benbaked
11-30-06, 07:12 AM
I had never known about it until I came across a picture of Max Headroom and then read his Wikipedia article, that contained a blurb about a "video pirate" whom impersonated the Headroom character in Nov. '87.
One of the most bizarre incidents involving the Max Headroom character was on November 22, 1987, when two Chicago, Illinois television stations had their broadcast signals hijacked by an unknown person wearing a Max Headroom mask. The first attack took place for 25 seconds during the sportscast on the 9 O'Clock news on WGN-TV Channel 9 and two hours later around 11 o'clock on PBS affiliate WTTW-TV Channel 11 for about 90 seconds during a broadcast of the science fiction series Doctor Who episode Horror of Fang Rock — which also included the masked Max Headroom getting smacked on his bare rear-end by a fly swatter. The identity of the culprit was never determined. The term given to this act is broadcast signal intrusion. The incident is similar to an occurrence in the comedy film Used Cars and the "Academy" episode of the Max Headroom series itself.
Wikipedia Article about Max Headroom Video Pirating Incident (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Max_Headroom_Pirating_Incident)
Here is the video of the incident (http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=OnDYssFcNxc)
Here is the video of the CBS News story about the incident (http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=h5mzkt4N77s&mode=related&search=)
Turn down your speakers if you watch the CBS News video, the audio quality is trash and pops/crackles.
One of the most bizarre incidents involving the Max Headroom character was on November 22, 1987, when two Chicago, Illinois television stations had their broadcast signals hijacked by an unknown person wearing a Max Headroom mask. The first attack took place for 25 seconds during the sportscast on the 9 O'Clock news on WGN-TV Channel 9 and two hours later around 11 o'clock on PBS affiliate WTTW-TV Channel 11 for about 90 seconds during a broadcast of the science fiction series Doctor Who episode Horror of Fang Rock — which also included the masked Max Headroom getting smacked on his bare rear-end by a fly swatter. The identity of the culprit was never determined. The term given to this act is broadcast signal intrusion. The incident is similar to an occurrence in the comedy film Used Cars and the "Academy" episode of the Max Headroom series itself.
Wikipedia Article about Max Headroom Video Pirating Incident (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Max_Headroom_Pirating_Incident)
Here is the video of the incident (http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=OnDYssFcNxc)
Here is the video of the CBS News story about the incident (http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=h5mzkt4N77s&mode=related&search=)
Turn down your speakers if you watch the CBS News video, the audio quality is trash and pops/crackles.