KNX News has announced the launch of LA’s Afternoon News, which will feature Rob Archer, Karen Adams, Brian Douglas, and Charles Feldman.

The new show will be heard weekdays from 2:00-7:00 PM, beginning Monday, January 30th.

“Rob, Karen, Brian, and Charles are the perfect team to take afternoons on KNX News to the next level in 2023 and beyond,” said Audacy Southern California Regional President Jeff Federman. “They bring enormous reporting experience, perspective, and humanity to the news that impacts our lives every day.”

Rob Archer is no stranger to Los Angeles listeners. He’s been heard on the airwaves in the city since 1999, joining KNX News in 2015. He previously anchored the station’s weekend morning news.

Karen Adams has anchored afternoons KNX News since 2019 after working as a street reporter when joining the station in 2017.

Brian Douglas has served as the station’s traffic reporter since 2016, both as an anchor and in the air. He previously had stops in New York, Chicago, and Phoenix during his radio career, as well as a nationally syndicated show with Westwood One.

Finally, Charles Feldman has served as the Investigative Reporter at KNX for several years and is the co-host of the station’s program KNX In-Depth. Before joining KNX, Feldman was an investigative correspondent at CNN based in New York and Los Angeles for two decades.

The new launch of LA’s Afternoon News comes on the heels of previous afternoon anchor Mike Simpson moving to mornings after the retirement of Dick Helton, who spent 24 years with the station.

After deciding to drop Newsmax from its channel lineup, DirecTV has faced threats of Congressional investigations. Radio host Mike Gallagher believes that’s warranted.

“They’re trying to come after all of us. They’re trying to figure out a way to stop every single conservative outlet in America,” Gallagher said. “First, it was One America News. Now it’s Newsmax. AT&T and DirecTV refuse to pay Newsmax the carriage fees which is crucial to these TV networks. They refuse to pay these fees they pay everybody else, and Newsmax said ‘Enough. You’ve gotta be fair here. You’re not being fair, and you’re not paying us all these carriage fees you’re paying all these others.’

“Newsmax is the fourth news network right now in the country, behind Fox, and MSNBC, and CNN. ‘Nope, sorry, you’re out.’ You can make the argument ‘They’re a private company’. Nope. No, no, no. There’s all kinds of government subsidies and tax breaks. Congress has to investigate this. It’s time to hold Congressional hearings for this absolute blatant effort to silence a point of view that a woke company like AT&T and DirecTV doesn’t approve of.”

Representatives Jeff Van Drew (R-NJ) and Michael Waltz (R-FL) each appeared on Newsmax Thursday, and discussed the possibility of Congressional hearings on the matter, with Van Drew saying “I’m certainly going to push for hearings and discussions about this. I think it’s more than necessary.”

DirecTV continues to contend it removed Newsmax after the cable channel demanded a carriage fee, which the satellite provider was not interested in paying. Newsmax CEO Chris Ruddy claims the channel is in the top 16 most-watched outlets on the service provider, warranting a carriage fee.

However, DirecTV countered by claiming that because Newsmax streams its programs for free on platforms like Roku, a carriage fee was not on the table.

With its removal from DirecTV, Newsmax’s reach has now decreased by 13 million homes.

Newsmax is no longer found on DirecTV, and that decision has led to outcries from Congressional Republicans of “de-platforming” and “demonetization” of conservative voices. Podcaster Keith Olbermann believes those stances are poppycock.

Thursday, Rep. Michael Waltz (R-FL) told Newsmax that Congress has “a number of questions…that we’ll demand answers for”, adding that proceedings could go “as far as having public hearings”. Later in the day, Rep. Jeff Van Drew (R-NJ) told the cable outlet “This is about freedom, it’s about America. It’s about the right to have discourse and discussion about ideas and visions and the future of the country.”

“I’m certainly going to push for hearings and discussions about this,” Van Drew added. “I think it’s more than necessary — it’s absolutely important for the future of our nation.”

“For some reason, Representatives like Van Drew and Waltz keep leaving out one little detail here: Newsmax has always given its 24/7 brainwashing feed for free to carriers like Roku and DirecTV but suddenly it has demanded DirecTV pay Newsmax for Newsmax,” Olbermann said.

“DirecTV said ‘No, thanks’. So Waltz and Van Drew want Congressional hearings about one company deciding not to buy another company’s product, in America. Which, I believe, is called ‘communistic, socialistic, anti-capitalist terrorism!'”

The removal of Newsmax from DirecTV is the second time in a calendar year that the satellite provider has removed a conservative cable channel from its lineup. In April of 2022, OAN was removed.

After removing Newsmax from its channel lineup, DirecTV replaced it with The First, a conservative video platform that features the likes of Dana Loesch, Jesse Kelly, and Bill O’Reilly, among others.

“DirecTV values different viewpoints and perspectives and will always work to preserve expansive choice among a wide variety of entertainment and information services to appeal to the unique tastes and interests of our diverse customer base,” DirecTV Chief Content Officer Rob Thun said while announcing the addition of The First.