Frontline

Frontline (formerly Frontline with Austin Kay from 2004 to 2016) is an hour-long Euro Republics current affairs programme Monday–Friday at 6.00pm (before 3 News), on TV8 and has been hosted by Matt Brookes since 2016, and was previously hosted by Austin Kay from 2004 to 2016. Frontline has conducted interviews of various notable personalities, including Al Gore, Robert Fisk, Ed Miliband, William Hague, Tony Blair, Boris Johnson, Scott Morrison as well as an array of celebrities, including Adam Lambert and Metallica.

The show is very popular in its timeslot, usually in the #1 spot, beating rival show Herschel on ETV Newsnet.

History
In February 2002, just under two years before Frontline debuted, the show was an idea in the minds of some TV8 staff, who thought that a nightly current affairs, politics & business show would help boost the ratings of the channel. Austin Kay, former TV3 economics editor, was brought in to host this new show in September 2002.

The target launch date was November 2003. However, in January 2003 they did not even have a name. Both Davies & Kay were unhappy about the launch date, favouring September when seasonal audiences would be higher, but TV8 stayed firm, and Davies & Kay had to concede that. November was the most realistic launch date.

The project had a number of working titles. Newsprime, A Current Affair, The AK, The Austin Kay Show, Up Front & SixLine. It was the latter two that stuck in the early months of creative process. It was later decided to call the show Frontline, merged from Up Front and SixLine.

The show was eventually delayed until January 2004, due to a delay in a new schedule & studios for TV8, which Frontline would play a major role in. Davies felt uneasy about the late start as Frontline no longer had the Autumn months to build up a loyal audience. Anticipation grew until Frontline first aired on 5 January 2004 at 6pm, and included the UK’s then prime minister Tony Blair & Paul Dacre, editor of The Euroish Mail as the interviewees that evening.

Ratings
The first edition of Frontline recieved 5.2 million viewers, and later grew to 8.7 million in the show's first month.