financial year 2018–2019, ABC Commercial turned a profit of , which was invested in content production. The ABC Studios and Media Production hires out some of the ABC studios and sound stages, operating as part of ABC Commercial. The studios for hire are in Sydney (Studios 21, 22, 16), Melbourne (31), Adelaide (51B) and Perth (61). Orchestras Up until the installation of disc recording equipment in 1935, all content broadcast on the ABC was produced live, including music. For this purpose, the ABC established broadcasting orchestras in each state, and in some centres also employed choruses and dance bands. This became known as the ABC Concert Music Division, which was controlled by the Federal Director of Music – the first of whom was W. G. James. In 1997, the ABC divested all ABC orchestras from the Concerts department of the ABC into separate subsidiary companies, allied to a service company known as Symphony Australia, and on 1 January 2007 the orchestras were divested into independent companies. The six state orchestras are: Adelaide Symphony Orchestra Melbourne Symphony Orchestra Queensland Symphony Orchestra Sydney Symphony Orchestra Tasmanian Symphony Orchestra West Australian Symphony Orchestra ABC Friends ABC Friends, formerly Friends of the ABC (FABC), consists of independent organisations in each state and territory, under an umbrella organisation established in December 2016, ABC Friends National Inc. In 1976, three independent groups were formed: Aunty's Nieces and Nephews in Melbourne, Friends of the ABC (NSW) Inc. (now ABC Friends NSW & ACT) and Friends of the ABC (SA) (since 2007/2008, ABC Friends SA/NT). The groups were formed by citizens who were concerned about government threats to make deep cuts to the ABC's budget. Historian Ken Inglis wrote that “The Friends were in the line of those people who had affirmed over the years that the ABC was essential to the nation”. Over the years, independent state organisations were established, run by committees, and in January 2014 the name of each was changed to ABC Friends. The objectives of ABC Friends National are stated as follows: Controversies Perceived bias External critics have complained in particular of left-wing political bias at the broadcaster, citing a prominence of Labor Party-connected journalists hosting masthead political programs or a tendency to favour "progressive" over "conservative" political views on issues such as immigration, asylum seekers, the republicanism, multiculturalism, Indigenous reconciliation, feminism, environmentalism, and same-sex marriage. In December 2013, former judge and ABC