All the wonderful things you can hear on GE’s 17-Transistor

Life magazine • September 18, 1964

Of all the amazing things that Americans could hear on the radio in 1964, those in the Radio Receiver department at General Electric in Utica, NY felt like the one that would sell the most leatherette-bound 17-Transistors was the pope’s Christmas message.

(Google’s version of the translation from the Italian is pretty entertaining, so you can see why — “We still have a vivid impression in the soul of our recent trip to Mumbai.” Translation of the translation: “Since returning from India, I’ve spent a lot of time on the papal throne, if you know what I mean!”)

The ad lists some other fairly innocuous things you could tune into: local news! Coast Guard storm warnings! The smooth-orchestral stylings of Annunzio Paolo Mantovani!

But what about all the other cool stuff that people could have listened to (or that GE could have told them they could have listened to) in 1964?

• The confession of the Boston Strangler
• The Warren Commission’s conclusion that Oswald acted alone
• Cassius Clay’s beat-down of Sonny Liston
• A South Africa court sentencing of Nelson Mandela to life in prison
• The (first) wedding of Elizabeth Taylor and Richard Burton
• Lyndon Johnson signing the Civil Rights Act into law
• A soccer riot in Peru that killed 300 people

For $125 (or about $950 today) 17-Transistor owners should have been able to tune into all that and more.