WEBVTT - The Max Headroom Incident 0:00:00.680 --> 0:00:05.680 Salt Lake City, Utah, and Phoenix, Arizona. We're coming to 0:00:05.800 --> 0:00:08.320 see you. Yes, we are, so come see Yes, why 0:00:08.360 --> 0:00:10.680 don't you. Yeah, we put out the call to Salt 0:00:10.720 --> 0:00:13.720 Lake City and said should we come there? And tickets 0:00:13.720 --> 0:00:16.640 are going gangbusters. You guys really responded. Yeah, we thought 0:00:16.720 --> 0:00:18.720 you were just like, this is all just a joke, 0:00:18.880 --> 0:00:20.840 but no, it's turning out quite well. We're gonna be 0:00:20.880 --> 0:00:23.919 there October twenty three at the Grand Theater in Salt 0:00:24.000 --> 0:00:26.040 Lake City, and then the next night we'll be in 0:00:26.079 --> 0:00:28.639 Phoenix at the Van Buren. And we can't wait to 0:00:28.640 --> 0:00:30.240 see you, guys, So please come out and see us. 0:00:30.240 --> 0:00:31.840 And if you want tickets, you can go to s 0:00:31.960 --> 0:00:34.560 y s K live dot com for those and Chuck 0:00:34.800 --> 0:00:40.640 and yes to our friends down Enda Melbourne, boy, we 0:00:40.760 --> 0:00:44.840 are super psyched because you love us and you sold 0:00:44.960 --> 0:00:47.880 us out very quickly. So we have added a second 0:00:47.920 --> 0:00:50.640 show that I believe is actually an earlier show, isn't 0:00:50.680 --> 0:00:53.400 that right? Yeah, it's a five thirties show. I believe 0:00:53.440 --> 0:00:55.319 that Melbourne is the one that we added, and it's 0:00:55.320 --> 0:00:58.520 gonna be cool. It's gonna be like a sweet little Mattinee. Yeah, 0:00:58.560 --> 0:01:00.840 we call that Happy Hour in our kind tree. Yeah 0:01:00.920 --> 0:01:03.720 that's right. So make sure you guys bring a slab each. 0:01:04.000 --> 0:01:07.559 That's right in Perth and Brisbane. Step it up. Yeah 0:01:07.600 --> 0:01:09.640 that's right. So if you want to come see us, 0:01:09.640 --> 0:01:11.480 go to s y s K Live. Whether you're in 0:01:11.520 --> 0:01:14.400 the US, whether you're in Australia, whether you're in New Zealand, 0:01:14.480 --> 0:01:16.720 it doesn't matter. You can go to the same site 0:01:16.920 --> 0:01:19.320 and hang out with us and there you go. See 0:01:19.360 --> 0:01:24.160 you guys soon. Welcome to Stuff you Should Know from 0:01:24.200 --> 0:01:33.119 House Stuff Works dot Com. Hey, and welcome to the podcast. 0:01:33.200 --> 0:01:42.080 I'm Josh Clark, There's Chuck Bryant, Jerry Roland. You think 0:01:42.160 --> 0:01:44.679 pretty good. It's pretty good, and this is stuff you 0:01:44.680 --> 0:01:48.040 should Know. Josh ed Room, thank you you've been I 0:01:48.080 --> 0:01:49.800 saw you over there with your earbuds today. You were 0:01:50.160 --> 0:01:52.800 working on this all day, weren't you. I watched season 0:01:52.800 --> 0:01:57.440 one episode one of Max Headroom, Like the last ten 0:01:57.440 --> 0:02:00.640 minutes is still pending, okay, but it's crazy, Like Max 0:02:00.680 --> 0:02:04.720 Headroam himself doesn't show up until like forty minutes into 0:02:04.760 --> 0:02:09.519 the first hour long episode, but when he does, it's dynamite. 0:02:10.160 --> 0:02:11.960 So what are we talking about. We're talking about Max 0:02:12.000 --> 0:02:15.400 Headroam that's right. A huge shout out at the beginning 0:02:15.400 --> 0:02:23.519 of this two buis dot com specifically Motherboard, specifically Alex Pasternak. Yeah, 0:02:23.520 --> 0:02:25.600 who wrote the article on Motherboard And we actually we 0:02:25.720 --> 0:02:27.000 used to blog a little bit for them back in 0:02:27.040 --> 0:02:28.640 the day, remember that. Yeah. I don't think they like 0:02:28.760 --> 0:02:32.160 to talk about that or acknowledge it publicly, you know, 0:02:32.600 --> 0:02:35.400 I don't think so. Oh, I think it was mutually beneficial. 0:02:35.520 --> 0:02:38.600 I'll bet you can't find those on Motherboard anymore. Trying 0:02:38.600 --> 0:02:41.160 to remember. I'm sure they were like I think I 0:02:41.240 --> 0:02:44.520 read one about driving a stick shift versus automatic or 0:02:44.560 --> 0:02:47.120 something weird. That's a big one. Yeah. We started out 0:02:47.120 --> 0:02:49.920 with an old fashioned recipe, I think, yeah, that was you. 0:02:50.240 --> 0:02:53.400 They were like, let's do better than this guy's and 0:02:53.520 --> 0:02:55.840 we said no, And then they said we got our 0:02:55.880 --> 0:02:58.919 own people. Yeah, we'll let somebody come in and go 0:02:59.080 --> 0:03:02.280 strike for you. Yeah. So that Motherboard articles the basis 0:03:02.360 --> 0:03:04.400 and from what I found, I mean, we we used 0:03:04.400 --> 0:03:08.600 a lot of different sources on this, but this article 0:03:09.200 --> 0:03:13.440 entitled the Mystery of the Creepiest Television Heck is sort 0:03:13.480 --> 0:03:17.720 of the culmination like the Kuda gra kDa gra of 0:03:17.960 --> 0:03:21.880 Max Headroom incidental articles. Yeah, it actually really good job. 0:03:23.600 --> 0:03:27.320 Pastor Neck like very exhaustively investigated it and turned up 0:03:27.400 --> 0:03:31.920 new information, got new new um, a new understanding of it, 0:03:31.919 --> 0:03:36.400 and basically contributed to the mythos of it himself. It's 0:03:36.400 --> 0:03:38.840 a way to go, Pastor Neck, right. And what we're 0:03:38.880 --> 0:03:41.920 talking about is if you if you don't know who 0:03:41.920 --> 0:03:44.640 Max Headroom at all is, We're about to set that up. Yeah, 0:03:44.680 --> 0:03:47.680 let's talk about Max headrom But if you were alive 0:03:47.800 --> 0:03:51.720 during the nineteen eighties, then you probably know who Max 0:03:51.840 --> 0:03:57.400 Headroom is because weirdly, for a brief few years it 0:03:57.560 --> 0:04:01.040 was kind of a big pop culture at about four 0:04:01.160 --> 0:04:06.440 years by my by my calculations. So starting in there 0:04:06.480 --> 0:04:10.880 was a movie called Max Headroom Colon so you know 0:04:10.960 --> 0:04:15.480 his an important movie twenty Minutes in the Future, right, 0:04:16.000 --> 0:04:19.760 and it was a kind of a cyberpunk movie, um 0:04:20.080 --> 0:04:26.720 dystopium future, very Terry Gilliam brazil ish um, and it 0:04:26.800 --> 0:04:29.120 was I'm not I haven't seen that one, but it 0:04:29.160 --> 0:04:31.560 was basically where the character of Max Headroom was born, right, 0:04:32.360 --> 0:04:34.039 And I think it actually formed the basis for the 0:04:34.080 --> 0:04:36.800 TV show later in between the later TV show that 0:04:36.880 --> 0:04:39.720 you and I are more familiar with and that movie 0:04:40.160 --> 0:04:44.960 Max Headroom was a pop culture sensation. He was a 0:04:44.960 --> 0:04:49.159 pitchman for New Coke. I went and watched an old ad. 0:04:49.200 --> 0:04:52.640 He was in an ad with run DMC pitching New Coke, 0:04:52.760 --> 0:04:55.680 and I was like, doesn't get any more eighties than this? 0:04:55.920 --> 0:04:58.279 But it was actually a pretty cool ad, right was it? 0:04:58.440 --> 0:05:01.120 Did it say, here's a little story A need to 0:05:01.160 --> 0:05:03.960 tell about a New Coke on the scene that he 0:05:04.120 --> 0:05:06.840 loves so well, that was exactly word for word how 0:05:06.920 --> 0:05:11.520 that ad went. So so let's back up a little more. Right, Okay, 0:05:11.600 --> 0:05:14.719 let's describe what Max Headroom is for the kids, because 0:05:14.760 --> 0:05:17.760 I guarantee it about eight percent of our our audience 0:05:17.800 --> 0:05:22.320 are like, what's the eighties? What's New Coke? Who's run DMC? 0:05:22.480 --> 0:05:25.400 Well that's probably not true, but what so what was 0:05:25.480 --> 0:05:28.359 Max Headroom? He was builed as like the first virtual 0:05:29.000 --> 0:05:33.240 um talk show host, right correct? Okay, yeah, so he 0:05:33.279 --> 0:05:36.720 was played by a guy named Matt Frewer, who, out 0:05:36.760 --> 0:05:42.039 of prosthetic makeup, had that look anyway, very chiseled, square jawed. 0:05:42.640 --> 0:05:49.080 He was not bald, but had he had a receding hairline. Okay, 0:05:49.120 --> 0:05:50.640 but he kept it really really short, so it kind 0:05:50.640 --> 0:05:52.919 of looks bald. Yeah. Here, this will explain it to 0:05:52.920 --> 0:05:54.880 all the kids at home. He was a colleague of 0:05:54.960 --> 0:05:58.120 Murphy Brown and the Murphy Brown television. Yeah, they're like, 0:05:58.240 --> 0:06:02.240 oh that guy, Yeah, not the painter, the other one, 0:06:02.440 --> 0:06:04.320 the love interest. I don't think I knew that. I 0:06:04.400 --> 0:06:06.039 never watched more Peole Brown though. Oh man, I hope 0:06:06.080 --> 0:06:08.360 that was him. I'm pretty sure it was him. Yeah. Yeah, 0:06:08.440 --> 0:06:11.560 well he's been around, he's still acting today. But yes, 0:06:11.920 --> 0:06:15.760 he played the character of Max Headroom, and the TV 0:06:15.880 --> 0:06:19.200 show Max Headroom was actually pretty far ahead of its time, 0:06:19.800 --> 0:06:23.039 totally speaking. Yeah, so the whole, the whole premise of 0:06:23.080 --> 0:06:26.440 the TV show, the last his big last, great gasp 0:06:27.040 --> 0:06:29.279 that was actually the most serious of all of it 0:06:29.360 --> 0:06:36.040 was where in the future TV networks controlled the world, 0:06:36.760 --> 0:06:39.720 and there was the station that network twenty three that 0:06:39.760 --> 0:06:43.200 Matt Frewer's character and later Max Headroom, who became his 0:06:43.240 --> 0:06:46.560 alter ego, worked for. We're putting these things called blip 0:06:46.600 --> 0:06:50.200 firts out his His character's name was Edison Carter at first, 0:06:50.640 --> 0:06:54.120 and he was like an investigative journalist. So um, he 0:06:54.160 --> 0:06:56.919 starts looking into these blip firsts because the problem with 0:06:56.960 --> 0:07:01.200 blip firsts they are thirty second ads used into three seconds, 0:07:01.920 --> 0:07:04.239 and it's meant to keep you from changing the channel. 0:07:04.680 --> 0:07:07.119 The problem is is that everybody watched so much TV 0:07:07.279 --> 0:07:11.000 by this time, they didn't move around, which meant that 0:07:11.040 --> 0:07:14.559 all of the electricity generated by their nerve endings wasn't 0:07:14.600 --> 0:07:17.640 burned off as how the how the show explained it. 0:07:18.120 --> 0:07:21.840 So when their brains were assaulted with these blip verts, 0:07:21.840 --> 0:07:24.960 they kind of short circuited, and all that electricity that 0:07:25.000 --> 0:07:27.080 was just hanging around their bodies because they weren't moving 0:07:27.120 --> 0:07:31.040 at all during the day, made them explode. The network 0:07:31.120 --> 0:07:33.600 really liked blip urts and they didn't want to get 0:07:33.720 --> 0:07:36.240 rid of them, so they decided to instead get rid 0:07:36.240 --> 0:07:40.320 of Edison Carter. Yeah, and the TV advertising at the time, 0:07:40.440 --> 0:07:43.160 or advertising in general sort of not only did TV 0:07:43.280 --> 0:07:46.000 rule the world, but the ads behind it was really 0:07:46.080 --> 0:07:51.560 the driving force. It sounds very familiar, it does. Everyone's like, 0:07:51.720 --> 0:07:54.960 I take a blip furt, give me a three second 0:07:54.960 --> 0:07:57.640 ad on the podcast guys, it will blow you up. 0:07:58.800 --> 0:08:01.960 So what they what ended up happening was was the 0:08:02.080 --> 0:08:07.400 character of Edison Carter eventually was there was an incident 0:08:07.440 --> 0:08:10.160 not the Max Headroom It's in it where he was 0:08:10.360 --> 0:08:13.800 left in a coma in an episode the first episode, 0:08:14.000 --> 0:08:16.200 Oh yeah, the pilot, of course. And the last thing 0:08:16.200 --> 0:08:19.080 he sees before falling into a coma is a sign 0:08:19.320 --> 0:08:24.240 that said Max Headroom colon two point three meters. Uh. 0:08:24.280 --> 0:08:26.320 And so that's how he got the name Max cum right. 0:08:26.320 --> 0:08:28.040 It was in like a parking garage and it was 0:08:28.080 --> 0:08:30.600 basically saying, this is the overhead clearance. Is the way 0:08:30.640 --> 0:08:33.600 it it's put in the United States. Yeah, right, so 0:08:33.640 --> 0:08:35.920 that's the name Max Headroum right. But he was an 0:08:35.960 --> 0:08:40.800 AI character, right, So the the Evil TV network got 0:08:40.840 --> 0:08:46.080 ahold of him, uploaded his brain um and they originally 0:08:46.120 --> 0:08:49.360 did this with the intent of bringing Edison Carter because 0:08:49.400 --> 0:08:52.720 again he was like their star reporter. Bringing him back 0:08:52.720 --> 0:08:56.400 in virtual forms, they created an artificial intelligence. Well, it's 0:08:56.440 --> 0:08:59.160 kind of glitchy and blippy and it looked weird, so 0:08:59.200 --> 0:09:03.160 they threw it out. Well, some pirate broadcasters got a 0:09:03.160 --> 0:09:07.240 hold of this, this database that that Max Hedrom lived on, 0:09:07.720 --> 0:09:10.640 and they started broadcasting with him, and Max Hendrom was born. 0:09:11.000 --> 0:09:14.439 That's right. And you said glitchy and blippy, and that 0:09:14.640 --> 0:09:20.520 kids explains your intro when you went to Josh, Yeah, yeah, 0:09:20.559 --> 0:09:23.640 I was doing Thank you for explaining that Yeah, that 0:09:23.679 --> 0:09:28.160 bears Josh was He's He's okay everybody. So that's what 0:09:28.240 --> 0:09:31.200 Max Hedroum did. It was jittery, it was blippy, Like 0:09:31.240 --> 0:09:34.959 you said, the background was this weird sort of horizontal 0:09:34.960 --> 0:09:38.280 and diagonal line moving around thing, and that was all 0:09:38.360 --> 0:09:41.120 part of this at the time sort of futuristic look. 0:09:41.280 --> 0:09:45.280 He was also really sarcastic and really caddy, and he 0:09:45.440 --> 0:09:49.200 was really um. He poked fun at censorship and he 0:09:49.320 --> 0:09:52.280 was just kind of like a cult hero just the 0:09:52.360 --> 0:09:55.720 character itself. Right. Yeah. The awesome thing about him is 0:09:55.800 --> 0:10:00.320 in the real world of we didn't have any kind 0:10:00.360 --> 0:10:04.200 of computers that could generate a c g I post, 0:10:04.840 --> 0:10:08.400 so they actually used like prosthetics, Like there was a 0:10:08.440 --> 0:10:11.360 four hour process to put Matt freu Or into the 0:10:11.360 --> 0:10:14.440 Max Headroom makeup. So it's the guy acting and then 0:10:14.520 --> 0:10:16.120 you know, they messed with the video a little bit. 0:10:16.120 --> 0:10:20.720 But it wasn't a c a c g I version 0:10:20.800 --> 0:10:23.360 of a guy. It was a guy acting like he 0:10:23.440 --> 0:10:25.840 was a c g I version of himself, right, which 0:10:25.880 --> 0:10:30.600 is why if, for instance, if Max Headroom the character 0:10:30.800 --> 0:10:33.640 were to appear on say David Letterman, which he did, 0:10:34.320 --> 0:10:38.199 it would be Letterman interviewing a TV screen, which is 0:10:38.240 --> 0:10:40.720 what they did, but it was actually Matt Frewer in 0:10:40.760 --> 0:10:46.000 another studio. He was probably just backstage broadcast. And it's 0:10:46.000 --> 0:10:49.240 really like, as a kid, I did not get all this, No, 0:10:49.320 --> 0:10:52.320 I just thought it was a I didn't really know 0:10:52.360 --> 0:10:53.720 what it was because I've never seen the show. I 0:10:53.720 --> 0:10:56.600 thought he was the coke guy, right right, And I 0:10:56.640 --> 0:10:57.959 think I've seen the show a little bit. I was like, 0:10:58.000 --> 0:11:00.920 this is way too grown up for me. Um, But 0:11:01.000 --> 0:11:02.680 I think I just kind of took it on faith 0:11:02.720 --> 0:11:04.760 that he was computer generated or something like that. I 0:11:04.800 --> 0:11:07.200 didn't really think about it much. But now as an 0:11:07.200 --> 0:11:12.080 adult looking back, I'm like, that is brilliant and really difficult. 0:11:12.480 --> 0:11:14.120 And the fact that they did this and pulled it 0:11:14.160 --> 0:11:16.319 off as well as they did, it's it's it's a 0:11:16.440 --> 0:11:18.520 it's a pretty amazing thing, right, And you can kind 0:11:18.520 --> 0:11:22.360 of understand how Max Headroom with all that information now 0:11:23.120 --> 0:11:28.760 became this kind of cult icon, especially among cyberpunks at 0:11:28.760 --> 0:11:32.679 the time, and what just keep saying cyberpunk. So so 0:11:32.760 --> 0:11:36.680 let me let me I'm I'm I'm not like particularly 0:11:36.720 --> 0:11:39.880 well versed in like what constitutes cyberpunk, but like it's 0:11:39.920 --> 0:11:42.800 like pornography to a Supreme Court justice, Like I know 0:11:42.880 --> 0:11:44.760 it when I see it, right, Sure, So if you 0:11:44.800 --> 0:11:49.199 watch the Max Headroom Show, you're like, that's cyberpunk. RoboCop 0:11:49.320 --> 0:11:55.200 is supposedly cyberpunk, right. It's like a bleak technological future 0:11:55.600 --> 0:11:59.679 where people are controlled by almost down to their minds, 0:11:59.760 --> 0:12:04.320 by the government or some corporation or some amalgamation of 0:12:04.400 --> 0:12:09.160 the two. That's pretty cyberpunk. Right. So at the time 0:12:09.559 --> 0:12:14.120 you had what are called geeks and nerds, but they 0:12:14.160 --> 0:12:16.480 are not really what you would call the geek or 0:12:16.480 --> 0:12:19.000 a nerd today. Right, somebody who wears like glasses that 0:12:19.040 --> 0:12:22.199 don't actually have prescription glass in them. Do people do that? 0:12:22.280 --> 0:12:25.720 That's some people do. I did that in the fourth grade. Well, 0:12:25.760 --> 0:12:28.480 then you were a geek apparently, No. I was a 0:12:28.520 --> 0:12:32.880 prep and I wore those little tortoiseshell round uh preppy 0:12:32.920 --> 0:12:35.880 glasses because that was a cool look. And actually, when 0:12:36.440 --> 0:12:38.840 it's it's one of my least proud moments. Fashion wise 0:12:39.240 --> 0:12:41.640 has actually bought fake glasses and more than around you 0:12:41.679 --> 0:12:45.719 have photos of those. I'd really have to dig through 0:12:45.760 --> 0:12:48.040 some boxes. I think I speak for everyone when I 0:12:48.080 --> 0:12:53.080 say started digging dig Yeah, it was not my proudest moment. Yeah, 0:12:53.160 --> 0:12:57.880 I'd like to see that picture. So. Um, at the time, 0:12:58.160 --> 0:13:03.120 people who were geeks, nerds, that whole culture was very 0:13:03.200 --> 0:13:07.880 much derided and pushed around. I mean, look at the 0:13:07.920 --> 0:13:10.800 Revenge of the Nerds, right like they came out on top. 0:13:10.840 --> 0:13:12.400 I watched a little bit of that just the other night. 0:13:12.480 --> 0:13:16.640 This is probably the earliest celebration of nerd culture. It 0:13:16.720 --> 0:13:20.640 was not something that was like venerated or subscribed to 0:13:20.840 --> 0:13:26.640 by anyone who wasn't a genuine nerd or geek. And 0:13:26.720 --> 0:13:30.520 these were a very rarefied group of people who really 0:13:30.600 --> 0:13:32.760 knew what they were doing with computers at a time 0:13:32.760 --> 0:13:36.080 when almost no one else did. Early adopters across the 0:13:36.080 --> 0:13:38.920 board very much so. Right, So, so Maxidim is kind 0:13:38.960 --> 0:13:41.720 of a cult hero to this guy, and um, that 0:13:41.800 --> 0:13:46.800 kind of sets up what happened on November twenty in 0:13:46.840 --> 0:13:53.600 a little town called Chicago, Illinois, the city of industry, 0:13:54.120 --> 0:13:59.640 city that doesn't ever sleep never, the windy city that's it? 0:14:00.000 --> 0:14:03.400 Are you go of all time? The windy city of 0:14:03.400 --> 0:14:06.480 all time? Yeah? So that sets the stage. We know 0:14:06.559 --> 0:14:11.120 who who the character of Max Headroom was? Then yes, 0:14:11.960 --> 0:14:14.400 are you sure I set the stage? I think so? 0:14:14.640 --> 0:14:17.280 Did we set the stage fully here it looks nice alight. 0:14:18.160 --> 0:14:23.240 So a PM on that November night in Chicago, four 0:14:23.320 --> 0:14:27.760 days before Thanksgiving. Yeah, so everyone was in that frame 0:14:27.800 --> 0:14:30.400 of mind, put yourself there. I think that that helps 0:14:30.440 --> 0:14:34.280 a lot. It helped me at least football seasons going on. Yeah. 0:14:34.280 --> 0:14:36.320 As a matter of fact, just that very day, the 0:14:36.400 --> 0:14:40.680 Bears had beat the Lions, which you know, it's a 0:14:40.680 --> 0:14:43.000 long time ago. Because the Bears won a football game, 0:14:45.160 --> 0:14:47.360 the people in the Windy City of all time, we're 0:14:47.400 --> 0:14:50.480 not gonna be happy with you for that city time. 0:14:51.200 --> 0:14:56.960 Oh and there's a sportscaster on local channel nine, uh 0:14:57.040 --> 0:15:00.360 Dan Rone r a in and he was was going 0:15:00.400 --> 0:15:02.560 over the highlights of that football game. Then all of 0:15:02.640 --> 0:15:06.920 a sudden, right in the middle, the broadcast signal goes. 0:15:09.040 --> 0:15:12.400 It makes those noise noises. And then over at w 0:15:12.600 --> 0:15:16.240 g N the control room, they were like, what's what's 0:15:16.240 --> 0:15:18.280 going on here? We have no idea what this is. 0:15:18.520 --> 0:15:24.760 I think the exact quote was a girl. So um, 0:15:24.840 --> 0:15:27.760 what happened was they eventually what what where they were 0:15:27.760 --> 0:15:29.440 doing at the time was And this is how We're 0:15:29.480 --> 0:15:30.920 not going to go into the weeds here on how 0:15:31.040 --> 0:15:34.920 broadcast signals work, but what they did back in the day, 0:15:35.000 --> 0:15:39.440 was they broadcast microwave transmissions to antenna's at the top 0:15:39.440 --> 0:15:41.840 of the tallest buildings of whatever city that they were 0:15:41.840 --> 0:15:45.000 in for local TV, for local TV, which is I 0:15:45.000 --> 0:15:47.080 mean there was cable at the time, but local TV 0:15:47.200 --> 0:15:50.480 still kind of ruled, yeah in the well sort of 0:15:50.480 --> 0:15:52.840 in the late eighties, right, So like starting to segue 0:15:53.000 --> 0:15:56.480 to cable, Yeah, for sure, cable is you know, kind 0:15:56.480 --> 0:15:58.680 of a thing, but you if you were a local 0:15:58.720 --> 0:16:01.560 TV station, you still have pretty big market share of it, right, 0:16:01.920 --> 0:16:04.120 especially w g N in Chicago. I mean it's like 0:16:04.200 --> 0:16:07.680 Chicago station, right absolutely, So what you I think you're 0:16:07.680 --> 0:16:11.080 saying is that in a studio, whatever they're recording or 0:16:11.440 --> 0:16:15.600 shooting or playing on their their little video tapes, they're 0:16:15.880 --> 0:16:19.720 they're beaming that from the actual studio to a transmitter 0:16:19.800 --> 0:16:22.120 stay atop a very tall building, and then that just 0:16:22.200 --> 0:16:24.360 kind of bounces around to other transmitters and that's how 0:16:24.360 --> 0:16:28.200 everybody in Chicago gets their w g N signal, right, Right, 0:16:28.320 --> 0:16:32.040 So all of a sudden, during the sportscast, it skits 0:16:32.080 --> 0:16:34.080 is out and then all of a sudden you see 0:16:34.120 --> 0:16:40.280 a a guy in a suit, uh wearing a Max 0:16:40.360 --> 0:16:46.160 headroom mask and it was there was no audio. That 0:16:46.240 --> 0:16:49.560 was I guess the problem with this first intrusion that 0:16:49.680 --> 0:16:53.240 was called a broadcast intrusion. Yeah, but you couldn't hear anything. 0:16:53.640 --> 0:16:55.960 But I'm sure it was certainly distressing to a viewer 0:16:56.560 --> 0:16:59.120 to see this kind of weird thing happened, especially if 0:16:59.160 --> 0:17:01.520 viewer who wanted to know what the heck happened between 0:17:01.520 --> 0:17:05.119 the Bears and the Lions that day. And um, the 0:17:05.160 --> 0:17:07.520 whole thing lasted I think like eleven seconds or some 0:17:07.680 --> 0:17:09.640 very short amount of time. Yeah, this was a short 0:17:09.680 --> 0:17:13.159 one Before um, the w g N engineers went and 0:17:13.240 --> 0:17:17.600 switched to the backup transmitter and and I guess transmitted 0:17:17.640 --> 0:17:21.960 on a slightly different signal and brought the broadcast, the 0:17:21.960 --> 0:17:26.560 sportscaster back on and Dan Rone was like, uh, if 0:17:26.600 --> 0:17:30.720 you're wondering what just happened, so am I right? There's 0:17:30.720 --> 0:17:32.359 a chuckle in between. I wasn't going to do my 0:17:32.400 --> 0:17:35.240 impression of it, but it's good. You should watch it, 0:17:35.359 --> 0:17:39.400 like somebody just go look it up, right, So Federal Investigators, 0:17:39.680 --> 0:17:43.000 the FEC that is, was called in to investigate, um 0:17:43.160 --> 0:17:46.520 what technically is well not technically it's a crime to 0:17:46.600 --> 0:17:50.080 do so. And then just a few minutes later, they thought, well, 0:17:50.080 --> 0:17:52.560 this is probably coming from inside the building, and so 0:17:52.600 --> 0:17:54.760 that's the first place they started looking. They said, the 0:17:54.760 --> 0:18:00.000 intrusions coming from inside the building exactly. They didn't find anybody, though, 0:18:00.000 --> 0:18:03.960 I mean it was, as you'll see after we explained further, 0:18:04.440 --> 0:18:07.760 it would make sense that you would look in the building, Yeah, right, 0:18:08.119 --> 0:18:11.840 for something like this inside job. There apparently was not 0:18:11.960 --> 0:18:14.080 an inside job at least as far as the w 0:18:14.240 --> 0:18:18.520 g N Engineers search was concerned. Right, right, So that 0:18:18.600 --> 0:18:22.040 was at nine fourteen. About two hours later, I think, 0:18:22.040 --> 0:18:26.280 at eleven fifteen, on another channel in Chicago, w t 0:18:26.400 --> 0:18:30.040 t W, which was the PBS station, they were airing 0:18:30.119 --> 0:18:34.040 an episode of Doctor who called the Horror on fang Island, 0:18:34.359 --> 0:18:37.399 fang Rock, fang Rock, Horror of fang Rock. You have 0:18:37.440 --> 0:18:40.680 to say it like that, the Horror of fang Rock. 0:18:40.960 --> 0:18:44.320 Thank you. And this is the Tom Baker doctor. Okay, 0:18:44.359 --> 0:18:48.440 that's the only one I recognize that. Really he's seventies, right, Hey, 0:18:48.480 --> 0:18:51.240 I'm no doctor. Who guys, don't it looked like it 0:18:51.320 --> 0:18:53.480 looked like the seventies. What they cut in on looked 0:18:53.520 --> 0:18:56.800 pretty seventies. It didn't look eighty seven. So who do 0:18:56.800 --> 0:19:00.080 would think it would be at seven. I'm guess it 0:19:00.200 --> 0:19:02.960 was a rerun on PBS, That's what I think. Alright, 0:19:03.280 --> 0:19:06.320 we'll find out and oh man, we're going to find 0:19:06.320 --> 0:19:09.320 out too. That would have been super easy to check. Yeah, 0:19:10.040 --> 0:19:13.320 at any rate, Um, the the in the middle of 0:19:13.359 --> 0:19:17.160 this Doctor Who episode, it suddenly cuts out again, and 0:19:17.840 --> 0:19:20.880 now you've got what appears to be the full run 0:19:21.520 --> 0:19:25.320 of this Max headroom intrusion. Yes, instead of thirty seconds, 0:19:25.359 --> 0:19:28.399 this one was a minute in twenty two seconds. And 0:19:28.520 --> 0:19:32.680 right now, I would say, if you are somewhere where 0:19:32.720 --> 0:19:37.720 you can pause and go to a video online video 0:19:37.800 --> 0:19:41.359 carrier of your choosing and type in Max headroom incident, 0:19:42.200 --> 0:19:44.399 spend the next minute in twenty two seconds watching it. 0:19:44.760 --> 0:19:47.399 We'll wait and we'll wait. We'll just in cert a 0:19:47.400 --> 0:19:50.200 minute seconds of silence here, how about this. Let's take 0:19:50.240 --> 0:19:52.720 a break and then we'll come back and then we'll 0:19:52.720 --> 0:20:16.520 talk about exactly what happened during that minute in two seconds. Okay, 0:20:16.560 --> 0:20:21.520 we're back. Did you watch it? Are you talking to me? Okay? 0:20:22.840 --> 0:20:25.240 I'm guessing that people people did watch it. A few 0:20:25.240 --> 0:20:27.880 people did, smart ones did. Because this is really tough 0:20:27.920 --> 0:20:31.640 to describe, and we're going to try but it's something 0:20:31.680 --> 0:20:35.080 you really have to see you in here. It's genuinely 0:20:35.320 --> 0:20:39.840 disturbing sitting in an office years later watching it, and 0:20:39.880 --> 0:20:42.960 I can imagine if I was at home, I would 0:20:43.000 --> 0:20:47.800 have probably been a little freaked out. You found it disturbing, Yeah, 0:20:48.000 --> 0:20:52.200 I found it hilarious in like a really juvenile way. Yeah, 0:20:52.440 --> 0:20:55.800 it creeps me out. It was like watching David Byrne 0:20:55.840 --> 0:20:58.080 on acid at a talking head show. That's what I 0:20:58.119 --> 0:21:01.199 think of when I saw that, you know, all right, 0:21:01.240 --> 0:21:04.080 so let's let's describe the scene here. Okay, so you 0:21:04.160 --> 0:21:07.440 got Max Headroom, well, actually a dude wearing a rubbers 0:21:07.720 --> 0:21:11.879 rubber Halloween mask of Max Headroom. And this this is 0:21:11.960 --> 0:21:15.560 just genius to me. So you mentioned earlier about how 0:21:15.600 --> 0:21:19.159 the Max Headroom had like these kind of grid lines 0:21:19.240 --> 0:21:21.200 behind them at all times and they kind of moved 0:21:21.240 --> 0:21:24.840 and adjusted. They were different colors to do to to 0:21:24.880 --> 0:21:29.399 simulate that these guys had like a piece of corrugated metal, 0:21:29.720 --> 0:21:33.439 shiny metal, and I guess they had an attached somehow 0:21:33.480 --> 0:21:36.320 to something that rocked it back and forth, and they 0:21:36.440 --> 0:21:39.080 kind of somebody was clearly rocking it back and forth 0:21:39.200 --> 0:21:42.280 here there erratically, and it really does a good job. 0:21:42.640 --> 0:21:45.000 It gets the point across that it looked like the 0:21:45.000 --> 0:21:46.960 Max bed Room TV show. The Yeah, the back in 0:21:47.000 --> 0:21:51.760 the character. Yes, but again I would say that this 0:21:51.800 --> 0:21:55.360 person was very very clearly on acid. Well, I think 0:21:55.400 --> 0:21:57.320 what disturbs me, and I need to make it clear. 0:21:57.359 --> 0:22:00.720 It is definitely funny and stupid. But what disturbs me 0:22:00.840 --> 0:22:04.399 is the sound of the voice, which is all garble. 0:22:04.480 --> 0:22:08.399 It's really like on YouTube. It has subtitles thankfully because 0:22:08.400 --> 0:22:10.000 it's hard to make out, and a lot of times 0:22:10.040 --> 0:22:12.600 it just says can't you know understand what he's saying 0:22:12.680 --> 0:22:16.000 or whatever? Uh? And the garble quality and just the 0:22:16.160 --> 0:22:21.320 random weirdness that's going on. It's not like it was 0:22:21.359 --> 0:22:24.600 creepier to mean than if v for Vendetta dude had 0:22:24.600 --> 0:22:26.440 a come on Guy Fox had to come on and said, 0:22:26.800 --> 0:22:28.560 you know, we are coming into your thing to tell 0:22:28.600 --> 0:22:31.600 you this about this. This was just so weird and 0:22:31.640 --> 0:22:35.200 all over the place. It was creepy to me. Yeah, well, yeah, yeah, 0:22:35.200 --> 0:22:37.840 I see what you mean, Like you're watching some nonsensical 0:22:37.920 --> 0:22:44.240 somebody's brain slightly damaged, watching somebody lose their mind. Right, Okay, yeah, 0:22:44.520 --> 0:22:48.160 totally get that. Um, And here's here's what the guy 0:22:48.200 --> 0:22:52.240 did that would make you feel like he lost his mind. Um, 0:22:53.160 --> 0:22:55.640 this is the weird thing to me. It's it's very 0:22:55.680 --> 0:23:00.719 targeted towards w g N, right, almost so much so 0:23:00.800 --> 0:23:03.840 that some people would say this was clearly somebody who 0:23:03.840 --> 0:23:06.480 had a grudge against w g N. He makes fun 0:23:06.480 --> 0:23:10.800 of the bulls um sportscaster, the guy who worked for 0:23:10.920 --> 0:23:13.439 w g N at the time. He makes reference to 0:23:13.800 --> 0:23:17.639 how he just made a masterpiece for the Greatest World's 0:23:17.720 --> 0:23:22.199 Newspaper Nerds, which was a messed up version of w 0:23:22.320 --> 0:23:26.320 g n's call letters stand for World's Greatest Newspaper. He 0:23:26.400 --> 0:23:29.560 wields a rubber penis. That's one. Although it was great 0:23:29.640 --> 0:23:32.040 and almost every article it was referred to as a 0:23:32.080 --> 0:23:36.359 marital aid. Did you see that? No? But uh, I 0:23:36.400 --> 0:23:39.560 actually guessed it on Strickland's Tech stuff like four years ago, 0:23:40.040 --> 0:23:42.120 and we covered this and I called it a marital aide, 0:23:42.200 --> 0:23:45.800