Maybe.īen: And you’re listening to Endless Thread, the show featuring stories found in the vast ecosystem of online communities called Reddit.Īmory: We’re coming to you from WBUR, Boston’s NPR station. And because it’s this intersection of hacker culture, subversive art, technology, and real life, this story still resonates with people even after three decades.Īmory: Also, maybe you can help us find some answers. And it still has never been solved.īen: And spoiler, this is not one we have solved either, yet. And it wasn’t over.Īmory: That was just the first of two signal intrusions that night, 32 years ago to the day, that we are publishing this episode. In this case people hijacked the airwaves of a major American television station.
Something called a broadcast signal intrusion. So what we’re going to do is start over from the top with the Bears and tell you once again about the 30-10 victory they had…īen: It was not a computer glitch. Actually the computer that we have running our news from time to time took off and went wild. WGN Announcer: Well if you’re wondering what’s happened, so am I. When the sportscaster comes back on, he is bewildered. And then the scene cuts out again and the screen goes black. And behind them there’s a corrugated piece of metal? Maybe? Twirling in this hypnotic way.Īmory: The character jerks and shudders and seems to laugh. It’s someone in a mask, an oversized head with sunglasses, square chin, white teeth, blond slicked back hair. WGN Announcer: Then the defense, which hadn’t put up a sack in 12 quarters finally di-Īmory: The screen goes black, for a long time.īen: There’s this weird, twisted scene that pops up on the television. Wayne Larabie called it like this on WGN radio…īen: Everything’s going along normally, and then right in the middle of the announcer’s description of the game, while the football newsreel played… WGN Announcer: Then they scored again at the Lion’s 31. The announcer was talking about the Chicago Bears game. Gotta love that public media baby.īen: But if you were one of the thousands of Chicago residents watching WGN Channel 9’s 9 O’Clock News, you were about to hear and see something really unusual.Īmory: It happened during the sportscast. (Ben recites the commercial at the same time)īen: Dennis Weaver is Buck James, Sunday on ABCĪmory: Over on PBS you had some serious masterpiece theater nerdery happening. Raisin commercial: Oooh I heard it through the grapevine!Īmory: Specifically, on the night of Sunday November 22nd, 1987, a one-season show called Buck James, the doctor who wears scrubs and cowboy boots.īuck James: “I don’t give a damn about politics is what I don’t give a damn about.” Dennis Weaver is Buck James, Sunday on ABC. and then he started to unzip my jeans… Nutritious foods like Campbell’s Soup can help keep your resistance up.Īmory: Fear mongering from Court TV, and Cambpell’s soup!īen: Maybe some of those loveable hella-creepy claymation California raisins!
#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.
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. This episode originally aired on November 22, 2019. “The Max Headroom Incident” from u/gregorburns
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