Max Headroom Video Pirate Incident in Chicago on 11/22/1987

[ThatKid573]

3:13 i hate his voice.

[JuggalocodeChile1988]

The 80's troll face BEFORE the internet!

[Fettster777]

lol at the lady at 3:58 saying to the news that she taped copyrighted material.

[73bosshog]

I remember when this happened... My friends and I were watching Dr.Who and we were like "What happened?" At the time Max Headroom was the man. We laughed hard and on the floor at the spanking. I was 14 yrs old. Watching channel 11.

[MrMaypole14]

Well, it was a stupid thing, both what he did on camera, and the fact that he/she did it. But So what? It's not like he broadcast porn, or how to make an atom bomb... As far as their air time goes, these stupid news shows waste that much time laughing and fake hamming it up right at the end of the show to boost ratings. What corporate Dxxk suckers, I hate that fakeness.

[thisisntagoodname]

I love the last one referring to the spanking. "The man's punishment will be FAR WORSE if he's caught..."

[athomicritics]

the first troll before the internet

[Popteart]

It was me!

[Wesley683]

@Popteart lol you a lie

[covajo9]

a sucessful troll is succesful

[langleyassault]

not too bright? it takes a significant amount of intelligence to hijack a television frequency there, beardo.

[StarrFOX64]

"But the person in the Max Headroom disguise may not know how sophisticated officials can be in tracing this sorta thing"

Yeah, thats why he was never caught LOL

[PhallusNocturne]

The fuck are you tards talking about!?? Is name is John R. MacDougall and was sentence to 1 year probation and fine for 5k.

[mpharaoh]

@PhallusNocturne wrong. He hacked HBO.

[Cenvere]

@PhallusNocturne Wrong, that man was behind the HBO hack about fees.

[KevServo]

"But the person in the max headroom disguise may not know how sophisticated officials can be at tracing this sort of thing. It leaves an electornic signal"

Which is precisely why the pirate was never caught or where he was broadcasting from. Wait, what?

[TheRedSphinx]

The Doctor stopped him! 

[samplesmasher]

interesting, but why you've collected all the news?....hmmm....where have you been on November 22th in 1987?.... ;)

[KingDennisJensen]

4:20 Summerfag detected.

[beezerboy94]

Back then, people had no idea about this shit. They all thought this type of pirate could be discovered and had no comprehension of trolling. Its not a stunt if no one ever finds you and you can't track a fucking radio signal. Fuckin' 80's

[Germanboy567]

"It leaves an electronic signature" Hahahaha, bullshit. You never even found the fucker, let alone determined where he broadcasted from.

[bigzebes]

4:08 50 year old Bubbles (Trailer Park Boys)

[bigzebes]

1:31 Phil is Morgan Freeman

[PhilNile]

Anyone think its an over reaction.. :L

[EETech]

"Leaves an electronic signature." BS!

[1875HIBEESFC]

What was with the lines behind the max dude and the noise? How did he get those?

[PhilNile]

@1875HIBEESFC It was a swaying sheet of corrugated metal. With lights.

[QBCHIEFS19]

I watched the Dr. Who intrusion live. It was very funny!

[GMSamuelRhine]

lol investigation those dumbasses would never have found it becuase its not live all the time. and the repoorter is a fucking dumbass its not that sophiscated you can do this with your home microwave. asswipe thinks he knows shit about piracy

[furrmie6]

Come On! This was 1987. There was no way the FCC or FBI could have traced the signal back to that source. The technology just wasn't there at that time. Whoever made that transmission is surely still alive, well, footloose, and fancy-free...And probably in their 50's to 70's by now.

[TheShadowFog]

@furrmie6 watching this video saying. ROFL

[wd40isgreat]

@furrmie6 And all those guys with grey hair, the FCC Engineers and reporter, are probably dead by now.

[furrmie6]

@wd40isgreat The old guys who pulled it off probably still laughed themselves to their last breath.

[sweeterthananything]

the little kid calling epic lulz after the butthurt dr. who fans probably went on to do excellent trolling himself.

[ishouldplayzelda]

the original troll

[AMD1]

in case anybody wants to know, the max headroom hijacker was never caught.

[darchylde612]

i rember when this happened, as i was watching dr.who that night on sunday. wonder if this guy was ever caught?

[GureckEntertainment]

I find it incredible someone could get away with that...

[OuroborosChoked]

The best television to have ever aired: ever...

Naturally, it was illegal.

[TheNewVideos]

he should come out now, they would do nothing now, just liked to know who it was and how he did it

[NESHero]

I think even if they do find out who this is, the arrest time has already exceeded so he will not be charged.

It's not like he killed a guy, so this is not even a matter no more to the law.

[NateRiley3000]

Couldn't the knowledge to take over a microwave station (one from 1987 when encryptionwas rare) have been learned in the US military ? Ex-GIs could have "borrowed" or bought surplus microwave equipment in S.Korea then brought it back and no one would know anything. In the 60s my dad bought Reel-to-Reels in germany then sold them in the US for $. I think Max has proven he is special he stayed quite only, tried 2 times, most amazing are peoples ideas about why he did it and what was the message

[AngryStickPerson]

Haha, stupid fuckers. "OH LAWD HE MESSED WITH OUR SIGNALS AND SHOWED US HIS ASS OH GAWD WE GUN FIND YOU! WE GUN FIIIIND YOU!" This guy was awesome, and they never did catch him.

[MrRichardKranium]

did they ever catch him?

[NateGnau]

@MrRichardKranium No.

[Jigglypufflove33]

He sounds like Big Fib from VeggieTales!

[Hillsillverr]

lmao

[izlude2]

oh SWEET I'm gonna youtube poop this stuff. brb FBI

[izlude2]

Haha why would the FBI be involved in the case? They're a bunch of civilians pretending to be Police. In any case, this whole thing is hilarious!

[movieapple]

"We're going to have to tape over it. :(" LOL!!! I would have thought for the trouble he went to, he could have thought of a slightly more profound message though...!!

[SuperWeaves]

Little Kid: Very, Very Funny! Me: (Crying and Screaming)

[SuperWeaves]

The guy who did that is a genius. He hijacked two tv channels, and got away with it... How can You do that?

[smzig]

If he's still alive today he should come out. The statute of limitations has definitely run out and I'm sure many of us would like to congratulate him on his sheer awesomeness.

[smzig]

Anonymous is older than we thought. 

[awelcruiz]

I love how most of the people interviewed talk as if it's only a short matter of time before the perpetrators are caught.

23 years later, and they're still running free.

[quaxk]

great hack and never caught :)

[KidGangstaReturns]

if i was watching the game at the time i woulda been like "What the hell happened?!"

[TheLizzard0]

If they actually DO capture this guy, it is these videos faults. They are NOT looking for him anymore, but they probably starting doing it again because of YouTube, this guy who pirated these channels is a GOD!

[nickblack2006]

hmmmm a month after i was born does any one see the connection :) lol

[p0llenp0ny]

See how angry and threatening they get when you mess with their brainwashing apparatus?

[ROBLOXER106]

Seriously. Some guy in a Max Headroom mask bobbing his head and talking gibberish and words is very entertaining. I mean it, and I approve it.

[ROBLOXER106]

If he had a show, i would watch it speechless.

[djtblizzle]

I remember this well. I was a junior in high school. He showed a vibrator, then started spanking his ass!! LOL!!

[hypernation2007]

Briefly and ILLEGALLY! Don't YOU do it too!!

[dougarr]

gayness television ? BDSM on Television ? Both ?

How  boring .

[welshfilmbuff]

"When this person is caught, he or she, will face both civil and criminal penalties!"

Good luck with that, Larry.

[prometheusmegalith]

It was a couple of genius kids I reckon - but if you look at the subtitled versian or the transcription - the incident was more like a protest than a prank.

[TheLizzard0]

It would've been awesome if this guy inturrupted the newscast announcing he did this.

[DictatorRoB]

23 years and they are still tracking that guy?! Damn.

If I were chairman of that TV station, I would shake the guy's hand.

[lookattheapple]

I so approve of this.

[pandaeyes42]

Maritial Aid!

[IveGotNothinToSay]

What would the statue of limitations be on something like this?

[deliciousmorton]

Oftentimes; the FBI doesn't get their man.

[BamBamFun]

This is how it was done if anyone’s interested. He used the Magnetron from a Microwave oven to deliver 250 watts in the STL band. They were using 2.1 GHz as their STL. see .... 72.52.208.92/~gbpprorg/mil/her­f/mwpll.pdf

[JoebDragon]

Now what if they hacked sports vision ,ON TV, or Spectrum?

[ifuseekamy]

I think the culprit knew what he was doing... exactly why it's been over 20 years and never has been caught.

[theblitz8]

People were so much more intelligent in the 80s. the guy 4:10 is so articulate

[discjunkietv]

"VERY VERY FUNNY!" :D

[MrJoeCortina]

23 years in trouble.

[megawhoosits]

Didn't Oprah work for Channel 9?

[Fall0eight]

I swear i heard "Jack Connedy, Fucks 32 news."

[mexicanabortion]

How awesome would it be if the Max Headroom guy interrupted this news story just as the reporter was signing off?

[rockyrack2]

I never knew dildos were called "marital aids".

[magicadd]

i would shake that man's hand if i got the chance!!! that is an absolute hero of our time!

[F8DecidesYou]

Well... there wasnt any penis atleast XD

[KodyBoy555]

This is dumb!

[KodyBoy555]

This was worst on TV!

[andymate2006]

What I find funny is your sitting watching the news. It goes black for 3 seconds then you see a weirdo dancing around the screen.

[simba703]

*laughs*

[johnissoevil]

Yep, the person was never caught. I remember WPIX did a story on this the night after the incident. The anchor said something to the effect of "A Max Headroom Dummy pays a visit to our Chicago sister station as well as that city's PBS affiliate."

[sapphosnape]

Bravo! Part of me wants to believe it was Crispin Glover.

[TX608L]

President Bush ?

[TackyRackyComixNEO]

Jack Connerty (sp?) really puts a lot of unnecessary emphasisss at the end of hALF the ends of the woordss he saaysss, doesn't he? (particularly egregious at the end of the first newscast in this)

[EuchridEucrow1]

A "marital aid"! LMAO!!

[TimeLapseSteve]

I wish newscasters still spoke like this.

[atworkstation]

This is similar to the Captain Midnight incident with HBO.

[CSLG94]

"Phil Bradford" sounds and looks like Morgan Freeman! :D

[sillonnelenet]

OH NO DONT STOP THE TV

[TheUngiver]

I love how they're talking about how great the odds are of catching him, and his identity still remains a mystery to this day.

[UK31337]

I heard a rumour that they actually managed to catch who did it, but couldn't prove it and no charges were ever filed. Because the suspect was never charged, his name was kept out of the press and the rumour goes on to say that the same guy died of cancer in 2005.

No proof for any of this, however.

[stargeo]

pudiendo decir cosas mas importantes como el hambre y la guerra en el mundo..

[Arnhempara1944]

I remember when it happened. Awesome!!!

[extar]

'Freelance exercise in public access.'

[SykesMacab]

WTF is a "marital aid"??? Gimmie a break...

[deliciousmorton]

@SykesMacab a female with a fly swatter.

[futurepowered]

They probably dissmised the case it's been 22 years I mean serously

[computersales]

They interuppted Doctor Who? Thats horrible they should be shot. LOL

[Decemberbaby1981]

I remember this, my dad was watching channel 9 news and he and I found that funny and the guy hasn't been caught yet alomst 22 years later. I was 5 when this happened. My grandma saw the one on channel 11 and almost had a heart attack.

[kidneyguy]

They're saying they're tracing him. They still are, the guy hasn't been caught yet! AWESOME!

[525alive]

@kidneyguy Either there is no statute of limitations for this act, the statutes covering the act had been amended soon after the incident which may violate the Ex Post Facto Clause, or the statute of limitations is being disregarded for political and/or ideological reasons.

[johnissoevil]

The "Max Headroom" pirate was alot more clever than Captain Midnight was. To this day, they still haven't found out who played Max in that incident. With all the stations broadcasting OTA in digital now, it would probably be alot harder to pull off.  Then again, nobody thought this incident could ever happen...

[etuohy9]

the black FCC guy sounds a little like Morgan Freeman

[specop3351]

lol! That's what I said.

[satelliteDNScastip]

super great cool and excellent

[LeahMouse]

Creeps me out every time, lol

[AVDJ]

how do those investigators not know who the culprit was. It's Max Headroom! Everybody knows that!

[thatsbalone]

yeah you can tell cuz it's his face.

[FelixTheHouseFreak]

MY HERO!!

[eruption257]

A marital aid and a portion of his or her anatomy... This guy is a true American hero.

[Monkefuct666]

FUck YeS!! HacK the PLaneT!

[NoogLeader]

Hack the Planet. I love that Movie. HACKERS RULES.

[Qp0wer]

THIS GUY IS A GOD.........reminds me of phreak615

[SECTION324]

i remember seeing max hendroom while watching channel 9 news i was 11 years old it was weird

[ravingrocker1988]

Thats the ultimate prank!!! I wish I could somehow interupt a tv show and spank my ass to everybody lol! XD

[shadowmario1000]

this guy must have a LOTTA balls to do that. he should return as the crazy gorilla man.

[pandaeyes42]

Shine On, You Crazy Diamond!!!

[lgp1987]

I think he should do it again now that it's been 20+ years

[Elraton360]

THIS GUY IS MY HERO !

[arglwyddanfradwrus]

Was the person swatting 'Max's' backside a female?

[Stigmatainmypants]

It looked like it.. Either that or a cross-dressing dude :P

[arglwyddanfradwrus]

LMAO!!!!!! :P

[ScrewLimbBizkit]

God Bless that Crazy Motherfucker

[Zaroktheimmortal]

They seemed so convinced they were going to catch him. They were going on about when they catch him. It's been 22 years I bet they're not so arrogant now.

[krebscyclon]

"It takes some pretty sophisticated microwave equipment... and a significant amount of power"

Not to mention the balls, an ample supply of Dexedrine, and an elevated fucking wit, you dismissive prick!

[Gmancrap]

I wish I could do some thing like this but tv is way to high tec now to do so. I would have to hack on a pc witch I dont want to do.

[holden190]

I agree! I love that he hacked into WGN.

[BulletBuger]

This was classic and the fact they were never caught will add mystery to it forever. However its funny that the news report that the person was perverse at times but they still go ahead and show the part where he is being spanked.

[TheFunGreenDragon]

4:08 "We're gona have to tape over it"

OH NO!

[Logocompilation]

Ahhhh. If only he did this,Like someone else said, on the last day of analog broadcasting. this was some truly weird stuff. Weird happenings like this made me wish i grew up in the 1980's and not 2000's.

[EMUmonster]

I would of done worse.

[AcousticMonster]

LOL, I remember when this happened. I was a huge Max Headroom fan!

[NoviceIndustries]

The "pirate" sure went easy. He could have aired much worse content than what he did.

[travisissoocool]

PWNED!

[TheSonicRater]

HE'S A FRICK'N NERD!

[WordUp4Life]

You think Pat Harvey is in this video?

[blackandblue10]

He did it for the lulz

[davismv]

No, the person who did this is still at large. It would be great if the persons involved would come forward, since the statutes of limitations have passed for prosecution.

[ohwhatacereal]

@davismv no they need to remain at large,and more ppl need to do this.

[rtbvhsrip]

@davismv Yes, he is my idol. This is what got me interested in pirate TV.

[oldpat420]

This needs to happen more often.

[davismv]

Yes, it does. It was absolutely hilarious when it happened.

[rtbvhsrip]

@davismv Yes, 100% - but with digital television probably encryption or authentication and/or encoder or modulation settings will prevent this, so you could probably only interrupt the program, but not transmit your own :(

[ResidentEvil123CV45]

@oldpat420 He Might have died.

[futbolt]

LOL failFCC. never caught.

[michaelkrumlauf]

its things like this that make me love the decade before mine! ugh! i wish i was a kid in the 80s and not the 90s!

[michaelkrumlauf]

thats crazy!

[YanBrassard]

Maybe an extraterrest who tried to contact Earth! o_O

[wilkes85]

HAHA THATS AWESOME! Why can't awesome things like that happen here in Canada?

[coolbluelights]

So they never did find out who it was? hmm he should come forward maybe they'll drop the charges since it was 21 years ago I'm curious as to how he did it

[carpenoctem66]

it would be freaky if someone did this as G-man from half life

[ReorderTone]

A "marital aid?" LOL how quaint! Cheers for posting this, and in such great quality!

[zakruowrath]

I wonder if he will do this on the last day of analog broadcasting.

[AtomicMyopia]

Its funny how they make it sound as if it would only take a short time to find who ever did it.

[amadeusyaoi]

Thousands of your viewers? You're PBS... don't try and lie and inflate the numbers!

[MutilatorTroy]

Oh God, they're going to have to tape over their recording! This hacker must be punished!

[Stigmatainmypants]

I'm stunned that a girl was watching Doctor Who back in that era! :P

[kstar8706]

Even cooler, the anchor seen here from WFLD spells the name "Kris" correctly!

[mbhfromla]

Lolz....this is some funny shit.

[gvk9r]

It's a shame that they've still haven't found and captured that guy that inpersonated Max Headroom.

[davismv]

I'd love to see the person come forward, provided that the statute of limitations is passed. It would be great hearing how it was pulled off.

[skunktail6]

This is awesome, thanks for uploading this, I wonder if he revealed himself now would he still be punished? Given that this incident happened nearly 21 years ago, would it still matter today?

[4thtroika]

I missed it and had to content myself with the newscasts. I just wish you would've gotten the one where they interviewed Cooky the Clown and asked him, "What kind of clown would do this, you think?" Cooky laughed and said, "Not THIS clown, I can tell you that!"