I still see the X

Tuesday 28 November 2017 - 7:09 pm
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Last week it was the 30th anniversary of the Max Headroom Incident. TV viewers in Chicago will know full well about this, as will many in the USA, and of course the net nerd fraternity.

On 22 November 1987, three pranksters (we shall assume there were three) managed to override the microwave feeds of two Chicago TV stations - WGN and WTTW. TV stations would use these microwave feeds between their studios and their transmitters. What we saw in both instances was some goofball (some might say autisitc goofball) in a rubber Max Headroom mask, jerking about in front of a rotating sheet of corrugated metal. The WGN intrusion did not feature sound, but the WTTW intrusion did, treating Doctor Who viewers to a most surreal experience.

South Dakota based video maker Ben Minnotte launched his Oddity Archive channel with this very topic in July 2012. This offered us a helping hand in understanding this legendary ocurrence:


Later in October 2012 he gave us a commentary on that episode, in which he imparted more information on the elusive signal hackers:


Last week, Ben marked the 30th anniversary of the incident by uploading another insightful video into further possibilities:


I cannot recommend his site and channel enough. For us UK viewers, he has even dealt with the Vrillon signal intrusion of 1977 which affected TV viewers in Surrey and Hampshire, and ruined an episode of Tom and Jerry! For those of you who can stand dark humour, the Protect And Survive episode is also a must. It is a might more pleasant than watching Threads.

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