Knight (Allied Radio)
Knight was the house brand of Allied Radio, the Chicago company Simon "Sy" Wexler founded in 1928 as the radio-parts distribution arm of his Columbia Radio Corporation. Allied sold radios, tubes, components, amateur gear, CB sets and hi-fi through its stores and, from 1962, by mail order; Knight amplifiers, tuners and receivers came factory-wired or, as Knight-Kits, in parts for the customer to build.
Tandy Corporation, Radio Shack's parent, bought Allied in 1970. The industrial side, Allied Electronics, joined Electrocomponents (now RS Group) in 1999 and has traded as RS Americas since February 2023.
The archive's company page on Knight and Allied Radio is cited by the English Wikipedia articles on Jerrold Wexler and RS Americas. The KG-250 stereo amplifier with Mullard tubes is the main Knight model on file.
The company was started by Simon “Sy” Wexler in 1928.
In 1962, The first industrial catalog was released for its commercial supplier division under the name of Allied Electronics. Through the 1960s both divisions would be headquartered in Chicago. Allied Radio would change ownership in 1970 when Radio Shack’s parent company (Tandy Corporation) bought both Allied Radio & Allied Electronics. In 1999 the company was acquired by Electrocomponents, the largest catalog distributor in the world.
