['LIVEWIRE?']

All true, Paul. Of course, at one time there were four French-language stations on LW, France-Inter, Europe#1. Luxembourg and Monte Carlo, AFAIK, the latter three are still broadcasting, almost certainly 24/7, whilst Allouis, I think, still transmits a carrier, for what purpose I know not. No doubt there are still LW stations in Romania, the Czech Republic, and European Russia, but the reason that neither Canada nor Australia have ever used LW is no doubt because of the international agreements covering spectrum use, plus the fact that in both countries, more emphasis is placed on local/regional coverage centered on the major cities in and around which most of the population lives. I assume this is true of vast areas of Russia, too, for that matter.