Broadcast Signal Intrusion
October 14, 2021 2:23 PM Subscribe
On the night of November 22, 1987, when the television broadcasts of two stations in Chicago, Illinois 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 with a corrugated metal panel swiveling in the background to mimic Max Headroom's geometric background effect.
During the broadcast of popular British Science-Fiction program Doctor Who, the signal was interrupted by a pirate broadcast of unknown origin. Despite decades of investigation, the culprit has never been identified. Now 34 years later, a new film based on the incident is premiering today at the Chicago International Film Festival.
(Previously)
During the broadcast of popular British Science-Fiction program Doctor Who, the signal was interrupted by a pirate broadcast of unknown origin. Despite decades of investigation, the culprit has never been identified. Now 34 years later, a new film based on the incident is premiering today at the Chicago International Film Festival.
(Previously)
It was The Horror of Fang Rock, for all you greatest world newspaper nerds out there.
posted by dannyboybell at 2:31 PM on October 14, 2021 [12 favorites]
posted by dannyboybell at 2:31 PM on October 14, 2021 [12 favorites]
greatest world newspaper
Do you mean WGN? It was WTTW (Window to the World) that was hijacked although they did try WGN first (but messed up the audio feed)
posted by JoeZydeco at 2:34 PM on October 14, 2021
Do you mean WGN? It was WTTW (Window to the World) that was hijacked although they did try WGN first (but messed up the audio feed)
posted by JoeZydeco at 2:34 PM on October 14, 2021
This is one of my favorite things ever. I’m not sure why. I guess 80s + TV strangeness + hacking + mystery + irreverence: joy. To me, at least.
posted by Don.Kinsayder at 2:40 PM on October 14, 2021 [7 favorites]
posted by Don.Kinsayder at 2:40 PM on October 14, 2021 [7 favorites]
This was shown at the Fantasia festival in Montreal this summer - definitely flawed but very interesting film.
posted by remembrancer at 2:41 PM on October 14, 2021 [1 favorite]
posted by remembrancer at 2:41 PM on October 14, 2021 [1 favorite]
The link to the Reddit post by the person who claims to know the pirate(s) [later cleared of suspicion] that's mentioned at the end of the video.
posted by chavenet at 3:04 PM on October 14, 2021
posted by chavenet at 3:04 PM on October 14, 2021
Yeppers, my favorite part is they still don't know who did it. Max would be proud!
posted by rhizome at 3:16 PM on October 14, 2021 [4 favorites]
posted by rhizome at 3:16 PM on October 14, 2021 [4 favorites]
It had taken me many years, thanks to WTTW's and my schedules, before I finally saw the full, uninterrupted "Horror Of Fang Rock" episodes. Thanks, Retro TV.
posted by stannate at 4:06 PM on October 14, 2021 [4 favorites]
posted by stannate at 4:06 PM on October 14, 2021 [4 favorites]
WTTW (Window to the World)
I had a friend who always called it “Wilmette Talking to Winnetka”
posted by hwyengr at 5:29 PM on October 14, 2021 [11 favorites]
I had a friend who always called it “Wilmette Talking to Winnetka”
posted by hwyengr at 5:29 PM on October 14, 2021 [11 favorites]
I was like, whatevs, until I got to the part where they interrupted a Doctor Who episode??!!! Death's too good for them.
posted by heatherlogan at 5:32 PM on October 14, 2021
posted by heatherlogan at 5:32 PM on October 14, 2021
Kinda ballsy, given that the HBO hijacker was caught and prosecuted.
I have never stopped enjoying that satellite uplink stations are called teleports. Similarly, despite how common DirecTV and Dish became, I still get a mild sense of wonder out of the whole satellite TV thing. It's just cool. Not as metal as having a motorized 10 foot dish in the back yard, but still cool. How could anything that has its performance measured in Kelvins not be cool?
posted by wierdo at 7:02 PM on October 14, 2021 [2 favorites]
I have never stopped enjoying that satellite uplink stations are called teleports. Similarly, despite how common DirecTV and Dish became, I still get a mild sense of wonder out of the whole satellite TV thing. It's just cool. Not as metal as having a motorized 10 foot dish in the back yard, but still cool. How could anything that has its performance measured in Kelvins not be cool?
posted by wierdo at 7:02 PM on October 14, 2021 [2 favorites]
It was The Horror of Fang Rock, for all you greatest world newspaper nerds out there.
That's a pretty good one, too -- just went back through the first two episodes last night and will probably continue it shortly.
posted by The Great Big Mulp at 8:03 PM on October 14, 2021
That's a pretty good one, too -- just went back through the first two episodes last night and will probably continue it shortly.
posted by The Great Big Mulp at 8:03 PM on October 14, 2021
Tangential story about an unexpected homage:
As he is from Chicago, John Cusack was one of the people who saw this broadcast, and fell for the anarchy of it; and loved the whole incident even more when the police admitted that they didn't exactly have a current law on the books which would describe the video pirate's actions, and that the guy who interrupted the broadcast had therefore come up with "a whole new crime."
And that is why John Cusack's production company is named "New Crime Productions".
posted by EmpressCallipygos at 8:06 PM on October 14, 2021 [29 favorites]
As he is from Chicago, John Cusack was one of the people who saw this broadcast, and fell for the anarchy of it; and loved the whole incident even more when the police admitted that they didn't exactly have a current law on the books which would describe the video pirate's actions, and that the guy who interrupted the broadcast had therefore come up with "a whole new crime."
And that is why John Cusack's production company is named "New Crime Productions".
posted by EmpressCallipygos at 8:06 PM on October 14, 2021 [29 favorites]
Strange to think that John Cusack was watching the same show I was that night. I wonder who else was watching? In fact I wonder how many strange coincidences like that we will never know about.
posted by ambulocetus at 8:13 PM on October 14, 2021 [8 favorites]
posted by ambulocetus at 8:13 PM on October 14, 2021 [8 favorites]
The Horror of Fang Rock
Seals are animals?
posted by vrakatar at 9:35 PM on October 14, 2021 [1 favorite]
Seals are animals?
posted by vrakatar at 9:35 PM on October 14, 2021 [1 favorite]
GOODEVENING HBO
FROM CAPTAIN MIDNIGHT
$12.95/MONTH ?
NO WAY !
[SHOWTIME/MOVIE CHANNEL BEWARE!]
posted by clavdivs at 10:30 PM on October 14, 2021 [4 favorites]
FROM CAPTAIN MIDNIGHT
$12.95/MONTH ?
NO WAY !
[SHOWTIME/MOVIE CHANNEL BEWARE!]
posted by clavdivs at 10:30 PM on October 14, 2021 [4 favorites]
"You can ask your parents about Max Headroom"
posted by doctornemo at 5:40 AM on October 15, 2021 [2 favorites]
posted by doctornemo at 5:40 AM on October 15, 2021 [2 favorites]
I was watching along with you ambulocetus and lived pretty close to the Northeastern University tv station location. Dr. Who started at 11 PM on Sundays so younger-me couldn't even reach out to anyone to tell them.
posted by zerobyproxy at 7:35 AM on October 15, 2021
posted by zerobyproxy at 7:35 AM on October 15, 2021
Disappointed it ended with Max Headroom having "his butt" spanked, which seems like a category error.
posted by straight at 8:14 AM on October 15, 2021
posted by straight at 8:14 AM on October 15, 2021
Took me a while to remember where I had heard this story before, but it was an episode of the Criminal podcast: "The Max Headroom Incident"
It's a generally good podcast, and I remember this being a good episode.
posted by oakroom at 11:10 AM on October 15, 2021
It's a generally good podcast, and I remember this being a good episode.
posted by oakroom at 11:10 AM on October 15, 2021
Due to "youthful indiscretions" I can assure you that the feds and communications companies are really, really good at triangulate, locate, intimidate and/or eliminate, from at least the early 70's on. The hijacker's most brilliant move was to only do it once.
posted by Chitownfats at 12:09 PM on October 15, 2021 [5 favorites]
posted by Chitownfats at 12:09 PM on October 15, 2021 [5 favorites]
These mostly harmless hacks were the best and it troubles me that nothing like this happens anymore. I mean sure sometimes a website gets defaced; but it just isn’t the same.
posted by interogative mood at 1:20 PM on October 15, 2021 [3 favorites]
posted by interogative mood at 1:20 PM on October 15, 2021 [3 favorites]
I really hope this mystery is solved and the true story is told before I kick the bucket, but with the secret having been kept this long, I'm not holding my breath. I've read Captain Midnight's account of his hijacking, and found it to be a fascinating story. Can anyone recommend any other good reads about technical pranks like this?
posted by signsofrain at 7:30 PM on October 15, 2021
posted by signsofrain at 7:30 PM on October 15, 2021
It's not exactly "technical," but the two volumes of "Pranks!" (the second isn't linked from that page, but it's there somewhere) from Re/search are almost certainly up your alley.
posted by rhizome at 2:48 PM on October 16, 2021
posted by rhizome at 2:48 PM on October 16, 2021
it troubles me that nothing like this happens anymore.
It was an easy target at the time: an open-air microwave link between the studio and the Hancock Tower. That's what also made it hard to track down, since it could have been any place in the Chicago area with a line-of-sight to the top of the Hancock.
These days it's all encrypted data links over the wire, it's much easier to just write a ransomware virus or something else.
Can anyone recommend any other good reads about technical pranks like this?
MIT has a long tradition of student pranks or "hacks". MIT Press (of course) also published Nightwork with a longer historical background.
posted by JoeZydeco at 6:42 AM on October 19, 2021
It was an easy target at the time: an open-air microwave link between the studio and the Hancock Tower. That's what also made it hard to track down, since it could have been any place in the Chicago area with a line-of-sight to the top of the Hancock.
These days it's all encrypted data links over the wire, it's much easier to just write a ransomware virus or something else.
Can anyone recommend any other good reads about technical pranks like this?
MIT has a long tradition of student pranks or "hacks". MIT Press (of course) also published Nightwork with a longer historical background.
posted by JoeZydeco at 6:42 AM on October 19, 2021
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posted by Kadin2048 at 2:29 PM on October 14, 2021 [5 favorites]