every Wednesday from 6-8pm on 90.3 WHPC-FM. Joshua issues the hoopla-filled News Report: this week covering the drama stirred up in the New York Giants' locker room, prompted by Jaxson Dart's participation in a recent Donald Trump rally and teammate Abdul Carter's public distaste for Dart's actions. Also, Kevin Hart defends racist jokes at his own Netflix roast, and will President Trump really attend a Finals game at Madison Square Garden? Later in the hour, Joshua has some fun with some Drake edits online, to t...

Audio from Hour 1 of May 27, 2026's episode of 'The Recess Bell: On Air', airing live every Wednesday from 6-8pm on 90.3 WHPC-FM. The crew welcomes an old friend back to the show, as Ny makes her return to TRB, as they celebrate Ny's nod as the Valedictorian for this year's graduating class at Nassau Community College! That isn't all that they celebrated, as the Knicks swept through the Cavs in the East Finals to make it to the franchise's first NBA Finals since 1999. The group had a discussion about what this means for the city and what might happen in N...

Erik (erik.sincere) gets his collection of thoughts and takes off on the Knicks' historic 11-game playoff win streak through the Eastern Conference and to the NBA Finals; their first since 1999 as they look to win their first NBA Championship since 1973. Erik discusses everything that went into the Knicks' rise, from the wheeling-and-dealing of Team President Leon Rose to owner James Dolan taking a backseat and staying out of the way. Which Western Conference team does NYK match up with best: San Antonio or Oklahoma City? And what should we make of the LeBron offseason rumors?

Mentality Monday on a Tuesday! (we took Memorial Day off like everyone else.) Joshua and Niki get together once again for a mental health conversation — this one once again as part of TRB's People-Pleasing Project, aiming to shine a light on people-pleasing behaviors and how to emerge out of them with more self-awareness and healthy self-respect. Today's conversation focuses on survival mode: a behavioral loop brought on by prolonged stress that can yield very negative effects on us over the long-term, both mentally and even physically. The duo discuss their experiences with living in survival mode, how it affe...

Audio from Hour 2 of May 20, 2026's episode of 'The Recess Bell: On Air', airing live every Wednesday from 6-8pm on 90.3 WHPC-FM. The hoopla-filled TRB News Report covers a busy week of unhinged stories: the crazy three-day LIRR strike and shutdown, Trump's plan to throw taxpayer dollars into Jan. 6 insurrectionists, AIPAC money deciding elections, Jeff Bezos bootlicking, and a NYC landlord getting caught on camera romping on a couch in a tenant's home. Following a brief conversation on Drake's latest 3-album drop, Joshua issues the Sports Report, discussing the Conference Finals in both conferences in the NBA Playoffs, as Joshua sh...

Audio from Hour 1 of May 20, 2026's episode of 'The Recess Bell: On Air', airing live every Wednesday from 6-8pm on 90.3 WHPC-FM. Joshua, alongside Kory, Lay and Meleny discuss the idea of competition, and how it serves both good and bad purposes in society with themes like using mutual competition as motivation, and weird, petty, and sometimes even one-sided competitions that can get extremely toxic. The crew spends the rest of the hour on one of their most generational group tangents, bouncing between topics like people walking around musty in NYC, visiting our fans in Vietnam, and dressing in drag, a...

Audio from Hour 2 of May 13, 2026's episode of The Recess Bell: On Air, airing live every Wednesday from 6-8pm on 90.3 WHPC-FM. Joshua, Erik and Lay kick off Hour 2 of the show with their weekly Show & Tell segment: Lay discusses her birthday weekend and the trio shares what they did in celebration of the women in their life for Mother's Day. Joshua then brings back the prestigous 'Sha Boing Boing of the Week' award, prompted by WIRED's report of the 2,155 FCC complaints about Bad Bunny's Super Bowl Halftime Show performance in February. Meleny calls the show to discuss the idea of...

Audio from Hour 1 of May 13, 2026's episode of The Recess Bell: On Air, airing live every Wednesday from 6-8pm on 90.3 WHPC-FM. Joshua, Erik and Lay welcome Newsday Sports veteran writer Barbara Barker to the program. Barker has covered the Knicks as a beat writer since 1995, so who better to talk to regarding the history that the New York Knicks have been making this postseason across the board en route to their 2nd consecutive Conference Finals berth? Joshua and Barbara chat about KAT's playmaking, OG Anunoby's status for the Conference Finals with his hamstring injury, and the job that Mike Br...

Audio from Hour 2 of May 6, 2026's episode of 'The Recess Bell: On Air', airing live every Wednesday from 6-8pm on 90.3 WHPC-FM. Over the past week, Meleny fielded some of your "unpopular opinions" —and we read them live on air during the Mailbag segment. Joshua then discusses some interesting Gen Z trends that other publications have written on lately, and to close out the hour, Joshua issues his weekly Sports Report — which focuses squarely on the New York Knicks' remarkable 4-game run in the NBA Playoffs in which they have dominated the Hawks and 76ers in unprecedented fashion, which has Knicks...

Audio is from Hour 1 of May 6, 2026's episode of 'The Recess Bell: On Air', airing live every Wednesday from 6-8pm on 90.3 WHPC-FM. Joshua, Meleny, Lay, Erik and Kory get ready to handle business as usual at the start of the show, but.... oh no! Two work trucks stationed right outside the studio walls make a whole lot of hoopla and ruckus outside, forcing Joshua to pivot and resist another one of his patented crashouts. As the hour progresses, the crew celebrates Lay's upcoming birthday, but not without a debate between Meleny and Joshua over which date Lay's birthday ACTUALLY fa...

As part of TRB's latest mental health project, 'The People-Pleasing Project' — Mentality Monday co-hosts Joshua and NikiMarie discuss trauma responses under the theme of people-pleasing... more specifically: freeze and fawn. You've probably heard of "fight vs flight", but "freeze vs fawn" are deeply integrated into a people-pleaser's routine and life overall? What is "freezing" and "fawning", and what does it say about someone who does either response, or both? Joshua and Niki give their personal experiences with this concept and discuss its psychological bases.

Audio from Hour 2 of April 29, 2026's episode of 'The Recess Bell: On Air', airing live every Wednesday from 6-8pm on 90.3 WHPC-FM. The crew continues with the evening's theme of "the war on monogamy." Meleny's Chronically Online update shines light on widespread parasocial reaction to Meg and Klay's breakup as well as critical acclaim to the recently released Michael Jackson biopic. Joshua opens up TRB Court to break down monogamy, cheating, and other dating philosophies. To close the show, Joshua issues his weekly Sports Report, covering the Knicks' major series turnaround vs the Atlanta Hawks, the NBA Playoffs, and some u...

Audio from Hour 1 of April 29, 2026's episode of 'The Recess Bell: On Air', airing live every Wednesday from 6-8pm on 90.3 WHPC-FM. Joshua intros this week's show with the main, central topic of the evening: "The Monogamy Conversation". The crew reacts to celebrity couple, musical artist Megan Thee Stallion and 4-time NBA champion Klay Thompson ending their high-profile relationship due to what Megan said was a result of Klay's "cheating" and his position that he doesn't think he can be monogamous. Due to the increase of cheating scandals everywhere you look, is it true that most people feel like society a...

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.