7/1/2023 0 Comments Max headroom incident pbsThe Max Headroom signal hijacking occurred on the night of November 22, 1987, when the television broadcasts of two stations in Chicago, Illinois, United States, were hijacked in an act of broadcast piracy by a video of an unidentified person wearing a Max Headroom mask and costume, accompanied by distorted audio and a corrugated iron panel swiveling in the background to mimic Max Headroom's geometric background effect. The first incident took place during the sports segment of independent TV station WGN-TV's 9:00 p.m. During this intrusion, the person in the mask swayed erratically and was accompanied by a strange buzzing noise. The second incident occurred around two hours later during PBS member station WTTW's broadcast of Doctor Who and lasted for about 90 seconds. The masked person spoke throughout this intrusion and made references to Max Headroom's endorsement of Coca-Cola, the TV series Clutch Cargo, WGN anchor Chuck Swirsky and "all the greatest world newspaper nerds", a reference to WGN's call letters, which stand for " World's Greatest Newspaper". The video ended with the person's exposed buttocks being spanked by a woman with a flyswatter before normal programming resumed.ĭespite an FCC investigation and decades of speculation, the culprits were never caught and have not been positively identified. The first intrusion took place during the sports segment of WGN-TV's The Nine O'Clock News. Home viewers' screens went black for about fifteen seconds, then displayed the footage of a person wearing a Max Headroom mask and sunglasses rocking erratically in front of a rotating corrugated metal panel that mimicked the real Max Headroom's geometric background effect accompanied by a staticky and garbled buzzing sound. Surely, they knew their prank would make the local papers, but it's doubtful they realized that we'd still be watching their video decades later.The entire intrusion lasted for about 28 seconds and was cut off when engineers at WGN changed the frequency of the signal linking the broadcast studio to the station's transmitter atop the John Hancock Center. "I just made a great masterpiece for all the great world newspaper nerds," their Max Headroom said, making another WGN reference (WGN stands for World's Greatest Newspaper). Central Time, during a broadcast of the Doctor Who serial Horror of Fang Rock, PBS. CHICAGO (WLS) - 'Broadcast Signal Intrusion'. inspired by the Max Headroom Chicago TV broadcast hijackings in the 1980s. Whoever they were, they made a lasting impression. MaxHeadroomsignalhijacking 607 subscribers Subscribe 16K views 4 years ago Later that night, around 11:15 p.m. 'Broadcast Signal Intrusion' is a new thriller starring Harry Shum Jr. Although the longer broadcast was on WTTW, it appears that WGN was the real target since the perpetrators made WGN-related references, including the mention of Swirsky and humming the theme of the cartoon Clutch Cargo. Or maybe they were disgruntled WGN employees. Perhaps the perpetrators were broadcasting students from a near by college. But last year, the FCC's lead investigator of the incident, Michael Marcus, told Vice Motherboard surplus amateur radio gear would have done the trick, though it would have at least required significant knowledge of broadcasting technology. At the time, WGN officials speculated that the pranksters would have needed powerful, expensive equipment to override its broadcast. The prevailing theory is that the hijackers beamed their own signal from a tall building, or perhaps a van, directly at WGN and WTTW's antenna, overpowering the signal sent by the companies' own transmitters. "Exactly how these pirates were able to pull off the overriding of WGN-TV and WTTW-TV's signals is not yet known for certain," Chicago Radio and Media reported in 2012. But also like today's hacks, the prank required sophisticated technical skills. Like most of today's acts of cyber-vandalism, the content of Max Headroom interruption was juvenile. It's been nearly 27 years, but the incident remains a mystery. >'Well, if you're wondering what's happened, so am I.' "Yeah, I think I'm better than Chuck Swirsky!" the infiltrator announced in a high pitched, distorted voice, referring to the Chicago area sports announcer. One of which appeared On November 22, 1987, about 11:15 pm, a PBS affiliate was broadcasting the Doctor Who. This time, the pranksters were able to broadcast their entire video, complete with audio. But two hours later, PBS affiliate station WTTW's broadcast of Doctor Who was similarly interrupted. "Well, if you're wondering what's happened, so am I," the station's sports anchor Dan Roan said when the signal was restored. After about 30 seconds, WGN's technicians were able to override the pirate signal.
0 Comments
Leave a Reply. |