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The character in the video mentions Chuck Swirsky, who worked at the time for WGN, and the “Greatest World Newspaper”, an amalgamation of “World’s Greatest Newspaper”, the meaning behind the WGN call letters. Although that station was able to switch transmitters to cut the hacker off, the later intrusion against WTTN revealed that WGN may have been the true target. The first signal intrusion happened to WGN-TV. They Were Making a Point About the MediaĪ number of components of the hack point toward the hackers not only targeting Chicago media specifically, but also trying to make a point about the future of the media in their broadcast. Rather, it’s likely that the culprits were versed in how commercial-grade broadcasting equipment worked, and had a working knowledge of broadcast mechanics, signal flow, and microwave technology.
MAX HEADROOM HIJACK TV
Given the technical set-up required for the signal intrusion, a Chicago media and TV blog explains that there’s no way “just a young prankster” could have pulled the piracy off. The Max Headroom hacker disrupted the path from the station to the transmitter by essentially jumping in between the two // Graphic from NEC Corporation In an extensive piece on the incident for Motherboard, Chris Knittel explains that hacking the airwaves began with knowing the paths the broadcasts take from the studios to high-power transmitters, or the studio transmitter link (STL), as indicated in the map above.Īll the hacker had to do was overpower the STL by switching on transmission equipment with high-power frequencies somewhere close to the studios’ transmitters, thus tricking the transmitters into broadcasting the stronger signal – the hacker’s content. It is also possible that the suspect’s targeting of Chicago audiences for their “masterpiece” indicates that they have a special connection to the area, and sought notoriety with the public there. Michael Marcus, assistant FBI bureau chief and FCC investigator assigned to the case, the suspect had to “get close to the receiving end” and just transmit their own TV signal that was stronger than the stations’.Īs this positioning, as well as the targeting of these specific stations, indicates at least a basic familiarity with Chicago, it is likely that the suspect was a local or someone who lived relatively close.
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Map by Alex Pasternak, MotherboardĪccording to Dr. The lines indicate the paths between the stations and their respective transmitters, where the hacker was likely positioned.
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The hijacking of the stations took some strategic positioning – not only did the hacker(s) have to know exactly which stations they wanted to hijack and their physical broadcasting locations, they had to know a location central to those locations in order for the signal takeover to work. Who hacked into these TV stations’ airwaves to broadcast these strange videos, and why did they do it? The EvidenceĮven though the evidence in this case narrows down the field quite a bit, the hacker remains at large. Not to mention, the video itself was incredibly strange, and piqued the curiosity of audiences and investigators alike. While no one was directly hurt by the broadcasts, hijacking airwaves is still a federal offense punishable with fines up to $10,000. WTTN did not respond as quickly to the incident, as they did not have as many engineers on duty at the time of the hijacking, and by the time they were able to respond, the broadcast was over. The video then cuts to the person leaning over a chair with their pants off as a woman, whose face is out of the frame, pretends to hit their behind with a fly swatter. This interruption, almost two minutes in length, features the same distorted Max Headroom caricature in front of a tilting background, rambling about pop culture, newspapers, and art in a distorted voice.