The Max Headroom Signal Hijacking
On 22 November 1987, someone in a Max Headroom mask hijacked the signals of two Chicago TV stations, WGN and WTTW. The FCC investigated, but the culprits were never identified. People have floated many theories about who was behind it. None has been confirmed.
Verdict: Unproven. The sources below do not establish this claim. That is not the same as proving it false. How we rate stories
The Story
On Sunday, 22 November 1987, WGN sports anchor Dan Roan was getting into Chicago Bears highlights on the 9 p.m. news when, at 9:14 p.m., the screen went black. A masked man wearing the face of the TV character Max Headroom appeared, moving back and forth in silence. WGN says it lasted 25 seconds before engineers switched the microwave path back to local programming. (WTTW's account puts it at 30 seconds.)
Later that night, the same figure appeared on WTTW, Chicago's public TV station, during a rerun of Doctor Who. This time there was garbled audio. WTTW says that toward the end the imposter exposed his bare bottom to an accomplice, who spanked him with a flyswatter. Staff in master control could not stop it. WTTW says the pirate signal disappeared on its own after 90 seconds. WGN says it lasted closer to two minutes.
The FCC 'never did figure out who was behind' it.
Engineers believed the culprit had serious technical skill. WTTW's Al Skierkiewicz said it had to be a broadcast engineer, a satellite engineer or a ham radio operator, probably a combination of at least two. He helped the Federal Communications Commission investigate, and he noted that someone at a single location could have seen both stations' transmitters, at the Sears Tower and the John Hancock Center.
No one was ever caught. WGN notes that the only earlier U.S. case it knew of, the 1986 pirating of HBO's signal, ended in a prosecution. The Max Headroom hijackers were never identified, and no one has been charged. Theories about who did it are still unconfirmed.
Origins
According to WGN, the first intrusion came at 9:14 p.m. during its Sunday newscast. WTTW says a second intrusion interrupted a rerun of the Doctor Who episode 'Horror at Fang Rock' later the same night. WGN puts it 'two hours later.'
The Claims
- The hijackers were insiders with broadcast engineering skills.
- Specific people can be identified as the culprits.
- The incident was part of a larger plot or message.
Key Evidence
- WTTW broadcast engineer Al Skierkiewicz told the station that the culprit 'had to be a broadcast engineer, a satellite engineer, or a ham radio operator,' and 'probably a combination of at least two of those.'
- Skierkiewicz, who helped the FCC investigate, told WGN that a line drawn between the two stations' studios 'would end up somewhere between the Sears Tower and John Hancock.' He said someone 'could essentially see both of our transmit facilities at Sears and Hancock from the same location.'
- WGN says that in the WTTW intrusion, the masked man could be heard mentioning Chuck Swirsky, a WGN Radio sportscaster. Swirsky told WGN: 'I was completely baffled. Why me?'
The Evidence Against
- WTTW says the FCC 'never did figure out who was behind' the incident. WGN says 'the guilty party was never caught.'
- No one has been charged, and no suspect has been confirmed.
Documents & Sources
- News30 Years Later, Notorious 'Max Headroom Incident' Remains a Mystery (WTTW News, 21 November 2017) news.wttw.com ↗
- News30 years later: Max Headroom hijack mystery remains unsolved (WGN-TV, 22 November 2017, archived) web.archive.org ↗
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