On Feb 19, 4:57?am, "tom k in L.A."
why are there nothing but religious freaks on right now?

This is really becoming a sad situation. It's NOT that
the religious types are broadcasting; as others have said,
everybody has a right to say their piece, even if it is
nonsense or a scam huckstering. The problem is that these
types used to be immersed in a good number of competing
signals of all sorts of political views from a wide range
of different countries or entertainment and information
from well-run broadcasting entities. Now just about all
these other signals have disappeared.

I still listen to SW every day. But the choices I grew
up enjoying are mostly gone. If it wasn't for Radio
Netherlands, R. Australia, CRI, and Taiwan, there'd
be practically nothing. We can get a few hours of BBC
from their African and other services, if propagation
allows, but lately I've been trying to scan the bands
and get only the religious programs in English. I
suspect that most of the other-language signals I hear
are also religious.

I have been wanting to give a good SW radio to a friend
of mine who has expressed an interest in SW. But I now
hesitate because I cannot tell him much about what he
might enjoy hearing.

Personally, I don't listen much during "prime evening
hours" here in the US; there's usually enough on TV
that those times are eaten up (though sometimes I'll
have RN on at the same time as early-evening TV). I
listen in the early morning and late night. Are
there still a wide-enough range of international
broadcasters on in the 0000-0400 UT timeframe that
a decent SW portable on the whip alone will get
enjoyable signals with worthwhile listening? My friend
doesn't watch TV, so if he listens then, would he get
enough out of the radio to make it interesting?
However, he spends his time on other activities, and
probably won't sit around and listen for hours.

That latter also mitigates against trying to get
new listeners into SW. Everybody already has more than
enough to fill their time.

73, Will