The Max Headroom Broadcast Intrusion — Masked Figure Hijacks Chicago TV Signals

On the evening of November 22, 1987, the broadcast signal of Chicago's WGN-TV sports news was hijacked for about 30 seconds by an unidentified person wearing a Max Headroom mask—a character from a popular AT&T commercial. The video showed the figure swaying and bobbing in front of a corrugated metal background with distorted audio. Later that night at 11:15 PM, the same or a similar intruder hijacked WTTW's broadcast of Doctor Who for approximately 90 seconds. In this longer transmission, the masked figure could be seen more clearly, made references to New Coke, held a glove, sang a few bars of a Clutch Cargo theme song, and was spanked with a flyswatter by an accomplice who remained largely out of frame. The FCC investigated the incident as an illegal broadcast signal override, a federal crime. The equipment required to overpower broadcast signals in 1987 was sophisticated and expensive, suggesting multiple technically skilled perpetrators with significant resources and knowledge of broadcast infrastructure. Despite an extensive investigation, the perpetrators were never identified. The Max Headroom incident is widely considered the most audacious and technically sophisticated broadcast piracy in American history. As of today, it remains officially unsolved and the identity of the masked figure is unknown.