Like Chaosmagnet, I'm also a radio nerd, licensed on ham radio, GMRS and a lot of other things. I agree 100% with the "SW is last on the list" view.

I've always been at a loss to understand the "we need a SW radio in case of an EMP which will devastate all electronics, so you better get some...electronics...to listen to the SW broadcasts that require...electronics...to function.

Let's skip over that part and go into all the reasons why SW radio is the least optimal choice for almost everyone:

1) It's finicky. That signal you heard just fine 15 minutes ago just faded away. Why? Because (insert long list of reasons).

2) To cover a large area, it requires a HUGE antenna connected to a powerful transmitter to be of any use on the TRANSMIT side, that is unless you DON'T want to cover a large area, in which case atmospheric conditions will align so your signal is skipping through the ionosphere from Washington CD to Florida, but you can't reach the person 5 miles away.

3) When it does work, it's prone to noise from any number of things, like LED lights, lightning that is far far away, and so many other things.

There are more reasons, but these are my majors.