the actual broadcast hijack

So you might wonder what an actual broadcast hijack is. To make things easy - it is when the signal of an official radio or tv broadcast is interrupted by an intruder signal coming from a stronger transmitter that operates on the same frequency. Although relatively easy (at least for people who are better in physics than I was), it is subject to severe punishment (high fines and some time in prison). At least, when an offender can be found and convicted, which is not always the case.

A station can be hijacked for a variety of reasons - political, religious (it includes the cases of religious programmes interrupted with porn as well as porn interrupted by prayers), financial (yes, that IS silly, but there was a man who interrupted HBO once because he wanted to express his dissatisfaction with high service rates) but the strangest are these that occur for no apparent reason.

That's right. I would like to tell you about the strangest broadcast hijack that was ever noted on Wikipedia ^_^.   It is officially known as the "Max Headroom broadcast signal intrusion incident" and took place on 22 November 1987 in Chicago.  What is even more interesting is that interruption took place twice and two different stations were hijacked.

The first event took place during WGN-TV's live broadcast of The 9 O'Clock News. The sports report was suddenly interrupted by a video showing a man in a cheap brown suit and Max Headroom rubber mask. The background resembled that of the original series, but swirled and twitched. There was no audio to this strange picture. The video aired for almost half a minute, until a technician was able to switch to the original transmission. A surprised presenter only managed to comment "If you're wondering what happened - so am I". It later appeared that this occurrence was only a prelude to what was to be the strangest Max Headroom episode ever.

On 23.45, the very same evening, WTTW was broadcasting a Doctor Who episode  "Horror of Fang Rock" (by the way, if you're wondering which Doctor was that, just as Nekkoru did - I have checked, it was the 4th). Suddenly the signal was distorted and a grinning figure of Max Headroom appeared again, this time accompanied with equally strange audio. Since it was late and the broadcast was not live, there were no technicians in transmission tower and the horrified staff could only watch the same prerecorded message as previously.  

The impostor imitated the manner of speech of the original character quite accurately, it also appears that the character choice was deliberate (the plot of the original Max Headroom series involved the elements of broadcast hijacking performed by freedom fighters on the official broadcasts of evil corporations). The sound was distorted, yet audible and the phrases uttered by the figure seemed rather random - he made ironic references to WGN-TV and their sports presenter, waved and threw away a can of pepsi while reciting a New Coke marketing slogan "Catch the wave", murmured the "Clutch Cargo" theme song, laughed and mumbled and finally exposed his bare buttocks for spanking with a flyswatter by a female accomplice in a dress, while crying "They're coming to get me". The intruder signal then faded away and the Doctor Who episode continued with a phrase "As far as I can tell, a massive electric shock, he died instantly".


The incident must have been a shock for WGN-TV technicians. Apparently, the mysterious Max Headroom figure was not an amateur. According to the specialists in the realm, the person who successfully interrupted the broadcast must have had extraordinary technical knowledge and some powerful equipment. The pirate broadcast was stronger than the original TV signal, hence he was able to overpower the frequency. The cost of such equipment would be around 25000 USD (if bought, not rented) and since the microvawes were used, it was untraceable.  The hijacker must have also been near proximity of the antenna - presumably in one of the skyscrapers nearby. An investigation started immediately, especially in the wake of possibility of further attacks. The hijacker was never found  though and no traces of their actions were ever spotted.


Since then, many people have speculated on the motives of this incident. Apparently, whoever the perpetrator was, they have taken considerable effort and risk to transmit a relatively meaningless message. Various theories suggest reasons such as: a prank, a show-off of one's skills, a private grudge against the hijacked stations,  a political message or even dissatisfaction with the recent cancellation of Max Headroom show. 


You can find the footage of the entire incident on youtube, as well as the selection of news coverage and a short documentary on the topic. Since then, no such case of broadcast piracy has taken place in the US.