Same for me. Beyond the broadcasts, I'd write the stations and they'd reply by sending program guides, newspaper clippings, postcards, and other neat things fro

Same for me. Beyond the broadcasts, I'd write the stations and they'd reply by sending program guides, newspaper clippings, postcards, and other neat things from faraway places. Some of the stations even offered language lessons over the air. I learned basic German when I was 12 from the ones on Deutsche Welle. I attempted to learn Chinese the following year from the big shortwave station in Taiwan.