Engineering:Max Headroom broadcast signal intrusion

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Short description: Chicago television hijacking incident
Max Headroom broadcast signal intrusion
Max Headroom broadcast signal intrusion.jpg
The unidentified man dressed to resemble Max Headroom was visible in the intruding broadcast.
DateNovember 22, 1987; 37 years ago (1987-11-22)
LocationChicago, Illinois (WGN-TV
WTTW)
ParticipantsUnidentified
OutcomeUnsolved

On the evening of November 22, 1987, two television stations in Chicago, Illinois in the United States had their broadcast signals hijacked with video and audio of an unknown person wearing a Max Headroom mask and costume.

The first intrusion took place during the sportscast on the 9:00 PM news on WGN-TV and lasted 28 seconds; two hours later, a broadcast of Doctor Who on PBS affiliate WTTW was interrupted for 90 seconds. Audio of a distorted voice in the second broadcast made references to WGN sportscaster Chuck Swirsky and WGN-TV's call letters (an initialism for "World's Greatest Newspaper").

Over thirty years following the incident, the identity of the hijackers remained unknown.[1][2][3][4]

Signal intrusion

WGN-TV

File:WGN-TV 'Max Headroom' Incident" (1987).webm The first signal intrusion took place during the sports segment of a live broadcast of WGN-TV's The Nine O'Clock News. For 15 seconds, the screen went black, then displayed a person wearing a Max Headroom mask and sunglasses,[5] accompanied by a buzzing sound[6] and swaying in front of a rotating corrugated metal panel that mimicked Max Headroom's geometric background effect.[7] The hijack lasted 28 seconds, and was stopped after engineers at WGN switched the broadcast frequency of their link to the transmitter atop the John Hancock Center.[8]

Following the incident, sports anchor Dan Roan commented, "Well, if you're wondering what's happened, so am I",[7] and joked that the computer running the news "took off and went wild"; he then repeated his report of the day's Chicago Bears game.[9]

WTTW

File:Max Headroom broadcast intrusion.webm

Later that night, during a broadcast of the Doctor Who serial Horror of Fang Rock on local PBS station WTTW, the signal was again interrupted by video of the Max Headroom impersonator, this time with distorted audio.[3][6]

The masked figure made a reference to WGN sportscaster Chuck Swirsky, whom he called a "frickin' liberal", held up a can of Pepsi while saying "Catch the wave" (a slogan from an ad campaign for Coca-Cola featuring the character Max Headroom),[3][7] and held up a middle finger (inside what appeared to be a hollowed-out dildo[11]). After singing "your love is fading", humming the theme song to the 1959 TV series Clutch Cargo,[7][6] and saying "I still see the X" (a reference to last episode of that show)[7] he said he had "made a giant masterpiece for all the greatest world newspaper nerds" (WGN's call letters stand for "World's Greatest Newspaper").[3][7] He then exposed his buttocks, saying "they're coming to get me", while a female figure spanked him with a flyswatter.[3] After a few moments of static, viewers were returned to the Doctor Who broadcast.[6]

The signal takeover lasted 90 seconds.[3] 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".[12] "By the time our people began looking into what was going on, it was over," he told the Chicago Tribune.[8] 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]

Legal issues

An investigating FCC engineer quoted at the time said the perpetrators of the intrusion faced a maximum $100,000 fine, up to a year in prison, or both.[8]

Cultural impact

The Max Headroom incident made national headlines and was reported on the CBS Evening News the next day.[third-party source needed] WTTW received numerous phone calls from viewers who wondered what had occurred for the duration of the intrusion.[13]

According to Motherboard, the incident became an influential "cyberpunk hacking trope".[4]

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.[14]

See also

References

  1. ↑ Shefsky, Jay (November 21, 2017). "30 Years Later, Notorious 'Max Headroom Incident' Remains a Mystery". WTTW News. https://news.wttw.com/2017/11/21/30-years-later-notorious-max-headroom-incident-remains-mystery. 
  2. ↑ Unruh, Julie (November 23, 2017). "30 years later, Max Headroom hijack mystery remains unsolved". WGN-TV. https://wgntv.com/2017/11/22/30-years-later-max-headroom-hijack-mystery-remains-unsolved/. 
  3. ↑ 3.0 3.1 3.2 3.3 3.4 3.5 Gallagher, Sean (November 22, 2017). "Thirty years later, "Max Headroom" TV pirate remains at large". https://arstechnica.com/information-technology/2017/11/thirty-years-later-max-headroom-tv-pirate-remains-at-large/. 
  4. ↑ 4.0 4.1 Haskins, Caroline (November 22, 2017). "Television's Most Infamous Hack Is Still a Mystery 30 Years Later". Motherboard (Vice Media). https://www.vice.com/en_us/article/59yvj5/max-headroom-hack-anniversary. 
  5. ↑ Hayner, Don (November 24, 1987). "2 channels interrupted to the Max". Chicago Sun-Times: p. 3. CHI265386. https://www.highbeam.com/doc/1P2-3857222.html. Retrieved June 26, 2016. 
  6. ↑ 6.0 6.1 6.2 6.3 Bellows, Alan (January 2007). "Remember, Remember the 22nd of November". https://www.damninteresting.com/remember-remember-the-22nd-of-november/. 
  7. ↑ 7.0 7.1 7.2 7.3 7.4 7.5 Knittel, Chris (November 25, 2013). "The Mystery of the Creepiest Television Hack". Vice. http://motherboard.vice.com/read/headroom-hacker. 
  8. ↑ 8.0 8.1 8.2 Camper, John; Daley, Steve (November 24, 1987). "A powerful video prankster could become Max Jailroom". Chicago Tribune: p. 21. http://chicagotribune.newspapers.com/image/203310798/. "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." 
  9. ↑ 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.
  10. ↑ WTTW Chicago – The Max Headroom Pirating Incident (1987) – Original Upload (videotape). The Museum of Classic Chicago Television. October 30, 2007 – via YouTube.
  11. ↑ "WTTW Channel 11 – Doctor Who – 'The Max Headroom Pirating Incident' (1987)". http://www.fuzzymemories.tv/index.php?c=59&m=max+headroom+pirate. Retrieved September 9, 2019. 
  12. ↑ Carmody, John (November 24, 1987). "NBC Lands Gorbachev Interview". The Washington Post: p. D1. 95520. https://pqasb.pqarchiver.com/washingtonpost/doc/306943044.html?FMT=ABS&FMTS=ABS:FT&date=Nov+24%2C+1987&author=Carmody%2C+John&pub=The+Washington+Post+%28pre-1997+Fulltext%29&edition=&startpage=d.01&desc=NBC+Lands+Gorbachev+Interview. Retrieved June 26, 2016. 
  13. ↑ The Associated Press (November 24, 1987). "Bogus Max Headroom pirates 2 TV stations, drops his pants". The Palm Beach Post: p. 3A. 
  14. ↑ Ruane, John (January 1, 1988). "Casting final look at '87 // Local sportscasters recall year's memorable events". Chicago Sun-Times: p. 94. https://www.highbeam.com/doc/1P2-3863222.html. Retrieved June 26, 2016. 

Further reading

External links




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