I discovered SW listening during the late 1960s and progressed through several better radios until buying an Allied SX-190 (http://www.dxing.com/rx/ax190.htm) from Radio Shack in 1972. I still have that radio but seldom use it - there isn’t much that is interesting to hear anymore. Sadly, the Internet has all but killed SWL. I probably logged English broadcasts from 40 foreign countries.
I enjoyed listening to the rabid communist stations, they were all pretty extreme like North Korea today. It gave me a sense of just how dangerous the outside world really was. Radio Tirana (Albania) was probably the weirdest. I have fond memories hearing the Red Chinese screaming against “American imperialists and their running dogs”. I also was thrilled to hear the heroic production figures of Pipe Factory #47, or whatever.
Before I understood how different radio frequencies affected propagation, I used to wonder why there wasn’t such a thing as SW television. At least with the Internet I can now see video from around the world.
I once built a SW crystal radio that would pull in the BBC and a couple other high powered stations. I’m a bit too deaf to do that stunt now.
Radio Tirane was omnipresent. As I said before, I've never picked up North Korea.
When I first started listening, Mao was still alive. Their station was called "Radio Peking" back then (none of this "Beijing" nonsense; that came later). I don't remember a great deal of the programming, but I do recall a segment on some sort of operation that could restore sight to the blind. They quoted one patient as saying "to Chairman Mao and socialism, we owe our thanks."
I also remember a "revolutionary folk song" entitled Joy of Emancipation.