WEBVTT - Rerun: The Max Headroom Incident 0:00:04.440 --> 0:00:07.800 Welcome to tech Stuff, a production from my Heart Radio. 0:00:12.000 --> 0:00:14.680 Pay there and welcome to tech Stuff. I'm your host, 0:00:14.800 --> 0:00:17.840 Jonathan Strickland. I'm an executive producer with I Heart Radio, 0:00:17.960 --> 0:00:21.599 and I love all things tech. And so last week 0:00:21.680 --> 0:00:24.840 we were planning on running a classic episode of about 0:00:24.880 --> 0:00:29.640 the Max Headroom Incident, a famous incident in which a 0:00:30.280 --> 0:00:36.120 person was able to overpower TV broadcast signals and insert 0:00:36.200 --> 0:00:41.120 a pirate signal into a television channel. And UH, then 0:00:41.360 --> 0:00:43.040 like it turned out that we had a bunch of 0:00:43.040 --> 0:00:45.400 other stuff that needed to be published last week, so 0:00:45.840 --> 0:00:48.840 it ended up going up briefly and then coming back down. 0:00:49.120 --> 0:00:51.239 But now we're putting it up for real Z's and 0:00:51.240 --> 0:00:55.080 we're doing it today on Wednesday, because the episode I'm 0:00:55.120 --> 0:00:58.880 working on UH is taking a little more time than 0:00:58.960 --> 0:01:02.360 I had anticipated because I have to pull a lot 0:01:02.400 --> 0:01:04.400 of information from a lot of different sources. But I 0:01:04.480 --> 0:01:07.680 never want to leave you without an episode, so we're 0:01:07.720 --> 0:01:12.080 moving up the classic episode for Friday to today Wednesday. 0:01:12.120 --> 0:01:16.240 This all makes sense somewhere, maybe not right now, but 0:01:16.319 --> 0:01:19.160 I promise somewhere down the line it does. So right now, 0:01:19.400 --> 0:01:22.959 let's go back and listen to this classic episode about 0:01:23.000 --> 0:01:27.440 the Max headroom incident. Well, the nice thing is that, uh, 0:01:27.560 --> 0:01:30.800 you know, I like to let my guests kind of 0:01:31.360 --> 0:01:34.240 pick a topic if they if they prefer, I mean, 0:01:34.280 --> 0:01:36.119 if they don't, If they want me to pick one, 0:01:36.120 --> 0:01:38.920 I'm happy to. But I gave you that that option, 0:01:39.080 --> 0:01:44.240 and you came back with one of my favorite stories period, 0:01:44.319 --> 0:01:46.839 not just in tech just it's just one of those cool, 0:01:47.160 --> 0:01:50.880 weird things that have happened. And I do not want 0:01:50.920 --> 0:01:54.280 to steal thunder. All I wanna ask you is, Chuck, 0:01:54.320 --> 0:02:00.559 if you were in Chicago on November twenty, nineteen seven 0:02:01.240 --> 0:02:05.160 and you were watching h w g N at nine 0:02:05.200 --> 0:02:08.440 pm because you want to check out the news and 0:02:08.480 --> 0:02:10.760 it's coming up on the sports, which I know you're 0:02:10.800 --> 0:02:16.080 a fan of the sports, what happened? Well, that could 0:02:16.080 --> 0:02:18.679 have happened because I would have been sixteen at the time. Yeah, 0:02:18.800 --> 0:02:21.480 you and I are in this age wheelhouse. Yeah, we 0:02:21.480 --> 0:02:25.799 we actually were alive at this time, and we were 0:02:25.919 --> 0:02:29.079 we would have been aware of at least the entity 0:02:29.160 --> 0:02:33.480 that appeared instead of the sports scores. Um. But yeah, 0:02:33.560 --> 0:02:37.400 something weird happened at that moment. There was an interruption 0:02:37.720 --> 0:02:40.920 in normal service, Yeah, what they call a broadcast intrusion, 0:02:41.160 --> 0:02:45.040 and Uh, like all classic broadcast intrusions, it started with 0:02:45.040 --> 0:02:49.560 a little grainy, you know, static going on, and they're 0:02:49.600 --> 0:02:51.680 always a little unsettling when you watch them, even if 0:02:51.680 --> 0:02:54.360 they're goofy. Yeah, this is something kind of creepy about it. 0:02:54.760 --> 0:02:57.520 You know, what's out of place, and something that, especially 0:02:57.560 --> 0:03:01.320 when it's something as ritualistic, is the news. You know 0:03:01.400 --> 0:03:04.960 that follows a very specific pattern, and when something goes 0:03:05.000 --> 0:03:08.200 outside that pattern, you know, that upsets our little world 0:03:08.200 --> 0:03:13.000 balance for a moment. So in this case, the there was, 0:03:14.040 --> 0:03:16.520 like you said, there was this this disturbance in the force, 0:03:17.000 --> 0:03:23.080 and a new picture popped up and replaced the sportscaster, 0:03:23.880 --> 0:03:26.799 and it was a guy in a disturbing rubber mass 0:03:27.560 --> 0:03:31.919 and that mask was of a specific eighties icon, which 0:03:32.480 --> 0:03:34.480 I think a lot of people don't even know who 0:03:34.560 --> 0:03:38.800 this is anymore, but Max Headroom. Yeah, if if you're 0:03:38.800 --> 0:03:41.680 a child of the eighties, Max max hedrum loomed large 0:03:42.040 --> 0:03:45.119 for a while, and I know when this intrusion came out, 0:03:45.160 --> 0:03:49.520 this broadcast intrusion, it seemed like about half the people 0:03:49.560 --> 0:03:53.440 even knew who he was trying to imitate, and then 0:03:53.560 --> 0:03:55.520 the other half just had no idea. They thought it 0:03:55.560 --> 0:03:58.440 was just some weirdo with the mask. Well, and part 0:03:58.480 --> 0:04:02.480 of that was because, uh, the quality of the video 0:04:02.920 --> 0:04:06.880 was not exactly super high quality. But on top of that, yeah, 0:04:06.880 --> 0:04:09.240 it's kind of a niche thing, and he was Max 0:04:09.280 --> 0:04:12.880 Hedroom was used as sort of a spokes thing, I guess, 0:04:12.880 --> 0:04:16.679 a spokesman for a new coke Sure that that great 0:04:16.800 --> 0:04:20.840 move by the Coca Cola company. Yeah, oh man, I 0:04:20.880 --> 0:04:25.320 remember that well, I remember it with Paine. Yeah. So 0:04:25.600 --> 0:04:29.520 living living in Atlanta, the whole Coca Cola New Coke 0:04:29.640 --> 0:04:33.200 thing was it definitely strikes close to home. So yeah, 0:04:33.240 --> 0:04:36.279 he um. He was a spokesman for that as well 0:04:36.320 --> 0:04:38.599 as a kind of a fantasy character who appeared on 0:04:38.680 --> 0:04:41.680 lots of other stuff. But generally speaking, if you don't 0:04:41.680 --> 0:04:44.039 know who Max Hedroom is first, just go ahead and 0:04:44.040 --> 0:04:46.520 do an image search because it'll pop right up. Yeah, 0:04:47.000 --> 0:04:50.120 but it's a a character that was supposed to look 0:04:50.200 --> 0:04:53.240 like a digital character, right. It was supposed to like 0:04:53.320 --> 0:04:57.080 a computer generated image, and it was kind of a 0:04:57.760 --> 0:05:01.640 guy with a long face and weird, kind of ridged hair. 0:05:02.440 --> 0:05:06.680 He had always had a dynamic c g I background 0:05:06.720 --> 0:05:08.640 behind him that looked like kind of just like Neon 0:05:08.760 --> 0:05:12.279 stripes that were constantly twisting and turning in different ways, 0:05:12.839 --> 0:05:16.839 and he would stutter, yeah, the digital stutter occasionally, and 0:05:17.080 --> 0:05:21.479 uh would be very kind of snarky and sarcastic, and 0:05:21.600 --> 0:05:25.720 ultimately got a television series as well, as you know, 0:05:25.839 --> 0:05:27.880 two couple different television series, one of them which was 0:05:27.920 --> 0:05:29.560 like a talk show, and one of which was more 0:05:29.560 --> 0:05:35.040 of a like an actual fictional story like with an arc. Yeah, 0:05:35.040 --> 0:05:37.920 that one was pretty good. Actually, the original British show, 0:05:37.960 --> 0:05:39.680 even though it was a lot of American actors, was 0:05:39.839 --> 0:05:43.280 was pretty cool and definitely ahead of its time as 0:05:43.320 --> 0:05:45.360 far as you know. The whole idea was that this 0:05:45.520 --> 0:05:49.160 uh roving reporter was I think Matt Frewer played him 0:05:49.200 --> 0:05:51.440 as a real dude and as Max Headroom, but he 0:05:51.520 --> 0:05:56.480 was digitally replaced with this character Max Headroom, and at 0:05:56.520 --> 0:05:58.800 the time it just seemed really odd. But now when 0:05:58.800 --> 0:06:00.600 you look back at it and watch it, it's like, man, 0:06:00.680 --> 0:06:02.120 this show was kind of ahead of this. Yeah, it 0:06:02.160 --> 0:06:06.320 was really imprescient. Yeah it was. It also revealed where 0:06:06.320 --> 0:06:10.200 the name came from, where Matt Frewer's character, as I recall, 0:06:10.760 --> 0:06:12.960 is waylaid and the last thing he sees before he 0:06:12.960 --> 0:06:17.000 loses consciousness is a sign on a on a a 0:06:17.080 --> 0:06:20.359 wall that tells what the Max Headroom for that wall 0:06:20.680 --> 0:06:24.840 is pretty clad became the character's name. Yeah. So the 0:06:25.200 --> 0:06:28.200 person who appeared on this video was wearing a MAX 0:06:28.279 --> 0:06:32.479 Headroom mask and had this corrugated metal background sort of 0:06:32.480 --> 0:06:36.880 emulated the digital look, wore the suit that Max Headroom 0:06:36.880 --> 0:06:40.320 more like just a dark suit and tie, and um, yeah, 0:06:40.360 --> 0:06:42.359 this thing was the metal background. It looked like like 0:06:42.400 --> 0:06:44.720 a garage door. It was just sort of spinning in 0:06:44.760 --> 0:06:47.359 the background. Yeah, it was. It was on some sort 0:06:47.600 --> 0:06:51.200 of gimbal or something. That's what I figured. Yeah, because 0:06:51.440 --> 0:06:53.839 you can tell it's swinging back and forth, so predictably 0:06:53.880 --> 0:06:56.320 it can't be held by somebody. You had to be 0:06:56.400 --> 0:06:59.960 on some sort of pivot or something, and but it's 0:07:00.080 --> 0:07:02.919 moving backward and forward. So it kind of mimics that 0:07:02.920 --> 0:07:07.760 that digital line twisting in the background. And except for 0:07:07.800 --> 0:07:10.440 one part, there's a part where there's a clear cut 0:07:10.760 --> 0:07:14.480 in the video. The video itself was about or at 0:07:14.520 --> 0:07:16.920 least what we've seen is about a minute and twenty 0:07:16.920 --> 0:07:19.440 two seconds. Yeah. Well, actually I don't think we differentiated. 0:07:19.440 --> 0:07:22.080 There were two videos, two intrusions. The first one was 0:07:22.160 --> 0:07:25.240 short and had no audio and was on w g N, 0:07:25.680 --> 0:07:28.480 and then about two hours later they hijacked the PPS 0:07:28.520 --> 0:07:31.840 affiliate and that's where the classic minute and a half, 0:07:32.000 --> 0:07:35.280 nearly minute and a half with audio, really strange audio 0:07:35.400 --> 0:07:37.480 comes through. That's right, because that first one, like you said, 0:07:37.480 --> 0:07:40.200 I'm glad you pointed that out, it was silent. It 0:07:40.280 --> 0:07:43.840 was the images from the and the image and the 0:07:43.880 --> 0:07:46.240 audio from w g N was cut, but there was 0:07:46.280 --> 0:07:48.320 no audio coming in other than that. I think there's 0:07:48.320 --> 0:07:51.760 like a buzzing noise that came in through the first intrusion, 0:07:52.280 --> 0:07:55.720 and you saw this this figure just sitting there and 0:07:55.800 --> 0:07:59.160 kind of rocking back and forth like left and right, Yeah, 0:07:59.240 --> 0:08:04.040 which is also a disconcerting Yeah, definitely like you felt 0:08:04.040 --> 0:08:07.120 like something is really wrong at that moment. And when 0:08:07.120 --> 0:08:09.120 it came back, the sportscaster said, you might be wondering 0:08:09.120 --> 0:08:11.880 what just happened. I know, I am, uh something along 0:08:11.920 --> 0:08:14.080 those lines. But yes, the second one, you had the 0:08:14.080 --> 0:08:17.640 audio and it played for the what we what appeared 0:08:17.640 --> 0:08:20.080 to be the length of the video. The first section 0:08:20.200 --> 0:08:24.840 had uh, the guy just saying odd things and they 0:08:24.840 --> 0:08:28.160 were all very Chicago specific well, and and sort of 0:08:28.160 --> 0:08:32.400 slamming w g N because he'd slammed the Chuck swart 0:08:32.440 --> 0:08:38.559 Sky Yeah as a freaking liberal. Yeah, he's a sportscaster 0:08:38.960 --> 0:08:42.120 for w g N. Yeah. And uh he also talked 0:08:42.120 --> 0:08:45.440 about the Greatest World Newspaper Nerds something like that. But 0:08:45.880 --> 0:08:50.520 w g N stands for World's Greatest Newspaper. Yeah, So 0:08:51.120 --> 0:08:54.320 it turned out that that little know, the great the 0:08:54.360 --> 0:08:58.040 great World Newspaper Nerds or whatever however he worded it, 0:08:58.559 --> 0:09:01.199 that was a reference back to w g N. So 0:09:01.240 --> 0:09:04.920 it's very clearly intended for w g N. Yeah. And 0:09:05.000 --> 0:09:08.160 the first attack wasn't as effective as as they had 0:09:08.200 --> 0:09:11.199 hoped because, uh, like I said, there was no audio. 0:09:11.320 --> 0:09:14.200 And also the folks at w g N, once they 0:09:14.480 --> 0:09:17.320 figured out something was going on, very quickly changed the 0:09:17.400 --> 0:09:21.640 frequency transmitters. So they said, well, just hit PBS, I guess. Yeah, Yeah, 0:09:22.120 --> 0:09:24.320 which is interesting. We'll talk more about how that kind 0:09:24.360 --> 0:09:27.120 of helps us know a little more about the attackers. 0:09:27.920 --> 0:09:32.520 Because here's the other thing. To this day, there there's 0:09:32.640 --> 0:09:36.840 no the public has no idea who did this. Yeah. 0:09:36.880 --> 0:09:38.959 I think that's why this story has lingered. And it's 0:09:39.000 --> 0:09:41.520 so cool is because anytime you have an unsolved mystery, 0:09:41.880 --> 0:09:44.840 even if it's uh just sort of an odd broadcast 0:09:44.880 --> 0:09:47.840 intrusion like this, people are going to be obsessed with it, like, um, 0:09:47.880 --> 0:09:51.040 we've a lot of the information from that I did 0:09:51.640 --> 0:09:55.400 research on. Came from a motherboard kind of the mother 0:09:55.440 --> 0:09:58.520 of all articles, had some great research, Yeah, Chris Middle 0:09:59.160 --> 0:10:01.200 that's yeah. The article, if you want to look for it, 0:10:01.240 --> 0:10:04.960 is the Mystery of the Creepiest Television Hack. And I 0:10:05.000 --> 0:10:08.439 agree this article is fantastic. It really lays out not 0:10:08.600 --> 0:10:12.280 just the incident, but also other things that had happened 0:10:12.280 --> 0:10:16.319 beforehand that kind of laid the groundwork for this, as 0:10:16.360 --> 0:10:19.760 well as just a discussion, although a brief one, about 0:10:19.920 --> 0:10:23.080 the hacker culture that existed at that time and how 0:10:23.120 --> 0:10:27.920 that kind of lends itself to people who maybe are 0:10:29.360 --> 0:10:33.120 cleverer than is good for them or could be very 0:10:33.160 --> 0:10:35.360 nice way to say, yeah, because as it turns out, 0:10:35.400 --> 0:10:38.240 the f c C here in the United States does 0:10:38.320 --> 0:10:44.400 not take kindly to folks intruding upon established airways. No, 0:10:44.679 --> 0:10:47.520 it's it's a big no no, especially with bare butts, 0:10:47.800 --> 0:10:50.440 which I think you said. Once the camera cuts, we 0:10:50.440 --> 0:10:54.520 didn't continue there. That's when it got really weird because 0:10:54.559 --> 0:10:57.520 there's a camera cut and then you see the mask 0:10:57.640 --> 0:10:59.240 is off, but the guy has his head out of 0:10:59.280 --> 0:11:01.800 frame and it's just sort of holding the mask. Yeah 0:11:01.800 --> 0:11:04.360 he is, pants are down showing his his bear Fannie, 0:11:04.600 --> 0:11:07.199 and then yeah from profile and then a lady on 0:11:07.240 --> 0:11:10.440 the right. Uh, and it looks like some sort of 0:11:10.480 --> 0:11:13.800 Old West like Antiochlely type garb. Yeah, spanks him with 0:11:13.840 --> 0:11:16.439 the fly swatter on his butt, although spanks is really 0:11:16.520 --> 0:11:21.120 being generous. She's very slowly and lightly tapping him on 0:11:21.160 --> 0:11:24.120 the bottom with the flyswater, so to the point where 0:11:24.160 --> 0:11:27.840 you're you're thinking, like, I guess that's supposed to represent spanking. Uh, 0:11:28.080 --> 0:11:30.480 doesn't look like any spanking I ever received as a kid. 0:11:30.679 --> 0:11:34.000 I got you. Anyway, That's pretty much where the video 0:11:34.120 --> 0:11:36.959 cut off, and then it went right back into Doctor Who, 0:11:37.320 --> 0:11:40.520 and which is really funny to see the transition. Yeah, yeah, 0:11:40.679 --> 0:11:43.719 he died of an electric shock. Yeah, you've got to 0:11:43.760 --> 0:11:46.240 watch the whole incident on YouTube if you haven't already. 0:11:46.520 --> 0:11:49.120 And in case you're curious that episode, it's we're talking 0:11:49.160 --> 0:11:52.280 classic Doctor Who. Obviously back in seven, this is not 0:11:52.360 --> 0:11:56.360 the reboot. It was the Horror of fang Rock. So 0:11:56.400 --> 0:11:58.920 if that's your favorite episode, I'm sorry that was interrupted 0:11:59.440 --> 0:12:03.000 back in nine seven. So yeah, and like we said, 0:12:03.080 --> 0:12:06.760 the the audio really showed that that the public television 0:12:06.800 --> 0:12:10.360 station wasn't the intended target. It was. It was a 0:12:10.400 --> 0:12:14.559 target of opportunity after the first attempt failed. And uh, 0:12:14.720 --> 0:12:17.280 and we'll talk more about the technology behind that and 0:12:17.640 --> 0:12:20.720 why they had to switch from one to the other. Um, 0:12:20.760 --> 0:12:24.720 it turns out it was largely a practical issue, at 0:12:24.800 --> 0:12:28.480 least as far as I can determine. And it was. 0:12:29.280 --> 0:12:33.600 There were also references within the little weird diet tribe. 0:12:33.600 --> 0:12:36.560 The guy made to Coca Cola because he said catch 0:12:36.640 --> 0:12:38.280 the waves and he had a new coat can that 0:12:38.320 --> 0:12:41.200 he threw down on the ground. Yeah, And also a 0:12:41.240 --> 0:12:46.720 reference to the cult cartoon Clutch Cargo. Yeah, he hummed 0:12:46.720 --> 0:12:49.200 the theme Clutch Cargo. If you've ever seen the movie 0:12:49.200 --> 0:12:56.000 Pulp Fiction, Um, the scene with young Bruce Willis back 0:12:56.040 --> 0:13:00.160 in the nineteen seventies, I guess with Christopher Walkin as 0:13:00.240 --> 0:13:03.640 his guardian, he's watching Clutch Cargo on TV. There that 0:13:03.760 --> 0:13:06.880 with the mouth's cut out. O'Brien has also used that 0:13:06.920 --> 0:13:12.200 same comedic effect using the live action in order because 0:13:12.360 --> 0:13:14.120 what what the whole point was was it was an 0:13:14.160 --> 0:13:18.200 idea of of reducing the cost of animation big time 0:13:18.360 --> 0:13:21.080 because there was no animation. You had to picture, yeah, 0:13:21.160 --> 0:13:24.440 still picture, and then you would superimpose live actors mouths 0:13:24.440 --> 0:13:27.800 on top of it. And if that sounds creepy and 0:13:27.960 --> 0:13:31.360 disturbing to you, you you're on the right track. It 0:13:31.480 --> 0:13:33.400 was not the only cartoon to do this. There were 0:13:33.440 --> 0:13:39.760 a few others. Um, thank you Cambria Productions for and 0:13:39.880 --> 0:13:42.280 uh yeah, so he hummed like the whole Clutch Cargo 0:13:42.360 --> 0:13:46.040 theme and made references to actual episodes of Clutch Cargo. 0:13:46.720 --> 0:13:50.040 Uh so it was certainly someone with an odd sense 0:13:50.080 --> 0:13:52.559 of humor who did this. Now, there was no other message, right, 0:13:52.559 --> 0:13:55.640 there was no. It wasn't like a political thing. It 0:13:55.760 --> 0:13:58.280 was very stream of consciousness, kind of weird. He holds 0:13:58.400 --> 0:14:01.760 up I guess what we can cleanly describe as a 0:14:01.800 --> 0:14:05.040 marital aid. Yes, at one point, and throws that on 0:14:05.080 --> 0:14:08.360 the ground and um, it's just once the fly swatting 0:14:08.400 --> 0:14:11.520 comes in, it's just obvious that they're kind of free forming. 0:14:12.280 --> 0:14:14.120 Although it was not live, which is important to know. 0:14:14.160 --> 0:14:16.520 This is at some video tape that they made. Yeah, yeah, 0:14:16.559 --> 0:14:18.240 and it was because I mean, in order to do 0:14:18.480 --> 0:14:23.600 a live intrusion would require essentially a studio and you'd 0:14:23.600 --> 0:14:26.520 have to have some sort of link to a transmitter 0:14:26.600 --> 0:14:28.840 that also had line of sight to the same antenna 0:14:29.400 --> 0:14:32.600 as whatever target you were you're aiming at, So that 0:14:32.640 --> 0:14:37.160 would have been an astoundingly complicated. This is definitely a 0:14:37.160 --> 0:14:41.240 little easier to pull off. So you know, now that 0:14:41.320 --> 0:14:44.360 we know that this, they've they've never been found. They're 0:14:44.440 --> 0:14:48.200 likely never to be found. I mean, it's always possible 0:14:48.240 --> 0:14:51.200 that someone could come forward and say, all right, well 0:14:51.240 --> 0:14:53.040 here's how it actually happened. I'm the guy who did this. 0:14:53.120 --> 0:14:56.120 Would I'm surprised that hasn't happened by now because the 0:14:56.160 --> 0:14:58.880 statute of limitations is up for Yeah, it's way up, 0:14:58.960 --> 0:15:01.800 so you can't get in trouble, and it's um I 0:15:01.840 --> 0:15:04.600 think they would unless they just think it's better left 0:15:04.600 --> 0:15:07.760 as a mystery. They would live in like especially nowadays 0:15:07.760 --> 0:15:09.520 with the Internet like it is, it would blow up, 0:15:10.080 --> 0:15:12.760 you know, it would be right. It could possibly be 0:15:13.240 --> 0:15:15.840 the fact that I mean, you know, of course we're 0:15:15.880 --> 0:15:18.800 just projecting here, but it could possibly be that they 0:15:18.920 --> 0:15:21.880 are no longer terribly proud of what they did, and 0:15:22.000 --> 0:15:24.720 or that they've moved on in their lives. Yeah, there's 0:15:24.960 --> 0:15:27.200 a significant amount of time since then, and they might 0:15:27.200 --> 0:15:29.200 have thought you know, I'm not going to brag about 0:15:29.240 --> 0:15:32.480 something I did when I was younger and dumber, especially 0:15:32.520 --> 0:15:36.040 now that I'm the CEO of ABC, right that that 0:15:36.120 --> 0:15:38.440 might end up. By the way, we do not actually 0:15:38.440 --> 0:15:41.240 mean that the CEO of ABC or Didney Disney affiliates 0:15:41.280 --> 0:15:46.600 are involved. But the other interesting thing is that this 0:15:46.680 --> 0:15:51.680 was not the first time that um I A an 0:15:51.760 --> 0:15:56.120 intrusion had happened in in broadcast history. The first one, 0:15:56.600 --> 0:15:59.120 if you want to go back, actually didn't happen in 0:15:59.160 --> 0:16:02.600 the United States, happened back in UH the UK in 0:16:02.720 --> 0:16:08.200 nineteen seventies seven, and that was when a hoaxer interrupted 0:16:08.560 --> 0:16:13.280 a Southern television broadcast by UH inserting audio. It didn't 0:16:13.360 --> 0:16:15.560 change the video, So this is kind of the opposite 0:16:15.600 --> 0:16:18.080 of what had happened the first time with the Max 0:16:18.120 --> 0:16:22.320 Headroom insteat. But it was an audio stream that came 0:16:22.360 --> 0:16:27.120 in and carried a message from the alien villa on UH. 0:16:27.160 --> 0:16:28.720 And this is in the like I said, in the UK, 0:16:29.240 --> 0:16:34.400 so obviously the alien had an English accent. I guess 0:16:34.400 --> 0:16:36.840 that's only you know, fair like, if you're going to 0:16:36.880 --> 0:16:39.640 interrupt someone's program, you want to make sure you're speaking 0:16:39.680 --> 0:16:44.800 in the dialect, right, Yeah, suddenly they spoke like, like like 0:16:45.000 --> 0:16:47.360 with a French accent. I mean that would just be 0:16:50.040 --> 0:16:53.000 but anyway, so it was a message that essentially said 0:16:53.040 --> 0:16:55.720 that humans should prepare themselves for the worst, because you know, 0:16:55.920 --> 0:16:58.640 destruction is a common Yeah, that's great. That's what a 0:16:58.640 --> 0:17:01.480 broadcast intrusion should be, right, some creepy warning, not just 0:17:01.600 --> 0:17:04.440 a random series of images that disturb you for things 0:17:04.480 --> 0:17:06.720 that you can't quite put your finger on, although that 0:17:06.840 --> 0:17:11.040 is more disturbing. Almost. Yeah, then six we get the 0:17:11.080 --> 0:17:13.840 first one in the United States. Uh, and this was 0:17:13.960 --> 0:17:17.680 an inside job deal. This was happened on April at 0:17:17.680 --> 0:17:21.399 twelve thirty two am, and it involved the East Coast 0:17:21.440 --> 0:17:26.359 feed of HBO. And uh, what happened was the HBO 0:17:26.440 --> 0:17:30.120 was showing a movie called The Falcon and the Snowman Classic. 0:17:30.600 --> 0:17:35.080 You know, it certainly could not be helped by approximately 0:17:35.119 --> 0:17:38.440 four minutes of footage missing because they've been replaced by 0:17:38.760 --> 0:17:41.359 a series of colored bars that say good evening, HBO 0:17:41.520 --> 0:17:47.119 from Captain Midnight twelve a month no way showtime movie 0:17:47.160 --> 0:17:50.720 channel Beware. Yeah, that had a clear motive. Yeah, and 0:17:50.720 --> 0:17:54.160 and and actually ironically, the um the guy was caught. 0:17:54.240 --> 0:17:56.840 His name was John R. McDougall, and he was an 0:17:56.840 --> 0:18:01.159 employee of Central Florida Teleport and he used what do 0:18:01.200 --> 0:18:03.840 you use? He the was it the text that he used? 0:18:04.200 --> 0:18:08.120 He yeah, so the text generators that the companies used 0:18:08.160 --> 0:18:10.520 in order to put an overlay on top of a screen. 0:18:10.960 --> 0:18:14.080 So like like the actual words that were being used there, Well, 0:18:14.200 --> 0:18:18.080 they're very particular, and by measuring things like the height 0:18:18.160 --> 0:18:21.959 of the the font, the how far uh the middle 0:18:22.400 --> 0:18:25.159 bar of an e is according to the other side, 0:18:25.560 --> 0:18:29.639 how close together those words are, investigators were able to 0:18:29.760 --> 0:18:36.000 narrow it down to a specific machine. Yeah, it's pretty there. Yeah, yeah, 0:18:36.040 --> 0:18:38.400 this is like incredible forensics, right. It's sort of like 0:18:38.680 --> 0:18:41.160 if someone gets hold of a typewritten sheet of paper 0:18:41.200 --> 0:18:44.399 and is able to determine the model of typewriter that 0:18:44.480 --> 0:18:47.000 was used to actually make this. But in this case 0:18:47.040 --> 0:18:50.520 it got even more specific because these machines aren't everywhere, 0:18:50.760 --> 0:18:55.160 and that's what led them to track down McDougall, who, uh, 0:18:55.280 --> 0:18:59.639 who have just decided that the recent hike in prices 0:18:59.800 --> 0:19:03.840 for a monthly subscription to HBO were unconscionable and he 0:19:03.880 --> 0:19:06.040 had to make it known. So, yeah, he had a 0:19:06.080 --> 0:19:09.879 side job selling satellite dish service yeah, so he thought 0:19:09.920 --> 0:19:14.240 that would nick his business some. And so he eventually 0:19:14.280 --> 0:19:17.160 was caught and pled guilty, paid a five thousand dollar fine, 0:19:17.640 --> 0:19:20.520 and served just one year probation. And it was that 0:19:20.720 --> 0:19:24.359 incident that led I believe, Congress to make it a 0:19:24.400 --> 0:19:29.359 federal violation to abroad. Yeah, it was a felony all 0:19:29.359 --> 0:19:31.840 of a sudden. Yeah, because they suddenly said, wait, now 0:19:31.840 --> 0:19:34.920 that people can actually do this. Now great, this was someone, 0:19:34.960 --> 0:19:37.199 like we said, an inside job. They had access to, 0:19:37.960 --> 0:19:40.159 uh a satellite. What what he actually did was he 0:19:40.280 --> 0:19:47.920 pointed the satellite of Central Florida Teleport at the HBO satellite. Chuck, 0:19:48.200 --> 0:19:51.119 You and I we wouldn't even know where the heck 0:19:51.200 --> 0:19:54.119 that satellite is. Yeah, so even if we had the 0:19:54.160 --> 0:19:57.879 equipment and everything else, we'd just beat Well, the sky 0:19:57.960 --> 0:20:00.720 is a lot bigger than I had taken into account, 0:20:00.880 --> 0:20:02.840 and uh you know, of course we'd have to be 0:20:02.920 --> 0:20:04.880 someplace where we could actually get a good clear view 0:20:04.920 --> 0:20:06.800 of the sky because if they're building in the way 0:20:06.880 --> 0:20:11.000 or something. But uh yeah, so he he was a 0:20:11.000 --> 0:20:13.959 good example of that. And then September n so this 0:20:14.040 --> 0:20:18.760 is just before the the incident with the Max Headgroom incident, 0:20:19.800 --> 0:20:23.919 Thomas Haney hijacked a signal at on the Playboy channel. 0:20:23.960 --> 0:20:26.439 I think I remember hearing about this one. Yeah, it 0:20:26.560 --> 0:20:29.679 was one where it was sending in religious messages essentially 0:20:29.720 --> 0:20:33.320 saying repent and and you know you are, uh, discard 0:20:33.359 --> 0:20:35.920 your wicked ways, that kind of thing, right, And it's 0:20:36.000 --> 0:20:39.720 no surprise because he actually worked for the Christian Broadcast Network. Yeah, 0:20:39.760 --> 0:20:42.240 so again he had a job. Yeah, he had access 0:20:42.280 --> 0:20:45.560 to the equipment necessary and the knowledge necessary to be 0:20:45.600 --> 0:20:48.720 able to do this. It's not something that the average 0:20:48.760 --> 0:20:51.399 person would be able to do. And again it was 0:20:51.440 --> 0:20:55.199 the character generator, the the font generator that kind of 0:20:55.320 --> 0:20:57.600 led the way. It was the main piece of evidence 0:20:57.640 --> 0:21:00.880 that was leveled against him. Um. I remember that Pat 0:21:00.960 --> 0:21:04.760 Robertson was very upset when the verdict was handled handed down. 0:21:04.760 --> 0:21:07.520 He said that there wasn't enough evidence to um to 0:21:07.920 --> 0:21:10.160 say that Haney was in fact the person who who 0:21:10.200 --> 0:21:13.040 did this. Well, he was convicted, but um, I think 0:21:13.119 --> 0:21:17.080 just got probation. And the first guy, McDougald, is interesting. 0:21:17.119 --> 0:21:20.400 What he got convicted for was operating without a license 0:21:20.960 --> 0:21:22.960 even though he had a license. So that was a 0:21:23.000 --> 0:21:25.240 bit of a hinky ruling. I think they just had 0:21:25.280 --> 0:21:26.800 to convict him of something, because I don't know if 0:21:26.840 --> 0:21:28.760 the law was in place at that point. Yeah, yeah, 0:21:28.880 --> 0:21:30.960 I mean it's it's kind of like that deal where 0:21:31.000 --> 0:21:34.080 you realize, this is someone that we need to punish, 0:21:34.119 --> 0:21:36.560 but we don't have a law that covers the crime. 0:21:37.520 --> 0:21:39.520 We haven't defined it as a crime, but we know 0:21:39.600 --> 0:21:42.040 that this is something people really shouldn't be able to do, 0:21:42.600 --> 0:21:45.879 so we have to somehow justify it. Um. Yeah. And 0:21:45.920 --> 0:21:50.520 as it turns out, the every nation, uh, in some 0:21:50.600 --> 0:21:55.119 way or another, ends up regulating the electromagnetic spectrum, but 0:21:55.200 --> 0:21:57.800 it changes from one place to the other. Sure, there's 0:21:57.800 --> 0:22:01.600 only so much room, right, yeah, exactly. So electromagnetic spectrum 0:22:01.720 --> 0:22:04.480 goes all the way from radio waves, which can a 0:22:04.560 --> 0:22:07.960 radio wave can be kilometers long, right, and then you 0:22:08.000 --> 0:22:09.560 go all the way to the other side to like 0:22:09.640 --> 0:22:13.680 gamma rays we're talking about on the nanoscale and everything 0:22:13.720 --> 0:22:17.120 in between. That's the electromagnetic spectrum. Visible light is part 0:22:17.160 --> 0:22:20.240 of that. You know, visible light is on the short side, 0:22:20.480 --> 0:22:23.120 but radio waves and microwaves are on the longer side. 0:22:23.760 --> 0:22:27.240 And uh not all those radio waves. You know, we 0:22:27.280 --> 0:22:29.600 can't just all use the same ones because then we 0:22:29.600 --> 0:22:34.160 would have interference, right if if the television and your 0:22:34.240 --> 0:22:37.520 phone used the same frequencies, then you would have interference 0:22:37.560 --> 0:22:39.680 between the two and that would be terrible. Nothing would 0:22:39.680 --> 0:22:42.120 be usable. Yeah, don't call it a crunch if there's 0:22:42.119 --> 0:22:44.840 too much activity on one frequency. Yeah, that's that's if 0:22:44.920 --> 0:22:48.000 you've got everyone just using you know what they're supposed to. 0:22:48.080 --> 0:22:52.719 Let's say everyone in the cellular network has they're all 0:22:52.760 --> 0:22:54.800 on their phones. That we've seen this happen in the 0:22:54.960 --> 0:23:00.600 life events the post couldn't. Yeah, or even just going 0:23:00.640 --> 0:23:03.200