![]() ![]() We’ve got no proof about that in the slightest, but when you’ve got instinct you go with it. We believe what happened is the real Max Headroom came to life and hijacked TV. On 22 November 1987, sports anchor Dan Roan of Chicago’s WGN-TV News Network was narrating the video of the day’s football highlights when something highly unusual happened. So we went to throw our “hat” into the “ring”. Article: The story of the Max Headroom pirating incident, one of the few successful television intrusions in history, and still unsolved. Ultimately, there remain a lot of conspiracy theories but no conclusion. On the night of November 22, 1987, the television signals of two stations in Chicago, Illinois, were hijacked, briefly sending a pirate broadcast of an unidentified person wearing a Max Headroom mask and costume to thousands of home viewers. “ ripe for media studies too, perhaps-a cyberpunk culture jam, an anarchic protest decades before Anonymous and hacktivism became household terms, reminding unsuspecting audiences how unsuspecting they really were.” We get a lot of those in the YouTube era, but the fact the hijackers remain unknown is what makes this incident special.Īnd as that excellent Motherboard piece puts it, the Max Headroom Broadcast Intrusion: “It did need a dish antenna, but if they got close to the STL receiver antenna at the TV transmitter, than a Direct-TV-size antenna might have been adequate.”īut the reality seems this was nothing more than a grand scale prank. Michael Marcus shunned the verdict of the WGN – he thought nothing overly sophisticated or expensive was required as second-hand equipment could be picked up. It’s revealed an FBI report on the incident by a Dr. ![]() The FBI’s Chicago office warned everyone there’s a penalty of $100,000 and a 12 month spell in jail. ![]() In what’s an incredibly in-depth investigative piece from 2013, it provides some revealing insights.īut with illegal interference of broadcast signals a federal offense, the government was pretty miffed with the intrusion. Motherboardextensively documented the possibilities of who did the act. It was the 30th anniversary of this event last year (our math skills paying off there – C at GCSE level, thank you very much).Īnd this was celebrated with various articles detailing the incident.īut others further back have done a fine job of getting to the bottom of this. Who fans just complained their VHS recordings had been spoiled. The incident made the news across America and prompted public debate. As there were no engineers working during the unexpected broadcast, technicians within WTTW tried to block the transmission.īut then it ended anyway and that was that. What in the name of bejeezus did any of it mean!? What was certain, claimed by WGN’s engineering director, is the individuals responsible needed cutting-edge equipment to achieve what they did. On November 22nd, 1987, two TV stations in Chicago had their broadcast signals hijacked by someone wearing a Max Headroom mask. ![]()
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