Gregory's ServerHappy 36th anniversary of the Max Headroom Signal Hijacking, for those who celebrate.
 53 comments
it's really odd that something this high profile almost never happens since
0
0
22 Nov 2023 at 14:01 | Open on geofront.rocks
@torspedia @th This and other TV broadcast intrusions documented in this fascinating article on our site:  @flockofnazguls @th I remember this from back in the day. I was a 16-year-old Chicago kid. Still surprised the hijacker was never caught.  @AE4WX @flockofnazguls @th I guess everyone involved knew how to keep their yaps shut. @roadriverrail @flockofnazguls @th Still. The principle of how to do this (in 1987) is not difficult, but the list of people who had both the technical know-how and access to both the equipment and the locations needed from which to transmit had to be short.  @AE4WX @roadriverrail @flockofnazguls @th A chap who did similar on the Dutch/German border - taking over a cable headend feed after German TV (that was relayed to Dutch cable networks) had closed down waited 30 whole years before he finally owned up to it as he had two countries worth of Communications Ministry officers hunting him - thankfully there is a statute of limitations... (turn on auto subtitles/translation if you don't understand German) @vfrmedia @roadriverrail @flockofnazguls @th That's the other thing. The statute of limitations ran out 30 years ago. Surely the culprit would have popped up and said "okay, fine, I did it." I find it strange they didn't @AE4WX @flockofnazguls @th Oh, no doubt. Clearly the person worked in broadcast in their local area or was a sufficiently obsessed amateur. But you can't just "round up the usual suspects", and IIRC it was generally believed the hijack was done from a van, so getting caught in the act on such a short transmission doesn't seem likely. I've heard of pirate radio stations running out of a van that went years without getting caught. @roadriverrail @flockofnazguls @th oh yeah, they weren't going to get caught in the act, for sure. But I'm skeptical about the van... tough to get line of sight to the top of the Hancock Building from a van unless you're WAY far out... I grew up at 87th Street and California and I don't even think a van could do it from there. I think they were likely close by and high up in one of the nearby buildings. @roadriverrail @flockofnazguls @th From where I lived you could see (and therefore transmit to) the skyline only if you climbed a tall tree. Closer in, I used to work at Archer and Lawndale, and on the top of the parking garage you could get line of sight from there... not sure where you could get a van that high though. @roadriverrail @flockofnazguls @th maybe you could do it from the lakefront. That's likely possible. So maybe it was a van @AE4WX @flockofnazguls @th I'd only ever heard the "van" thing as a rumor, and I only bought into that because (1) if I were to run a hijack, mobility would be on my mind (2) Tampa FL had a famous FM pirate station that operated from a van. @AE4WX @flockofnazguls @th Ah, I didn't realize the receiver for the signal from the studio was on top of the Hancock. I know Chicago geography, but hadn't thought about where the TV transmitters were. I come from rural Florida, where getting line-of-sight to a tower was never very hard. @roadriverrail @flockofnazguls @th So what happened was, back in those analog days, WGN and WTTW transmitted a link to their main transmitters on top of the Hancock Building and Sears Tower (I forget which was which). The hijacker basically sent a stronger signal than the station link, and because of FM capture, voilΓ - the hijackers signal wins. @roadriverrail @flockofnazguls @th the problem with a van in downtown Chicago is all the buildings block line of sight. @roadriverrail @flockofnazguls @th I should add- it hasn't been possible to do this again for years. @roadriverrail @flockofnazguls @th The suspicion was that it was a current or former WGN employee. I totally buy that theory. Not only did the hijacker target WGN first (only switching to WTTW when the WGN hijack attempt was foiled) but Max makes several references to WGN ("World's Greatest Newspaper Nerds," Chuck Swirsky). I think the intrusion was a videotape and not live. @AE4WX @roadriverrail @flockofnazguls @th yeah, while studying for my Amateur Radio Certificate, it dawned on me how straightforward this specific signal intrusion would have been to do!  Only for the USA, Max first appeared on screens in the UK in 1985 and a few days after the first tv movie... went on to present the Max Headroom show on the UK's Channel 4. It wouldn't reach the US for more than 2yrs. So Happy 38th birthday Max. @anomnomnomaly @th this isn't about max headroom, it's about the max headroom incident. Unless you're saying the UK had its own max headroom incident  @anomnomnomaly @th Actually, this is different. This isnβt the show itself, but a mysterious broadcast that hijacked a local band in the middle of a Doctor Who rerun and played a guy in a Max Headroom mask for several minutes. No one knows how it was done out who did it or what it meant. You can see it on YouTube. Itβs really creepy. @th Would love to meet the legends who pulled that off, but so would the FBI so it's best to keep quiet. @earwigplanet @th Statute of Limitations has long passed. Iβd love to hear their story. @Klaxun  We need another one across all platforms proclaiming what a piece of shit Trump is for those too dense to get it yet. @th I wonder if Matt Frewer knew at the time what that would become of that character.   |
