Thanks for the good replies. You folks are an interesting bunch.

I haven't posted much to the group, but I'll give you a little background on
me and the "hobby" and then some additional commentary.

Probably like many of you, I started my interest as a young kid, who found
international broacasting interesting from both the news/opinion perspective
and the technology perspective.

An older neighbor, who was a Ham, gave me an old Shortwave receiver that he
wasn't using (It's a Knight - Star Roamer - I still have it and it works
great!) . I also took an interest in "morse code". Eventually, with some
coaxing I ended up getting my Ham Ticket. The StarRoamer helped me practice
copying code and helped me to get my license.

My hobby was somewhat consistent even up through college, and having the
variety of opinion was helpful for a Poli-Sci major.

My favorite shows we

The BBC (when it was less critical of the US and reported more news than
opinion),

Deutsche Welle's "Random Selection" and "Living in Germany" which was
broadcast on Sundays by a guy named Larry Wayne - an American living abroad.
I also liked the European press review.

Radio Netherlands: Media Network

Swiss Radio International: Sunday program with two halarious guys.

For watever reason, the both hobbies tended to get shelved for work and
other interests. I've really just come back into the hobby after about a 5
year hiatus and you can imagine looking for DW and a few other programs to
find nothing (and to hear SRI say that they are not going to be broadcasting
anymore). Not to mention that I purchased a new shortwave radio - a Grundig
Yacht Boy 4000 PE - great radio by the way.

I was hoping to get back into the old shows I enjoyed. Well, like
everything - things change. I just hope I get some good use out of the new
radio.

Well that's my story. Hopefully, a few of you cared to read it. I'm sure
there are a few of you with similiar experiences.

If anyone could point me to an up to date radio guide, I'd appreciate it.
Many online guides are way out of date. I actually began to doubt the YB,
because I couldn't find the stations until I realized that -- I will never
find those stations - again! LOL!

73's

Christian