Kenwood is aiming to become a "World Excellent Company" with its core competencies in sound and wireless radio communications. Kenwood, which was established in 1946 in Akaho, Nagano Prefecture as a company specializing in radio assembly and repair, produced an advanced high-frequency coil by taking advantage of its location surrounded by mountains, where radio waves were weak. The high-frequency technology that was built at that time became the base for the Company to develop FM tuners and amateur radios. Since then, it has expanded its business domains steadily to include home-use and car-mounted audio systems as well as commercial radio equipment businesses. Its business areas have also expanded into North America, Europe, Asia, particularly China, East Europe, particularly Russia, Latin America and the Middle East. During the period when the Company was called TRIO Electronics, Inc. (1960 - 1986), it developed as a full-scale audio manufacturer with the launch of FM tuners that were evaluated as the world's best, followed by transistorizing audio products for the first time in the industry. The Company leveraged its advanced technologies that it had developed in home-use audio products to enter into the car audio product and portable audio product markets in 1980 and 1982, respectively, establishing the foundation of its present concept of sound entertainment.