Since I first started selling audio in 1970, the thing that made a receiver a receiver instead of an item with some other name was that it had an FM tuner. Ok, it had an AM tuner, too, probably pretty lousy... so mainly, in practice, it was the FM tuner that made it a receiver.

Why do we have receivers today? My customers are spread throughout the Los Angeles area,* and it has been at least five years since any client has been interested in listening to the radio. Isn't it time the manufacturers knock some money off the product and create components that skip the FM and AM bands while continuing to offer us network audio services?

Or did I miss that while I was napping?

Edit: I'm speaking of surround receivers, not stereo.



*there are so many stations spread throughout the area that if you set up an FM modulator in your car to listen to an outboard device, there is no single frequency that will work for more than about twenty miles of travel.