- Max Headroom broadcast signal intrusion
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Max Headroom broadcast signal intrusion 
An unidentified man dressed to resemble Max Headroom was visible in the intruding broadcast.Participants Unidentified Location WGN-TV & WTTW Date November 22, 1987 Result Unsolved The Max Headroom broadcast signal intrusion was a television signal hijacking in Chicago, Illinois, on the evening of November 22, 1987. It is an example of what is known in the television business as broadcast signal intrusion. The intruder was successful in interrupting two television stations within three hours. Neither the hijacker nor the accomplices have ever been found or identified.
Contents
WGN-TV
The first occurrence of the signal intrusion took place during WGN-TV (channel 9)'s live telecast of its primetime newscast, The Nine O'Clock News. During Chicago Bears highlights in the sports report, the station's signal was interrupted for about half a minute by a video of a person wearing a Max Headroom mask,[1] standing in front of a swaying sheet of corrugated metal, which imitated the background effect in the Max Headroom TV and movie appearances. There was no audio, only a buzzing noise. The hijack was stopped after engineers at WGN switched the frequency of their studio link to the John Hancock Center transmitter.[2]
The incident left sports anchor Dan Roan flustered, saying, "Well, if you're wondering what happened, so am I."[3]
WTTW
Later that night, around 11:15 p.m., during a broadcast of the Doctor Who serial Horror of Fang Rock, PBS station WTTW (channel 11)'s signal was hijacked using the same video that was broadcast during the WGN-TV hijack, this time with distorted audio.[1] The person in the Max Headroom mask appeared, as before, this time saying, "That does it. He's a freakin' nerd," before laughing and jeering, "Yeah, I think I'm better than Chuck Swirsky. Freakin' liberal."[3]
The unidentified man continued to utter 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 tossing the can down, and making an obscene gesture with a rubber extension over his middle finger (the gesture was cut off at the bottom of the screen due to the close-up of the camera) then retrieving the Pepsi can, and saying "Your love is fading," before removing the rubber extension, then began humming the theme song to Clutch Cargo, and stating that he had "made a giant masterpiece for all the greatest world newspaper nerds" (the call letters WGN are an abbreviation for "World's Greatest Newspaper," in reference to the Tribune Company's Chicago Tribune). He then held up a glove, said "my brother is wearing the other one," and put the glove on. He then took the glove off, adding that it was "dirty."
The picture suddenly cut over to a shot of the man's lower torso. His buttocks were exposed, and he was holding the now-removed mask up to the camera while being spanked with a flyswatter by an unidentified accomplice wearing a dress, as the man exclaimed "They're coming to get me!". The transmission then blacked out and cut off, and the hijack was over after about 90 seconds.[3]
WTTW, which maintains its transmitter atop the then-Sears Tower, found that its engineers were unable to stop the hijacker. According to station spokesman Anders Yocom, technicians monitoring the transmission "attempted to take corrective measures, but couldn't."[4] "By the time our people began looking into what was going on, it was over," he told the Chicago Tribune. WTTW was able to find copies of the hijacker's telecast with the help of Doctor Who fans who had been taping the show.[2]
Reaction
WTTW and WGN-TV joined HBO as victims of broadcast signal intrusion.[5] The Max Headroom incident made national headlines and was reported on the CBS Evening News the next day.
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 for real - the pirate cutting into our broadcast. We got all kinds of calls about it," said Giangreco.[6]
See also
- Southern Television broadcast interruption hoax (1977)
- Captain Midnight
- Culture jamming
References
- ^ a b Hayner, Don (1987-11-24). "2 channels interrupted to the Max". Chicago Sun-Times: p. 3. CHI265386. http://www.highbeam.com/doc/1P2-3857222.html. Retrieved 2007-10-29.
- ^ a b Camper, John and Steve Daley (1987-11-24). "A powerful prankster could become Max Jailroom". Chicago Tribune: p. 1.
- ^ a b c "Remember, Remember the 22nd of November". Damn Interesting. http://www.damninteresting.com/?p=776. Retrieved 2009-08-10.
- ^ Carmody, John (1987-11-24). "NBC Lands Gorbachev Interview (The TV Column)". Washington Post: p. D1. 95520.
- ^ "Bogus 'Max Headroom' Interrupts Broadcasts On 2 Chicago Stations". Philadelphia Inquirer: p. C05. 1987-11-24. 8703130089. http://nl.newsbank.com/nl-search/we/Archives?p_product=PI&s_site=philly&p_multi=PI&p_theme=realcities&p_action=search&p_maxdocs=200&p_topdoc=1&p_text_direct-0=0EB29DADD081E2CE&p_field_direct-0=document_id&p_perpage=10&p_sort=YMD_date:D&s_trackval=GooglePM. Retrieved 2007-10-29.
- ^ Ruane, John (1988-01-01). "Casting final look at '87. Local sportscasters recall year's memorable events". Chicago Sun-Times: p. 94.
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