[Lowfer] RS, Allied, Electrocomponents etc

[Alan Melia]

It may be interesting to you to know where the RS name on the UK distributor
comes from. After the WWII (it may have been active before but I doubt it)
there were a lot of small workshops repairing old domestic radios and some
of the brand new televisions. The firm Radiospares was set up to supply
these and had reps on the road who would carry samples and take orders, deal
with complaints or returns. The reps were still visiting my company in
the1990s. They hated being refered to as "the man from Radiospares"....but
it was a good wind-up. Their title of RS Components was a 70s "rebranding"
exercise as they branched out to supply a wider range of product. This
possibly occured after a take-over or merger by Electrocomponents, a
competitor. Their existance and also the existance of a firm already called
called The Radio Shack but with no connection, in the UK prevented the using
the name in this country and so they traded as Tandy in the late 70s.

Alan G3NYK