Why no shortwave band on radios?

It may sound like verging on a conspiracy theory but could it be possible that there was a gentlemen's agreement between governments and consumer electronics manufacturers to restrict the number of models of radios with a SW band as part of a mechanism to hinder communism in Britain and other western nations?

And it may be that there is a lack of action from OFCOM to take up their powers under s54 of the wireless telegraphy act to prosecute interference from VDSL and poor enforcement of EMC standards by trading standards, is a deliberate conspiracy to discourage potential terrorists, spies and other radical elements from using short wave radio, and to force them onto the internet where they can be far more easily monitored and controlled.


Or more likely it could just be apathy from an establishment that sees no profit in paying out to police AM reception.


Certainly, and I am old enough to recall the end of the cold war era, interference from faulty equipment and unlicenced radio broadcasts generally were much more strongly pursued at the time when HMG and every other country ran numbers stations ( the UK 'probably' transmitted The Lincolnshire Poacher from near Akrotiri ) out of military bases to (allegedly) provide a one way encrypted link to their field agents in other countries,  and one side effect of that attitude was that SW (HF) and MW/LW were far more useable than they are today.


 

It may sound like verging on a conspiracy theory but could it be possible that there was a gentlemen's agreement between governments and consumer electronics manufacturers to restrict the number of models of radios with a SW band as part of a mechanism to hinder communism in Britain and other western nations?

And it may be that there is a lack of action from OFCOM to take up their powers under s54 of the wireless telegraphy act to prosecute interference from VDSL and poor enforcement of EMC standards by trading standards, is a deliberate conspiracy to discourage potential terrorists, spies and other radical elements from using short wave radio, and to force them onto the internet where they can be far more easily monitored and controlled.


Or more likely it could just be apathy from an establishment that sees no profit in paying out to police AM reception.


Certainly, and I am old enough to recall the end of the cold war era, interference from faulty equipment and unlicenced radio broadcasts generally were much more strongly pursued at the time when HMG and every other country ran numbers stations ( the UK 'probably' transmitted The Lincolnshire Poacher from near Akrotiri ) out of military bases to (allegedly) provide a one way encrypted link to their field agents in other countries,  and one side effect of that attitude was that SW (HF) and MW/LW were far more useable than they are today.