From the Club 100 support files (www.club100.org)...

THE TERM TRS-80

I hear this all the time and would like to take this opportunity to, once 
again, help set the record straight.  The brand name TRS-80 was never the name 
for any of the Tandy/Radio Shack computers.  Back in the late 1970s, Tandy's 
marketing department suggested that the company--now a leader in consumer-
level computing, along with Apple, Corp.--set the tone for its company by 
saying that Tandy/Radio Shack products are ready to take you [the customer] 
into the exciting 1980s with new technology for home and business.  Thus the 
brand name, TRS-80, meant "Tandy/Radio Shack for the 1980s!"  They 
[Tandy/Radio Shack] branded TRS-80 to everything they sold from the late '70s 
through the early '80s which would be replaced by in the mid-'80s by the 
"Tandy" brand name.  Therefore, you will find the brand name, TRS-80, on AC 
Adaptors, Calculators, accessories, programming, batteries--lots of 
batteries!!!--and the Model 100 computer from March 1983. 

In the late '70s the brand name TRS-80 was on every product that did not keep 
the honored "Radio Shack" brand name--a left over from the company's 
orientation during WWII based on the founders military roots as a radioman, 
working in the compartment that housed the company radio, i.e., the radio 
shack!  If you will recall your history, the United States from WWII through 
to the '70s was the leader in the rise of electronics.  The electronics 
technician was an honored profession as the interest in television, amateur 
radio, radar and communications consumed our nation's interest.  Along with 
the automobile, electronics made this country #1.  During that time, Radio 
Shack sold franchises to hardware stores.  So when you needed a TV tube, or 
other electronics device or component, you would go to your neighborhood 
hardware store, walk up to the "Radio Shack" display and get your "high-tech" 
part.  These "highly prised" franchises are all but gone. 

The brand name TRS-80 was replaced by the brand name Tandy shortly after the 
introduction of the IBM PC (circa 1982/83) to "upgrade" the company image of 
electronics and hobby enthusiasts to the more acceptable "business/corporate" 
image.  Tandy Corporation need to compete in the business computer market, 
quickly being consumed at the micro computer level by DOS (IBM) computers, and 
the time-honored Radio Shack brand was a turn-off to the YUPie (young urban 
professionals) contemporaries. 

The brand name Tandy will be replaced one day by something that will, once 
again, reflect the image of this fine company.  In 2002 (the time of this 
writing) the "next BIG trend" in consumer electronics has yet to reveal 
itself.  Surely, the next trend, to be as mighty as the rise of micro-
electronics products, specifically the micro computer and the 
commercialization of the once private internet network, would have to be 
something as astounding as consumer-level levitation and/or neuron 
enhancement--both of which are on their way. 

An example of the later will manifest itself in the courtroom where your need 
to take the oath will be unnecessary as the court truth-sayer will simply tell 
the court, in detail, your association to the issue at hand.  And, you and I 
will be able to go into our local Radio Shack story and buy such enhancement 
devices with our money card--which will have replaced the need to carry cash. 

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