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On November 22, 1987, two television stations based in Chicago, Illinois, were hijacked two hours apart from one another by unidentified perpetrators.

Both hijackings briefly sent pirate broadcasts of an unidentified person wearing a Max Headroom mask and costume to thousands of homes in the Chicago metropolitan area. The first hijacking took place on the independent TV station WGN-TV's nightly newscast. An unidentified person wearing a Max Headroom mask swayed erratically in front of a semi-swiveling metal panel, likely meant to resemble the background often featured in the Max Headroom series. The perpetrators were unable to broadcast any audio; the only sound viewers heard was a loud buzz. The interruption went on for nearly 17 seconds before engineers at WGN-TV were able to regain control of their broadcast tower. The second hijacking occurred about two hours later, during PBS member station WTTW's broadcast of the Doctor Who serial Horror of Fang Rock. With nobody on duty at the tower that was hijacked, the perpetrators were able to broadcast audio and stay on the air longer than they did during the first hijacking. A person resembling Max Headroom, presumably the same person in the first hijacking, made reference to Max Headroom advertisements and other seemingly unrelated topics, before concluding by presenting their bare buttocks to a woman with a flyswatter. At that point, the hijackers ended the pirate broadcast, and normal programming resumed after an interruption of about 90 seconds. A criminal investigation conducted by the Federal Communications Commission in the immediate aftermath of the intrusion could not find the people responsible for the hijacking. Despite many unofficial inquiries and speculation since the hijackings, the perpetrators have yet to be identified.

Both signal hijackings took place on local TV stations based in Chicago, Illinois, on the night of Sunday, November 22, 1987.

Home viewers' screens went black for about 15 seconds before the image of a person wearing a Max Headroom mask and sunglasses appeared. The individual rocked erratically in front of a semi-rotating corrugated metal panel that mimicked the real Max Headroom's geometric background effect, accompanied by a static, garbled buzzing sound. The entire intrusion lasted for about 30 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.

That same night, at about 11:20 p.m., the signal of local PBS station WTTW was interrupted during an airing of the first part of the Doctor Who serial Horror of Fang Rock. The culprit was apparently the same Max Headroom impersonator, this time audible through distorted audio. He was first heard to make a comment about "nerds", then called WGN sportscaster Chuck Swirsky a "frickin' liberal", held up a can of Pepsi while referencing the "Catch the wave" slogan from a recent ad campaign for Coca-Cola featuring the real Max Headroom, and held up a middle finger near the camera inside what appeared to be a hollowed-out dildo. The (unworn) Max Headroom mask was briefly held in view while the voice cried out, "Oh no, they're coming to get me! Ah, make it stop!" and the female figure began spanking "Max" with a flyswatter. Technicians at WTTW's studios could not counteract the signal takeover because there were no engineers on duty at that hour at the Sears Tower (now named the Willis Tower), where the station's broadcast tower was located.

Martin Croker) is trying to cancel the intrusion to get the show back to normal, a brief clip of the Max Headroom Incident is shown on his monitor.

"The Freakiest TV Hack of the 1980s: Max Headroom". "Bogus 'Max Headroom' Interrupts Broadcasts On 2 Chicago Stations". Media related to Max Headroom broadcast signal intrusion at Wikimedia Commons The full text of Max Headroom signal hijacking of WTTW at Wikisource

Quick Facts

• An unidentified person wearing a Max Headroom mask swayed erratically in front of a semi-swiveling metal panel, likely meant to resemble the background often featured in the Max Headroom series.
• Both hijackings briefly sent pirate broadcasts of an unidentified person wearing a Max Headroom mask and costume to thousands of homes in the Chicago metropolitan area.
• A person resembling Max Headroom, presumably the same person in the first hijacking, made reference to Max Headroom advertisements and other seemingly unrelated topics, before concluding by presenting their bare buttocks to a woman with a flyswatter.
• Media related to Max Headroom broadcast signal intrusion at Wikimedia Commons
• The full text of Max Headroom signal hijacking of WTTW at Wikisource

Source material: Wikipedia - "Max Headroom signal hijackings". Adapted and summarized for DiscoverScroll. Original contributors are credited through the linked Wikipedia article. Read original on Wikipedia. CC BY-SA 4.0. Changes were made from the original.