Many may remember the character Max Headroom, but do you remember the Max Headroom signal hijacking incident? While this may seem like a stretch for me to cover, it’s not, since I write about the unsolved.
On November 22, 1987, two unauthorized intrusions into broadcast signals occurred in Chicago. During these incidents, a person dressed as the fictional character Max Headroom hijacked WGN-TV during the 9:00 PM news broadcast for about 25 seconds. Thankfully, the station had engineers on hand to end the hijacking, but WTTW, a PBS affiliate, wasn’t as lucky.
The second intrusion occurred at a PBS affiliate, lasting approximately 90 seconds, with no engineers present to stop it. In both instances, the pirate broadcast featured a person in a Max Headroom mask and sunglasses, against a background of rotating corrugated metal, accompanied by static and garbled audio. Something straight from an Unsolved Mysteries episode, and a feat to pull off in those days, like D.B. Cooper in 1971.
The incidents were never solved, and the statute of limitations expired in 1992. So far, no one has claimed responsibility for the stunt.
Written By: John G. Clark Jr.