Very early on (8 or 9 years old), it was AM BCB DXing (though it was many years before I knew that's what it was called) and a bit later tuning around on SW, as well as crystal radios. By my late teens it was still all of that but even more emphasis on SWL and antennas. I got pretty heavy into it until my early 20s when my life changed quite drastically but after some years adjusting to my new surroundings, the radio bug returned and became a real monster. But SWL is particularly what got me thinking about becoming a ham. Ironically, when I first got my ticket only some four years ago, and mentioned how shortwave and specifically listening to hams on shortwave for decades helped me gain confidence to get on the air myself, I was often ridiculed for it here and on the zed, with things like "Oh, you watch a cop show for years and think you're a cop?" and the more common "Think you're good in bed cuz you watch porn?" (each written as if they were the only one clever enough to come up with it). Rapier wits, all... but anyway, I knew that was just online tough guy syndrome, the actual airwaves are full of much nicer, saner people most of the time, and it obviously never stopped me from being very glad and proud of my longtime SW hobby and how it brought me to and helps me be an amateur radio operator. I still do a lot of BCB DXing and SWL. No, SW is not even remotely like it once was... but I still love it.
Mike
N0TLD