For 25 second in 1987 , in the middle of WGN - TV anchor Dan Roan ’s sportscast , thousands of Chicagoans ’ provender were replace with a low analog whine and the eery image of a mask human beings nodding over and over as if in a State Department of passion . “ If you ’re wonder what ’s befall , so am I , ” Roan said to his audience once WGN regained control of the sign . What he could n’t have known is that the rest of the world would still be wondering to this day .
9:14pm CST today marks 30 years since one of the most unusual hacks in history : the Max Headroomsignal intrusion . One of them wearing a mask of fictional AI goggle box host and New Coke spokesthing Max Headroom , the trickster hijacked two stations that November eventide — first WGN - TV , and two hours later an even more memorable putsch of WTTW during a programme of Dr. Who .
What made the 2d incident stand out ? Besides seize WTTW ’s airwave for nearly three fourth dimension as long as WGN - TV ’s , the hackers had successfully broadcast sound recording , and it was creepy-crawly enough to match the unnerving visuals .
The hard garble signaling , reprise moans , and queasy swaying of the background give the printing that the character is in pain , agonizingly trapped inside the rogue signal . If the effect was to craft something impenetrable and frightening , they mostly deliver the goods .
undercut the terror of a low - bitrate man with a giant head appear in the TV unannounced are the words themselves , at least the ones that are audible . They ’re standard hacker snark : “ Catch the wave , ” a snarl reference to New Coke ; “ Yeah , I guess I ’m better than [ WGN sportscaster ] Chuck Swirsky ” ; and another obtuse labour at WGN prescient , “ I just made a jumbo chef-d’oeuvre for all the greatest world newspaper nerds . ” ( WGN suffer for World ’s Greatest Newspaper . )
“ They ’re coming to get me , ” he groans before turning around to have an confederate spank his simple ass for about eight seconds . Then Dr. Who came back on .
At the time , WGN Engineering Director Robert Strutzelsaidthat such a signal intrusion “ takes very sophisticated equipment to do this at a significant power level , ” which should have made the hackers as simple to find as HBO ’s “ skipper midnight ” a few calendar month prior . But FCC and FBI involvement at the time show fruitless , and civiliantheorieshave had as much success in the intervening years at determining the identity or the motivation of the hacker . In that sense , those two mo of deep footage remain a perfect crime .
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