On Friday, June 1, 2012 4:19:21 PM UTC-7, Ric Trexell wrote:
It seems when I listen to shortwave now days on my little Grundig 400 Yacht
Boy, there is very little on. I'm wondering what you think will become of
SW. Will countries someday start broadcasting more and more? Will the
freqs go to some other high tech device or will it just be religious
broadcasts and the radical guys that keep telling us that the guys in
Washington and Brussels are going to lock us up? I used to hope for a
really nice SW radio someday, but now you have to hunt for an English
broadcast and then it only lasts for a hour or so. With the European
nations backrupt, I doubt they will be spending money on radio in the near
future. What do you say?

All of the Scandinavian nations have gone off the air in the last ten years.. Radio Canada dies this month. Radio Nederland just announced the end of SW broadcasts at the end of June. Many African transmitters have gone silent, although some remain (many religious relays). Radio Prague, Radio Bulgaria, RAI Italy, Radio Portugal, DW transmitters at many locations, and several BBC transmitters have bit the dust. Kazakhstan just shut down its relay station. Latin Americans are still numerous, but much less than they once were. Voice of Russia and China Radio International remain strong, as does All India Radio. CRI in particular seems to flood the bands with redundant transmissions around the clock.

Unless you are interested in tiny flea-powered stations that speak in strange tongues, the future of SW radio lies, I think, in religious broadcasters who have $$$ to burn and continue to use to use strong transmitters around the world for relays. Either that, or China on every other channel.