The pirate, this time transmitting with audio, launched into a bizarre diatribe. The picture danced for a second and Max was back in front of the twirling metal panel again. In the middle of a scene, the signal pirate made another intrusion. About two hours after the first incident, viewers of the local PBS affiliate WTTW were interrupted in the middle of an episode of Doctor Who. Viewers were brought back to a visibly flustered Dan Roan saying, “Well, if you're wondering what happened, so am I.” The airwave hijacking, known in the television business as broadcast signal intrusion, was stopped quickly when WGN on-site engineers switched the modulation of the studio link to an alternate transmitter and less than 30 seconds later, the Max impostor, having said nothing, having hardly moved, was gone. Then the clips from the Bears game gave way to static.įrom the snow emerged a clear picture of the grinning face of Max Headroom, the titular character of a TV show and pitchman for “New Coke.” More accurately, it was man in a Max Headroom mask, standing in front of a swaying sheet of corrugated metal, awash in the sound of a high, harsh buzz. The picture on the station monitors, as well as any TV tuned to WGN, suddenly began twitching and flickering.

Sports anchor Dan Roan was live on The Nine O'Clock News on WGN in Chicago, narrating video of the day’s football highlights. This is what happened on November 22, 1987. Some dress up as characters from TV shows, hijack broadcast signals and troll people who are just trying to watch the news. Not all pirates wear eye patches and talk funny.

The max headroom incident