#MAX HEADROOM INCIDENT PBS SERIAL#
#MAX HEADROOM INCIDENT PBS FULL#
#MAX HEADROOM INCIDENT PBS TV#

A mysterious occurrence that’s never been explained.īen: If you were in Chicago and flipping through TV channels in 1987, you would find a range of stuff. Where, during primetime television hours, something truly weird happened. Specifically the night of November 22nd, 1987 in Chicago. So we need to get a feel for the year 1987.Īmory: Yeah. I was not alive.Īmory: You win in the contest of who is older, congratulations.īen: Thank you very much. music, sound effects, tone) are harder to translate to text.īen Brock Johnson: Amory, do you remember the year 1987?Īmory Sivertson: No. The transcript has been edited from our original script for clarity. This content was originally created for audio. Email us at Leave us a voicemail at 85.Post or comment in the official Endless Thread subreddit.We want to hear from you! Don't hesitate to reach out with reactions to episodes, ideas for future stories, feedback about the show, or just to say hi. Chris Knittel and Alex Pasternak's article 'The Mystery of the Creepiest Television Hack.' Contact Us: Bowie Poag's Reddit post with his original 'J and K' theory Other Links: A Reddit post with some theories on the Max Headroom Incident It's called 'The Max Headroom Incident.' You can find more of his work HERE . Thanks to u/gregorburns for this week's artwork. Who dunnit? Why? How? We dig into the story. In the years since, Redditors have played an integral role in getting to the bottom of this case. On November 22, 1987, two TV stations in Chicago had their broadcast signals hijacked by someone wearing a Max Headroom mask. He has no idea where or what they are doing today and the author has not come in contact with them for a number of years.Īnother Reddit article article confirms the author's naming of places and the kind of people involved, but he as well did not divulge any personal info.“The Max Headroom Incident” from u/gregorburns TL DL (Too Long Didn’t Listen) None of the claims are proven (and the author even says he doesn't know for sure if they are behind it) and the identities of the supposed hijackers were protected as to not disrupt their current lives. The article gained some media attention and received over 200 comments. In 2011, an AMA Reddit article by user bpoag claimed that he ' may know who was behind the hijacking'. They go on to state that the FCC and FBI will likely never catch the culprit. The station inserted clips of the hijacking (without sound) during a newscast of Mark Giangreco's highlights. WTTW received many calls from people wondering exactly what was occurring as early as the last few seconds of the hijacking. The next day, the incident received widespread national headlines, and was reported on the CBS Evening News, among other affiliates.

#MAX HEADROOM INCIDENT PBS FULL#

There are many full recordings of this particular incident, the one included is the highest quality copy able to be found. The video then cuts out, with Doctor Who resuming as normal. The woman proclaims, 'Bend over, bitch!' and hits him repeatedly, followed by Max screaming in agony. What followed was 90 seconds of the Max Headroom impersonator making fun of WGN anchor Chuck Swirsky, Max Headroom's ill-fated 'New Coke' advertisements, giving the finger with a rubber extension, as well as mocking Chicago's newspaper, Clutch Cargo, and putting on a glove then claiming his brother has the other one.Īfter this it cuts to Max bending over, bare-buttocked, in front of a woman(?) in old-fashioned attire with a fly-swatter.

#MAX HEADROOM INCIDENT PBS SERIAL#

Two hours later (at roughly 11:15 PM), on PBS member station WTTW, a re-run of the British series Doctor Who's Horror of Fang Rock serial was hijacked with a similar Max Headroom video, only this time the audio was working, and the engineers had no way of getting rid of it. No official recording by a casual person has been found, but a (condensed) version found on news reports of the event has been uploaded to YouTube.

When the broadcast returned to anchor Dan Roan, he befuddledly stated, 'If you're wondering what just happened (laughing) so am I.' It only lasted as long as it did because the engineers switched the frequencies of their studio links, effectively terminating the intrusion.

The intrusion lasted (approximately) 25 seconds and there was no audio but a low buzzing sound. The first and lesser-known occurrence happened during the WGN Nine O'Clock news, in which anchor Dan Roan was recapping the highlights of the recent Chicago Bears game, which was the hijackers primary and, at the time (debatably) sole target.

Max headroom incident pbs