Max Headroom WGN9 Pirating Incident - 11/22/87

[JuggalocodeChile1988]

Max Headroom mask = Troll face of the 80's!

[Thecloudyday1]

It's OK, it's just a video...

It's OK, it's just a video...

It's OK, it's just a video...

It's OK, it's just a video...

[leafygreentree]

I was a kid when this happened.

[SilverMcdowell1992]

The way he turns his neck around 0:16 is just... disturbing...

[unabtanium]

This was a test run, he was able to interject audio for the WTTW broadcast.

[Arrowwulf]

My aunt was in chicago when this broadcast happened, she didn't see the second one though...

[hitmankgm]

@totalrandomcrap there was no audio he was only able to hack in on that change with video

[trianglethingy]

0:10 to 0:16 do the headbanger :D

[crypto457]

and to this day no one knows who did it and why they did it

[SuperWeaves]

Just plain awesome

[Butzopower]

Beautiful.

[zeldafreak71]

that wasn't scarey but...unsettling. More horror movies need to stop focusing on givings us gorey gross imagery and try for more creative unsettling imagery.

[Hikarilover123]

@zeldafreak71 The first time I saw the recorded news report of this incident, I just sat and thought: who were they? Why Max Headroom? What was the message? Is it just for fun or is it something deep that the hackers don't want us to know? I agree. Today's movies are about the immediate moments. I think horror films should go for the effect in which the viewer is just left thinking about the unexplained scenes for a long time, like a mark.

[Moviewhiz1]

Words can't describe how weird this makes me feel. It's just creepy, but brilliant.

[silverstarinthesky]

To this day, the culprit has never been found.

[cokaduty4]

Rebel scum

[NikolaiBlog]

TI-DI

[happyies129]

this video will be funny and not scary if the song dare was on this!lolz

[happyies129]

i will never sleep again...

[TheSilentStryke]

This is hilarious

[WereWolfDan1991]

Had that person lost his marbles?!

[jonrev]

@CesarPhilosophe Precisely.

[SuperLuigiBros]

lol This happens only when Max Headroom is trippin' on LSD. He's clean now so don't expect him to pirate another TV station soon. I've heard that he's been in some new commercials for the UK recently.

[SuperWeaves]

Happy late birthday to this crazy motherfucker!

[SuperWeaves]

I STOLE CBS

[Madrider760]

That does it he's a frickin' nerd hehehehe. Yeah I think Im better than chuck swirsky. Frickn' liberallllllllll. Catch the wave????

[90deweydog]

HAXX!

[PMS154]

Duke Nukem

[TheSaintOfPain]

@PMS154

WRONG. It's Max Headroom.

[TheChicagoguy]

This is creepy its like some message telling people hes gonna do something to random people

[funlover163]

That was creepy as hell, almost like something out of an old cheesy horror movie... that's still horrifying O.o'

[soccerghoul]

well I won't be sleeping tonight.

[MiXanik9]

PRIDYPOK V O4KAX! xD

[MrJoeCortina]

This is not Max. This is some bogus fakerooni. The Real one is played by Matt Freur.

[TheKingOfRuckus]

Whoever this guy is, he did something AWESOME. He should reveal himself, or do it again. I wish I had seen this live.

[MegaCrazycatt]

@TheKingOfRuckus I wish he would too. I'm sure the statue of limitations is up and the law couldn't do anything to him anymore. In a way I wish I also could have seen it live, even though I'm sure it would have scared the heck out of me lol

[mrwest15]

I think this first hack was a test and after it was confirmed to work he did it FOR REAL later.

[UK31337]

I think this footage shows the start of the pre-recorded tape being used as the stuff in the mute section shown here didn't appear in the WTTW broadcast later.

Here, we see a blank screen as if the tape had just started running, whereas on WTTW the signal just jumped straight in, mid-sentence, as if the tape was rolling before the transmitter was switched on.

[Iori400]

The biggest mystery is.. WHO is this mysterious hacker?

[TheFalloutTV]

Nobody knows, even to this day.

[Iori400]

@TheFalloutTV

Something tells me he's gonna reveal the truth to his kids when he dies

[UK31337]

@Iori400 One of the newspaper reports at the time said it was a local college student. Don't know how they figured that out or if it wasn't just journalists being overzealous.

Based on the video's content, it certainly looks like immature college students messing around because it's all unsophisticated slapstick humour.

The other story I've heard is that the FBI caught the culprit, couldn't prove it and let him go without any charges, and he went on to die of cancer in 2005. Again, no proof.

[johnissoevil]

I still remember when WPIX in New York did a story on this incident the night after. The anchor beginning the segment with something like "A Max Headroom Dummy pays a visit to our sister station in Chicago and the PBS affiliate in that city."

[UK31337]

Something interesting here unless I'm mistaken.

The timestamp on the bottom of the screen was there before the screen went black, and stayed there all the way through. If that was going with the original transmission then surely it would have disappeared when the original transmission got hijacked?

I don't really understand how TV broadcasting works, so I'm not sure. If I'm right then doesn't it mean that this was coming from the original transmitter and was an inside job?

[Garganchonimous]

@UK31337 I think the timestamp was produced by the VCR that was used to tape these newscasts.

[WhoIsThatFace]

No. What happened was that the WGN and WTTW station transmitters for both stations are located in or around the John Hancock building in Chicago. So the Max Headroom character used a parts of a microwave and hooked it up to his camera, was inside one of the buildings surrounding the Hancock, and just aimed the microwave transmitter at the station transmitter. This is why they still haven't caught him. But one thing is certain, THIS GUY IS SMART!

[ApolloWasReal]

@WhoIsThatFace Smart? Not really. Anyone with a little knowledge could have done it. In those days it was very common for a TV transmitter remote from its studio to be fed by a low power, point-to-point microwave "Studio to Transmitter Link" (STL). The STL receiving antennas would be on the Sears Tower near their transmitters, pointed at their studios. Chicago is pretty flat, so they'd be easy to hit and override with a transmitter from almost anywhere in that sector of Chicago.

[ApolloWasReal]

@ApolloWasReal Excuse me, for WGN I meant to say the John Hancock building, not the Sears Tower, since that's where its analog transmitter was at the time. I think WGN is now on the Sears Tower along with WTTW.

[katy317]

That is incredably freaky...

[liamnaruto]

i'm refer that guy the gallss noglsic crtic- noglsic chick the moment comes out of know where and is used in moiv reviews

"has noing to do with plot and comes out of nowhere"

[liamnaruto]

a big lipped allgaotr moment

[ImATrap]

That is one of the biggest understatements that I have ever heard.

[LuTELLO]

I don't know why people rip videos only to post it again either, but you didn't include the brief sports footage shown right before the picture went blank. Or is that possibly not the actual transmission of the time of the hack? (I added the footage to my copy and fixed the sound sync, but I won't upload it!)

[jonrev]

I had a clip of the sports footage but it had the news reporter (not Dan Roan's voice) included, so it was unusable.

[IndiumBlue]

@LuTELLO The schmuck who posted this has a huge ego but this really is a POS! You can watch the whole thing uninterrupted here: /watch?v=yt4DcPjNfuo

[jonrev]

@IndiumBlue That was a totally separate hijacking that occurred on another network (WTTW). The only known recordings of the WGN hijacking were what was shown on national news; which is the source for this video. Do your research before calling folks out.

[starkiller20293]

@jonrev So two Maxc Headroom guys did this? How can it be seperate when it's clearly THE SAME GUY!?

[jonrev]

@starkiller20293 Same guy, different times.

[starkiller20293]

@jonrev I thought it occured on the same night?

[jonrev]

@starkiller20293 It did. The incidents occurred within a couple hours of each other.

[starkiller20293]

@jonrev They still never caught him to this day?

[XMrStayPuftX]

@IndiumBlue

Exactly what I was thinking. Guy has a high opinion of himself.

[jh94]

Be good if the real max headroom was to hijack a tv station, that would be interesting.

[Palmerholic]

Dr Who - the hell cares.

Anyway, it sucks that this only happened during the 1980s. It would be impossible to do it now because C-Band is just about dead and new formats are probably a lot harder to hijack.

[Effedup]

That's awesome, I never even heard of this before but whoever pulled that off, mad props to them.  Maybe 20 years from now someone will eventually come forward :)

[zxadvent19]

This one is scarier than the other one.

[UK31337]

Yup, definitely. This one freaks me out whereas the other one makes me laugh.

[ZaffireWolf]

So what?

[hillbillyprofane]

Great work on this recreation. In the little bits from the WGN broadcast that are available, it looks different to the later WTTW incident. I mean, Max is saying something different. It would be great if a full tape of this went public, so we'd once and for all, know what he was ranting on about. Anyone know the statue of limitations on this sort of thing? Could the perpetrators go public without fear of prosecution? I doubt they would, they might lose their mystique.

[g8btony]

interfering with an FCC signal is a Federal offense, so there might not be a statute of limitations.

[jonrev]

Good luck finding better audio.

[IndiumBlue]

@jonrev Oh and PS: he posted the real thing 1 month before you did. Who's the lame rip off copy cat posting useless videos on YT now?! How ya like em apples!?

[jonrev]

@IndiumBlue The video you provided is, in fact, a ripoff of the original upload, which is posted at fuzzymemories [dot] tv

[Zampolit1]

@IndiumBlue "How ya like em apples!?"..... Why do you speak like a faggot?

[IndiumBlue]

@Zampolit1 Eh! It's an irritating catchphrase to read, ain't it? Sometimes I'm just an ass online when the mood strikes me. Just like you were. You read something, someone pisses you off and BAM! You let them have it because they deserved it. Take care!

[IndiumBlue]

@Zampolit1 Your aka is 'cuppycakes" & your channel is framed in hot pink and you're calling me a faggot? Nice!

[Zampolit1]

@IndiumBlue I absolutely love how you stalk my channel to get info on how to insult me but i have one question for you and that is what is wrong with pink?

[IndiumBlue]

@Zampolit1 No sweetcheeks when someone calls me a faggot I go to their profile to see who dat. Now please point out to me where I've insulted you? Trust me, if I had insulted you (unlike you did) it would be loud and clear; And if I was stalking you'd already have closed your account and nailed your windows & doors shut. Let's just say you don't want to get on my bad side. Lucky for you, you haven't even irked me. I did agree w/you that I was being an ass didn't I? Don't push your luck now! ;-)

[Zampolit1]

@IndiumBlue Anyone who uses the word sweetcheeks is a faggot. I'm surprised you know how to stalk people in such a detail when you explained "nailing my windows and doors shut", perhaps you've had experience with this? When you said that i haven't irked you, then why are you so obsessed with commenting back with your replies?

[IndiumBlue]

@Zampolit1 You think that tactic is gonna get you the final word? Nice try babycakes! Yeah most ppl are so stupid they give away all their personal info on FB so they're not too hard to stalk if you need to. I like you, you amuse me. Friend me & be my personal buffoon? And maybe I can teach you to comprehend the English language.

[MFAtlas]

Actually this is the only audio in this part

[SteelCity1981]

Did anyone see the whole thing? I started cracking up when the guy pulls his pants and and someone starts smacking his ass!

[wiredmilk]

This is the first attempt about 2 hours prior to the video you mention. This happened on channel 9 and the other was on 11 during Dr. Who sitcom.

[topsyandpip56]

Dr. Who isnt a sitcom, sitcom's are where somebody is laughing the background. Dr. Who is a sci-fi series.

[wiredmilk]

Really.... your nitpicking me on Dr. Who.... wow... dude... quit calling your moms basement "The TARDIS"

[topsyandpip56]

We live in the UK. We don't have Basements. I don't like Dr. Who, I was just correcting your mistake.

[bixxius]

omg this is scary XD

[gonnago2whitecastle]

@ShadowMantis9, Its not that Channel 11 has a weaker signal because they don't, the fact is the perpetrators used a lot more power to block out WTTW's Studio To Transmitter link. That's why you hear a lot of audio noise and distortion because the two broadcast signals are trying to override each other.

[Shogun57]

Exactly and it actually makes this whole thing even more strange, how were they not caught

[mudcrap]

I love it ! Thanks for sharing !

[cr1901]

Even if this is a replica, it is incredibly impressive... this '20' seconds of buzz noise and a freak 'dancing' in a mask is more disturbing than listening to his voice, and (ALMOST) as bad as seeing his ass...

[BOSSOMATIC]

Were they guys who did this ever caught?? Is there a clip of what happened next on WGN? Did they explain to the audience what happened?

[jonrev]

He was never caught.

No.

I don't know.

Remember, this is NOT the actual footage of the hijacking, this is simply a recreation using what the news media provided.

[Shogun57]

what do u mean? i thought that was the footage?

[TheSaintOfPain]

Like the description says, it was pieced together from various news clips that covered the incident, and is an approximate recreation, and not the actual broadcast.

[cr1901]

It's cutoff, but the guy at the end says...

"Well, if you're wondering what happened, so am I..." This indicates that they knew and probably watched what was going on like the rest of us viewers...

[oHelmslyo]

This one also would be creepier to see late at night, too, since it's a creepy buzzing noise instead of all that babbling in the WTTW one.

[oHelmslyo]

Imagine watching the news and seeing this come on. Back then, I can only assume you'd think it was an ad campaign for the show, but still.

[Trookieness]

I gotta say, this is pretty creepy. Love Max Headroom though.

[DarthDecepticous]

i was a young kid when this came on. and i was the only one watching it. it spooked the hell out of me. my not being able to interpret what was going enduced a great deal of anxiety when i saw this.

i tried to explain what i had seen to my mother and she almost didn't believe me. now i can prove it once and for all!

i watched all the max headroom stuff (ie the series, specials and the cinemax show) and dr who on a regular basis. the experiance was a total mindfuck for my adolescent mind

[raakone]

So his WGN broadcast had bad audio? On the PBS station, he seemed to be speaking through a ring modulator.

[ShadowMantis9]

PBS had weaker signals, easier to "hack" and push through a better transmission than WGN, also why the feed lasted less at WGN, they caught and cut it off faster.

[LeixVonStewart]

So i'm guessing that this was his test broadcast, to see if it worked, and then he had his fun in the second transmission.

[LargeLeader]

Imagine seeing this on your TV alone at 9PM on a winter's night.

[upabittoolate]

@LargeLeader I don't need to imagine. I remember watching it with my old man. It was wild then it's wild now.

[TheVimtoPirate]

@LargeLeader i'm scared enough watching it at 5 past 3 in a summer afternoon...

[oldpat420]

21 glorious years since this happened.

[TheSpriteMonster]

I hope the MH pirate will strike again, like during a presidential speech or something were everyone is watching XD

[Fallconn2]

good job. now we know

[ChuChu353]

"Well if you're wondering what happened...so was I!"

I imagine quite a few people working at WGN that evening were saying "WTF?????????," and even more later that night at WTTW 8-)

[ificouldwouldyou]

that's f-ed up!

[voutespancar]

Wow, terrifying

[carpenoctem66]

It would be SO much creepier if someone did this as the G-man from half life

[EggMoneyProductions]

i wish this would happen to Fox these days, that would be awesome.

[zakruowrath]

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

[themangodess]

He fucking better. That son of a bitch, we deserve to see more ass-spanking.

[scotty9377]

its not duke nukem, its max headroom how old are you? 14?

[TheKingOfRuckus]

@scotty9377 That comment made me laugh pretty goddamn hard. Thank you sir.

[ConfusedAndAwesome]

@scotty9377 And, who are you talking to~?

[Coastergeekperson04]

If someone were to do it again, make it the station's owner. Then it would be funny AND legal.

[LCDscreen2521]

But if its legal, and the intention of the channel, then it wouldn't be funny at all.

[mrb3213]

creepy as fuck.

[MutilatorTroy]

Hey, Max is actually in the center of the screen this time. I wish we could see the entire skit he recorded.

[Harukarc]

someone should do it again

[Makron5]

I miss when this was possible :(

[kristell9]

Scary

[Turbo617]

I'm going to rip this and post it in my account.

[jonrev]

You're wasting your time...

[Turbo617]

No, I'm wasting your time...

[godLOGIC]

you're both right

[ahart86]

Very creepy

[rustyshackleford01]

great job, looks very convincing

[cheesyPOOF5]

this was real

[Schloonktapooxis]

HURRR