Today, November 22nd, marks an event that, although it's not the only time it happened, marks one occasion that singularly stands out.
This was the Big One.
And the perpetrators -- there were at least two --- have to this day never been caught or even identified.
I refer of course to the Max Headroom Broadcast Intrusion of 1987 in Chicago. First it was the WGN-TV signal interrupted during the sports segment of the evening news:
--- That one was just a few seconds with no audio save a metallic grinding noise. WGN engineers got their signal back by changing the frequency of the signal sent to their transmitter and resumed broadcasting.
But later that night, WTTW-TV ... which had no engineers on duty to take a similar step ... got a longer look:
Narrated Wiki:
I love it. This is art, man.
Interesting too where the second broadcast lands in the Doctor Who dialogue after recovering its signal.
This was the Big One.
And the perpetrators -- there were at least two --- have to this day never been caught or even identified.
I refer of course to the Max Headroom Broadcast Intrusion of 1987 in Chicago. First it was the WGN-TV signal interrupted during the sports segment of the evening news:
--- That one was just a few seconds with no audio save a metallic grinding noise. WGN engineers got their signal back by changing the frequency of the signal sent to their transmitter and resumed broadcasting.
But later that night, WTTW-TV ... which had no engineers on duty to take a similar step ... got a longer look:
Narrated Wiki:
The show was interrupted by television static, after which the unidentified man wearing the Max Headroom mask and sunglasses appeared, mentioning WGN pundit, Chuck Swirsky, whom he said he was "better than", going on to call Swirsky a "Freaking Liberal". The man started to moan, scream and laugh.
He continued to laugh and utter various 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 tossed the can down, leaned towards the camera and presented the finger wearing a rubber extension over his middle finger, though the gesture was partially offscreen. The man then retrieved the Pepsi can, and sang "Your love is fading", removed the rubber extension, and then began humming the theme song to Clutch Cargo, pausing to say "I still see the X" (often misheard as "I stole CBS"), which referred to the final episode of the series, before resuming humming again.
He then began to moan painfully, exclaiming about his piles, after which a flatulence sound was heard. He then stated that he had "made a giant masterpiece for all the greatest world newspaper nerds" (the WGN call letters used by the Chicago television station as well as its sister radio station are an abbreviation for "World's Greatest Newspaper", in reference to the flagship newspaper of their corporate parent, the Tribune Company's Chicago Tribune). He then held up a glove (similar to the one worn by Michael Jackson at the time) and said, "My brother is wearing the other one." After putting the glove on, he exclaimed "but it's dirty! It's like you got blood stains on it!" He then removed and threw the glove down.
The picture suddenly cut over to a shot of the man's lower torso. His buttocks were partly exposed, and he was holding the now-removed mask up to the camera with the rubber extension now placed in the mouth of the mask, howling, "They're coming to get me!" An unidentified female accomplice wearing a French maid outfit said to him, "Bend over, bitch!". The accomplice then started to spank the man with a flyswatter as the man screamed loudly. The transmission then blacked out for a few seconds before resuming the Doctor Who episode in progress; the hijack lasted for about 90 seconds.[3]
---- Humming the Clutch Cargo theme. HUMMING THE CLUTCH CARGO THEME. He continued to laugh and utter various 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 tossed the can down, leaned towards the camera and presented the finger wearing a rubber extension over his middle finger, though the gesture was partially offscreen. The man then retrieved the Pepsi can, and sang "Your love is fading", removed the rubber extension, and then began humming the theme song to Clutch Cargo, pausing to say "I still see the X" (often misheard as "I stole CBS"), which referred to the final episode of the series, before resuming humming again.
He then began to moan painfully, exclaiming about his piles, after which a flatulence sound was heard. He then stated that he had "made a giant masterpiece for all the greatest world newspaper nerds" (the WGN call letters used by the Chicago television station as well as its sister radio station are an abbreviation for "World's Greatest Newspaper", in reference to the flagship newspaper of their corporate parent, the Tribune Company's Chicago Tribune). He then held up a glove (similar to the one worn by Michael Jackson at the time) and said, "My brother is wearing the other one." After putting the glove on, he exclaimed "but it's dirty! It's like you got blood stains on it!" He then removed and threw the glove down.
The picture suddenly cut over to a shot of the man's lower torso. His buttocks were partly exposed, and he was holding the now-removed mask up to the camera with the rubber extension now placed in the mouth of the mask, howling, "They're coming to get me!" An unidentified female accomplice wearing a French maid outfit said to him, "Bend over, bitch!". The accomplice then started to spank the man with a flyswatter as the man screamed loudly. The transmission then blacked out for a few seconds before resuming the Doctor Who episode in progress; the hijack lasted for about 90 seconds.[3]
I love it. This is art, man.
Interesting too where the second broadcast lands in the Doctor Who dialogue after recovering its signal.
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