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Max Headroom signal hijacking

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Max Headroom broadcast signal intrusion
An unidentified man dressed to resemble Max Headroom was visible in the intruding broadcast.
DateNovember 22, 1987 (1987-11-22)
LocationWGN-TV
WTTW
ParticipantsUnidentified
OutcomeUnsolved

The Max Headroom broadcast signal intrusion was a television signal hijacking that occurred in Chicago, Illinois, United States, on the evening of November 22, 1987, by an unknown man (or group of unknown individuals). It is an example of what is known in the television business as broadcast signal intrusion. Two Chicago television stations had their broadcast signals hijacked by an unknown person wearing a Max Headroom mask and sunglasses. The intruder was successful in interrupting two broadcast television stations within the course of three hours. After a brief and only partially successful attempt to break into the signal of intended target of WGN-TV, the signal pirate(s) succeeded in getting their broadcast intruded onto WTTW. The first incident took place for 25 seconds during the sportscast on the 9 O'Clock news on WGN-TV Channel 9, and the second, two hours later, after 11 o'clock on PBS affiliate WTTW Channel 11 for about 90 seconds during a broadcast of the Doctor Who episode "Horror of Fang Rock".

The second pirate broadcast, which lasted 90 seconds and was pre-recorded on videotape, featured the individual parodying WGN and television in general. The hacker rambled on making reference to Headroom's endorsement of Coke, the series Clutch Cargo, and WGN anchor Chuck Swirsky, then pretended to defecate as a "masterpiece for all the greatest world newspaper nerds", a reference to WGN's call letters ("World's Greatest Newspaper"). A homemade Max Headroom background rocked back and forth as he rambled, and the video ended with a pair of exposed buttocks being spanked with a flyswatter before normal programming resumed.

The incident made national headlines[1] and the people responsible have never been identified.

Signal intrusion

WGN-TV

The first occurrence of the signal intrusion took place during independent station WGN-TV (channel 9)'s live telecast of its primetime newscast, The Nine O'Clock News (now known as WGN News at Nine). During highlights from the Chicago Bears' 30–10 home victory over the Detroit Lions that afternoon in the sports report, the screen went black for 15 seconds, then returned with a person wearing a Max Headroom mask and sunglasses,[2] moving around and bobbing. His head was in front of a sheet of moving corrugated metal, which imitated the electronic background effect used in the Max Headroom TV and movie appearances. There was no audio other than a buzzing noise and an oscillating sound. The hijack was stopped after engineers at WGN switched the frequency of their studio link to the John Hancock Center transmitter.[3]

The incident left sports anchor Dan Roan bemused, saying, "Well, if you're wondering what's happened, so am I.", and that the computer running the news "took off and went wild", then repeating his report on the Bears victory earlier that day.[4]

WTTW

Later that night, around 11:15 p.m. Central Time, during a broadcast of the Doctor Who serial Horror of Fang Rock, PBS member station WTTW's signal was hijacked by the same person, apparently, who had broadcast the WGN-TV hijack, this time with distorted and crackling audio.[5]

The show was interrupted by television static, after which the unidentified man wearing the Max Headroom mask and sunglasses appeared, mentioning WGN sports pundit Chuck Swirsky, who he said he was "better than", going on to call Swirsky a "fricking liberal". The man started to moan, scream and laugh. He continued to laugh and utter various random phrases, including New Coke's advertising slogan "Catch the Wave" while holding a Pepsi can (Max Headroom was a Coca-Cola spokesperson at the time), then tossed it out of sight, leaned towards the camera and presented the finger wearing a rubber extension over his middle finger, though the gesture was partially off-screen. The man then retrieved the Pepsi can, and sang "Your love is fading", removed the rubber extension, and then began humming the theme song to Clutch Cargo, pausing to say "I still see the X" (often misheard as "I stole CBS"), which referred to the final episode of the series, before resuming humming again. He then began to moan painfully, exclaiming about his piles (again, the muffled audio, or perhaps as a deliberate computer pun, makes it sound as if he is saying "files"), after which a flatulence sound was heard. He then stated that he had "made a giant masterpiece for all the greatest world newspaper nerds" (the WGN call letters used by the Chicago television station as well as its sister radio station are an acronym for "World's Greatest Newspaper", in reference to the flagship newspaper of their corporate parent, the Tribune Company's Chicago Tribune). He then held up a gardening glove and said, "My brother is wearing the other one." After putting the glove on, he continued, "But it's dirty! This one's got blood prints on it!" He then removed the glove and threw it away in disgust.[citation needed]

The picture suddenly cuts over to a shot of the man's lower torso. His buttocks were partly exposed, and he was holding the now-removed mask up to the camera with the rubber extension now placed in the mouth of the mask, howling, "They're coming to get me!" An unidentified female accomplice wearing a costume then told him to "bend over, bitch." The accomplice then started to spank the man with a flyswatter as the man screamed loudly, shouting "Oh do it!" part way. The transmission then blacked out for a few seconds before resuming the Doctor Who episode in progress; the hijack lasted for about 90 seconds.[6]

WTTW, which maintained its transmitter atop the Sears Tower, found that its engineers were unable to stop the hijacker due to the fact that there were no engineers on duty at the Sears Tower at the time of the hijacking. According to station spokesman Anders Yocom, technicians monitoring the transmission from WTTW headquarters "attempted to take corrective measures, but couldn't."[7] "By the time our people began looking into what was going on, it was over," he told the Chicago Tribune.[3] WTTW was able to find copies of the hijacker's telecast with the help of Doctor Who fans who had been taping the show.[citation needed]

Reaction

WTTW and WGN-TV joined HBO (which had a similar incident occur 19 months earlier) as instances of broadcast signal intrusion.[1] The Max Headroom incident made national headlines and was reported on the CBS Evening News the next day. WTTW received numerous phone calls from viewers who wondered what had occurred for the duration of the intrusion.[8]

An investigating FCC engineer quoted at the time said the perpetrators of the intrusion faced a maximum $10,000 fine, up to a year in prison, or both.[3]

Not long after the incident, WMAQ-TV humorously inserted clips of the hijacking into a newscast during Mark Giangreco's sports highlights. "A lot of people thought it was real – the pirate cutting into our broadcast. We got all kinds of calls about it," said Giangreco.[9]

See also

References

  1. ^ a b "Bogus 'Max Headroom' Interrupts Broadcasts On 2 Chicago Stations". The Philadelphia Inquirer. Inquirer Wire Services. November 24, 1987. Archived from the original on June 26, 2016. Retrieved June 26, 2016 – via philly-archives. {{cite news}}: Unknown parameter |dead-url= ignored (|url-status= suggested) (help)
  2. ^ Hayner, Don (November 24, 1987). "2 channels interrupted to the Max". Chicago Sun-Times. p. 3. CHI265386. Retrieved June 26, 2016 – via HighBeam Research. {{cite news}}: Unknown parameter |subscription= ignored (|url-access= suggested) (help)
  3. ^ a b c Camper, John; Daley, Steve (November 24, 1987). "A powerful video prankster could become Max Jailroom". Chicagoland. Chicago Tribune. p. 21. Strutzel said an engineer quickly changed the frequency of the signal that was transmitting the news show to the Hancock building, thus breaking the lock established by the video pirate.
  4. ^ WGN Channel 9 – The Nine O'Clock News – "The 1st 'Max Headroom' Incident" (1987) (Videotape). The Museum of Classic Chicago Television. 23 November 2017. Retrieved 23 November 2017 – via YouTube.
  5. ^ WTTW Chicago – The Max Headroom Pirating Incident (1987) – Original Upload (Videotape). The Museum of Classic Chicago Television. 30 October 2007. Retrieved 23 November 2017 – via YouTube.
  6. ^ Bellows, Alan (November 22, 2016). "Remember, Remember the 22nd of November". Damn Interesting (published January 9, 2007). Archived from the original on May 15, 2016. Retrieved June 26, 2016. {{cite web}}: Unknown parameter |dead-url= ignored (|url-status= suggested) (help)
  7. ^ Carmody, John (November 24, 1987). "NBC Lands Gorbachev Interview". The Washington Post. p. D1. 95520. Retrieved June 26, 2016 – via ProQuest Archiver. {{cite news}}: Unknown parameter |subscription= ignored (|url-access= suggested) (help)
  8. ^ The Associated Press (November 24, 1987). "Bogus Max Headroom pirates 2 TV stations, drops his pants". The Palm Beach Post. p. 3A. {{cite news}}: Unknown parameter |subscription= ignored (|url-access= suggested) (help)
  9. ^ Ruane, John (January 1, 1988). "Casting final look at '87 // Local sportscasters recall year's memorable events". Chicago Sun-Times. p. 94. Retrieved June 26, 2016 – via HighBeam Research. {{cite news}}: Unknown parameter |subscription= ignored (|url-access= suggested) (help)

Further reading

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