Max Headroom: Still scary to this day

That is a hijacking of a TV channel in chicagoin the 80s and it still scares me to this day. What's even more weird about it is the fact that no one has ever said they did this. Does anyone know any more on this? I wasn't alive when it happened but I'm really intrested in it.



Wikipedia: en.wikipedia.org...


www.mentalfloss.com...

.....woah

Originally posted by DJLateralus
.....woah

I knew. I'd have put this in hoax but since no one's came foreward it's kind of a conspiracy.

I mean if it's a prank or a hoax someone would've bragged or went to the news with there story.
I don't know what the point of it was but it's seriously strange.

Someone spent all the time doing that (you need quite a bit power and equipment to do something like) and never came foreward is just odd tome.

reply to post by Reptius


I've never seen someone do something like that. Maybe this guy started the anons.

I know who it was

[atsimg]http://files.abovetopsecret.com/images/member/188c166c72dc.jpg[/atsimg]

reply to post by Reptius

I'd have put this in hoax but since no one's came foreward it's kind of a conspiracy.

Not necessarily.
You actually think someone would want word to get out that they have a video of themselves wearing a mask and getting spanked??
That's not really the type of story you would want your kids or grandkids to be reading about. I honestly have no idea what that is, but did find it somewhat amusing.

dunno about hijacking a tv station,

It was a weekly TV series.
One season I think, was not that funny.

Max Headroom was a tv show in the 80's. Star was Matt Frewer. A digital download, a copy was made as an experiment. When the title character (Frewer) was in an accident, he hit his head on a sign that said "Max Headroom 7 feet, his ater-ego, an AI, started doing what Frewer did, as a reporter.
This is some guy, group of geeks that hijacked a tv signal, easy to do in the 80's, it was analog, not digital, and made a joke.
Kinda funny.

I've even made "Max Headroom" jokes as it relates to Obama.

reply to post by BrokenCircles


I kind of would....Yeah I know the spanking part is weird but imagine telling your grandkids about the time you hacked a tv show.
How many times has that happended in history? Again I don'tknow what the reaction was in chicago at thet time but I imagine it was pretty big.
There's probably newspapers and magazine articles all written about this guy.

The spanking is weird but if you were to come foreward about it you'd be pretty famous...atleast in chicago.........

enjoy

He or she also had some serious bankrolling behind them. Investigators concluded that the pirate smothered WTTW’s broadcast by sending a more powerful signal to the antenna atop the Sears Tower, and equipment with sufficient power to do so would have cost around $25,000.

thats an interesting point, its a lot of money in 87...

and powerful equipment.

Originally posted by Reptius
reply to post by BrokenCircles

 

I kind of would....Yeah I know the spanking part is weird but imagine telling your grandkids about the time you hacked a tv show.
How many times has that happended in history? Again I don'tknow what the reaction was in chicago at thet time but I imagine it was pretty big.
There's probably newspapers and magazine articles all written about this guy.

The spanking is weird but if you were to come foreward about it you'd be pretty famous...atleast in chicago.........

My freshman year in college, my roommates and I were wtching a new channel. Fox. Someone screwed up and put on Friday the 13th. Unedited. We got a big laugh but no news.
Ahhhhh, life was so much simpler then. *sigh*

This incident made the national news but the perpetrators were never caught in spite of an FBI investigation.

www.tvparty.com...

That's another good reason not to come forward.
Facing federal charges could cause some to keep their mouths shut.

Originally posted by beezzer
Max Headroom was a tv show in the 80's. Star was Matt Frewer. A digital download, a copy was made as an experiment. .

Yesh i know who max headroom is but what I'm intrested in is who did it and why?
Does any have any info on that?I mean from what i've heard the FCC and the federal goverment put a lot of money into investigating this and never found out what happended.

I'm wondering if there's anyone on ATS whose looked into it or knows a site of a person who did.


I mean could it be a prank? Sure it probably is but I'm wondering why they chose that channel. and why max headroom. Plus there seems to be a deeper meaning with the New Coke and the "They're coming after me" line.

reply to post by Reptius

The probably picked that channel because of the UHF bandwidth. Easier to hijack.
Er. . . . . or so I'm told- uh, guessing. . . . .

catch the 'wave'

lol

My thought is that this was an "inside job". No money involved that way. Or a rival station pulled this stunt. Someone working at a broadcast station would have the know how and resources to pull this off on the cheap for a prank.

It's quite obvious that it was "The Master" and they he was simply trying to disrupt The Doctor from saving the day yet again.

I, for one, think it was a commissioned hack to see how easy it would be to implant a soviet signal over a public TV station. This was during the cold war and such things were rumored to be attempted often. Noone would claim credit for such a big heist because they would be found missing the next day.

reply to post by beezzer

That wa wa wa wa was awesome some some

Originally posted by MichiganSwampBuck
My thought is that this was an "inside job". No money involved that way. Or a rival station pulled this stunt. Someone working at a broadcast station would have the know how and resources to pull this off on the cheap for a prank.

Yeah but here's the problem...The FCC and the goverment put alot of time and money into investigating this. Probably because it took place during the cold war and I imagine that they looked at it being an inside job yet to this day they have never found out who did it.

I'm sure they looked at anyone KNOWN to have have the resources and the know how to pull something like this off. I think it was a group like Harvard Terroist or the PLA who did this because it clearly has an anti-ad feel to it with them making fun of pepsi and coke.


Also , Max Headroom was a huge spokesperson back in the day which is probably why they choose that mask to get the word out.