Dude, you are a genius. The format of your videos is impeccable, it is very objective and complete. Plus, I LOVE HeckleFish and he serves as a perfect voice for reactions and interjections (the human mouth inside the animation joke was amazing). Keep doing your thing! I've watched quite a few videos now and I definately subscribed.
I was working in TV in Detroit when this happened. I cannot begin to tell you the panic all the stations across the country were experiencing. We figured out pretty quickly how it was done, and did a proof of concept test at 3am a couple days after the event. To show how easy it was, we did the test using surplus ham radio equipment, and that there was no real way to prevent it. I wanted to use Max again for this test, but the station management and the FCC wasn't too keen on the idea.
At least, the person behind this master prank didn't transmit something terrifying, like gore, insults, threats, or any kind of 18+ content, he just trolled everyone and go away. My hats off to this peaceful nonsense intruder.
This is incorrect. Ass slapping and calling someone a bitch seems a little more towards 18+ content and on PBS nonetheless. But in the end it’s just comical and odd 😂
Back in 1987 television relied on primitive analog signals. Even the analog signals in the early part of the 21st century were better By the Digital signals were being used, and now stations solely use digital. I doubt someone could hijack a network today. Digital is far too safe for that.
This didn’t improve or change anything though. The issue today is more about people not listening if they don’t agree with what’s being said. So even if something like this happened I’m not sure how much good it would do.
Memories of Max Headroom for 80s kids is like a fever dream. Everyone recognised him but we did not know what he meant. Also his selling out to Coca Cola is really telling about what the establishment thinks of anyone not of the establishment.
@@audreym3777there was a pizza place where I used to play Tron. It was mind blowing when it came out. Same as that Journey video game. Geezus……..yeah we’re old.
The pirate radio scene was massive in London prior to dab. You could take the radio links from the top of traffic lights in order to bounce the signal 3/4 places before it hit the transmitter. That way they never found you, when i say transmitter i mean an old round biscuit tin with hand held radio parts and a car battery to power it. We used to put them on the highest tower block in the area. In fact kool fm has just shut down after over 30 years broadcasting without getting caught. It was one of the biggest pirate radios in the world.
I was stationed in the U.K. in the 80's, Max Headroom was one of the most fascinating TV shows I had ever seen, decades later it's even more eerie how much it got right about where we are now.
I remember when this happened, and it's amazing to think that it's still unsolved. The one thing we know for sure is that there was more than one person involved. That some serious secret-keeping after all these years!
@@blackrazer22:: Ya , maybe so....but I wonder - - does our government ever change it's mind? At least we have a strong bond of trust between us, right ? ...
@@dr.matthewhertert310I remember that. That guy is nuts. In high school my best friend and I crushed on him & called directory assistance in LA, & got his phone number. We left numerous 3 way messages. We'd ramble to each other sometimes forgetting that we were on his answering machine. He never called us back. 🤔
heard of this before as well but this is the only channel where he explains exactly what the hacker meant with the stuff he said, other channels just placed us in front of the fact that this did happen
This happened in the UK back in 1977 on the old ITV regional station Southern Television, the hacker called himself Vrillon of the Ashtar Galactic Command and called for peace and disarmanent as well as other positive esoteric stuff. Lasted approx 6 minutes and led to a lot of concerned phonecalls from the public. I found it pretty funny tbh.
You witnessed the event yourself? Or did you get your info from the numerous videos covering it? If you did actually witness I want to know since there is no official audio or video recording of the hack, which has made me somewhat skeptical about what it might’ve actually said.
There was a Reddit post about this. A guy posted a pretty convincing story that he knew who did it. The basis of his story was he was at a party and met the 2 brothers that did it. They were college students at the University of Chicago I believe. His story was so detailed it was very believable.
I was watching Doctor Who at the time in the dark when it happened. What you see online doesn't show how Live it looked when it broadcasted and was scary. Mind you I was 14 at the time.
@@Moltar666 Dr. Who first aired in the US in 1965, I know this because of my Vietnam Vet friend. One of his buddies who did not make it back from the war was huge fan. Now every time it comes on... he changes the channel.
The research you do and the presentation is extremely well done like the other videos I've watched from you. This is truly an under appreciated channel, the longer the videos the better.
The funny part I'd Max Headroom was originally pitched that Max should ba a dry boring talking head trying to connect with "the youth", but having no clue about how to actually do it. At the same time being arrogant and self confident. Well apparently that really connected with the youth 🤣
Loved that show! Apparently my Technical Illustration instructor did too, and was quite annoyed when it was cancelled. (Yes, TI is a thing, it was my major. If you own a Kia, my work is in it).
You know there was at least one person out there that hit a crossroads when these broadcasts cut in especially the 2nd one. Melting into their couch tripping balls their trip either hit its peak or went completely off the rails when they saw Max cut onto the screen.
I'm a big fan of Max Headroom. There was an episode of the series where network 23 is hacked, and blank Reg is framed for the crime. The entire series was very poignant in its social commentary. I absolutely loved it.
I never realized that he was humming the tune from "Clutch Cargo." If the FCC could make a short list of people that had actually SEEN Clutch Cargo they might have a better list of suspects.
@@terrysikes6638 during the late 70's in Chicago on channel 32 (UHF)... I think Clutch Cargo was still playing along with Speed Racer and some other classic kid's shows so anyone from the Chicago area would have known the show.
Can we all take a second to thank AJ for all his hard work, which he puts into his writing, research and jokes for HF. Thank you AJ. I'm hooked on your channel.
I have seen clips of the MHI, but this is the first time I have seen any of it where he talks. I never knew it existed until 16 minutes ago. Another great one in the books!
"...where the line between news and entertainment was getting more and more blurry", "That line is gone now" had me laughing out loud! Laugh or cry, those were my options. I remember hearing about this and am glad to see the story covered here. There's another video out there that goes through the suspects along with the possible motivations, I certainly recommend checking it out though can't remember the title. For those wondering, "Captain Midnight is a U.S. adventure franchise first broadcast as a radio serial from 1938 to 1949" Wikipedia
You weren't kidding! This was a super fun episode. I'd never heard of this before, but I expect these surprises by now. If you've never heard of the Eriksson Twins story, that might be something you'd be interested in. Keep up the great work!
As explained in the video, “I still see the X” is a reference to the last Clutch Cargo episode, the theme of which he’s humming. As stated above, “piles” are hemorrhoids.
One of the strangest yet fascinating incidents. The fact that after all this time the Max Headroom incident is still unsolved is part of what makes it such an interesting story. Also what makes it fascinating is just how bizarre the whole thing was. Trying to figure out who did it and why they did it will likely keep people revisiting this story for years to come. Keep up the great content. My family loves HeckleFish!
I agree! Looking at the old coverage, the FCC and FBI were soooooo confident they would catch the perpetrators. But fighting within and between the agencies got worse as the investigation floundered. This is one of those mysteries I hope remains forever unsolved.
My guess is that it was college or university kids, at least 3 and no malice intended. Then when they heard what the penalties are they just decided to never mention it.
Being an Aussie, I'd never heard about this incident. I know who Max Headroom is, cause I used to watch his show on tv. Personally, I think it was a bunch of college students who had some type of knowledge on electronics, satellites, tv stations and the like. It really comes across as a college prank. Whoever did this is an absolute genius, and will go down in the history books for hacking into not one, but two tv stations. Good on them!! It's so funny!!
You know Sam, I think you may be right..Give some college boys the right tools and God help the person or people they want to prank ! The old college hi jinx ! ☺️😆🤣😅😂😃
No way. It wasn’t a bunch of anyone or someone we would have told someone else and they would have got caught. It was 2 brothers and that’s it. And they never told a soul.
Man, you and your team (if there is one backing you up) are pure genius. Your story telling is impeccable, the topics are really interesting, and your English is really easy to follow, even though there is unknown vocabulary involved sometimes (yeah, I'm a non native speaker). During the last days I have spent hours watching your vids and I feel I have invested them in something really valuable. Thank you and keep the good work!
I had no idea about the origin of Max Headroom or the hack. This was so interesting and I really appreciated the time and effort it took to put all this together. Another wonderful video! I also loved Hecklefish and his reaction to the animation was terrific! Thank you for all you do!
Fun Fact: Nicholas Briggs the guy who does the monster voices on Doctor Who since the 2005 reboot, actually still uses the old Ring Modulator they used for the monsters during the classic era. So he doesn't do it all digitally. The Ring Modulator is used for pretty much Every monster/alien villain in Doctor Who, they fiddle with the potentiometers to make the different voice modifications.
@@Me-qp8vz It's all in fun until the dark gray vans with government plates start touring your neighborhood. I had a nice little CB Base Station...and a 1kw tube linear that could just about double as a space heater. My 1/2w Vertical was in plain sight in the front yard and lit at night to boot. I guess nobody ever stopped to think why a flagpole required insulated hardware. The saving grace here was that another resident of the park was an old-school ham operator. His shack was a tiny little camping trailer. He of course had the obligatory collection of home-brew antennas attached to 4X4s, trees, and anything else that was more than 6 feet off the ground. The serious-looking gentlemen went for the low-hanging fruit...
It's wild that he was able to do this twice and never got caught. He must have had all his bases covered unlike the HBO Captain Midnight guy. I'm fascinated by this event because it's so odd and no one ever confessed to doing it. Good video.
Ive written how it was pulled off using a 5kw kicker and why they had to do it on VHF because they are only allowed to broadcast at 3kw the waa waa pedal was a dead giveaway if you want to know check the comments above its not done because its hard its not done because you will get 20 years in the federal pen
In Melbourne Australia back in the 1980's we had a similar incident, we had a radio transmitter at the same frequency as out uplink between the Studio's in town and the transmission tower, burried in front of the uplink receiver with a car battery. We had to fail back to our old land line circuit until we found it. Another incident we were transmitting the Tennis from the US when around midnight the feed switched to a pornography video, it only took minutes to sort this out, the incoming feed was accidentally patched over from the source. We had hundreds of calls, complaining and asking for the Porn to be put back on, none about the tennis going off.
I remember watching Dr. Who when this happened!! It was pretty interesting, and the fact that they never found out who did it after all these years tells you it was well planned!!
Brilliant! I remember this. It started lots of pirate radio stations doing exactly the same thing. They would get on the roof of a tall building and, "hack into" mainstream radio. It took ages to find the transmitter because it was right under the noses of the authorities. The pirate radio was good because it was what young people wanted to hear rather than forced control! Excellent video!
I ran a pirate AM transmitter that was originally a transmitter for a drive-in movie theater with a tunable crystal that would oscillate at certain frequencies on shortwave. Would blast off of the top of a nearby mountain with the TX antenna tied to a bigger legit radio and TV mast. We never gave a station ID or took QSLs so I have no idea how far we got out but shortwave signals can stretch a ways even from a small transmitter
I grew up during the 80's ... loved Max Headroom, he was the star of late Saturday nights TV .. back in the day when there were only 4 channels here in the UK
Back in the day they were hijacking the old telephone lines too it was just a hobby. They hacked whatever they could. This guy was probably a legend among his peers.
I actually remember when this happened. I was watching DR Who when that came on. Sadly, I was in my bedroom and the only VCR we had was in the family room so I wasn't recording it. That's a VHS tape that would have been worth having all these years later.
In 1980 I was working with a cable company in Los Angeles. At midnight on Friday Saturday and Sunday a guy running around in a van with broadcast equipment would broadcast heavy metal music for about 2 to 3 hours then he would shut it down and take off but they never could find him until about a month he did this for about a month and they finally did catch him and the people went crazy they wanted him back they loved his music it was weird but it happened, I'm pretty sure it was 1980. Thanks for your video I haven't heard about Max Headroom room in a long time, except for the fact that I brought it up on a channel I was watching last week as a matter of fact but I don't know how many people would have even known who Max Headroom was anyway thanks for the video have a great day and stay safe and keep your powder dry!
I just knew about Max Headroom from Back to the Future. I didn't know there was a whole thing around it, or that someone had hijacked the airwaves. I was a very little kid at the time. Thanks for this video, AJ. :) It was honestly interesting - and very creepy. The tilting background was disorienting. The visual, the sound, and the clipping would have disturbed baby me so hard.
I love your channel. With things the way they are, your take on just about everything under the sun is always 1) positive 2) informative and 3) entertaining. Good stuff! And I appreciate that very much , kudos 👍
Max headroom was a strange show to begin with. But my friends dad was a big dr who fan and recorded all the episodes and he actually recorded the hack when it interrupted the show. He would tape the episodes and watch them later. Boy was he shocked when he played back that episode.
Haha, I bet! The Max Headroom incident is fun to watch now on RU-vid with captions and context, but if I'd seen it interrupt my TV show in real time late at night, I'd have crapped my pants! Lol.
@@shortybeck1948 yeah he couldn't stay up late enough to watch the show live so he would program his vcr to record it and watch it in the morning before work. I remember him saying something like "I thought it had accidentally recorded the wrong show. But after I watched it for a minute I realized it wasn't the real max headroom either." Unfortunately he didn't keep the tape. He just recorded over it because that's just what he did. He used the same vhs cassette until it wore out.
I just found your channel. The spy numbers video in Shortwave brought me. You are at 3.13K subscribers, now add one more. Great content and quality. You have something here!!
Something similar happened in Orlando, FL in 1987 during a 3pm airing of "General Hospital", but this one was, well, apocalyptic. Literally. For about 10 seconds, the episode was interrupted with what looked like footage of the end of the world (No BS). It looked like a cross between the scene in the Ten Commandments where Moses parted the Red Sea and the spirits killing the Nazis in Raiders of the Lost Ark. Am I the only one to remember this happening ? I have tried like hell over the years to get any additional intel on this, but nothing.
How strange, the second broadcast that was interrupted was Dr who which is British as is Max Headroom. I remember watching that in the 80s on channel 4 (in the UK)
You literally make some of the best videos on RU-vid. Your channel is criminally underrated. Your topics, your personality, Hecklefish, everything... Just absolutely brilliant. Keep doing what you do.
i remember this, i was elated and i hoped they would strike again, i started hating television around this time and stopped watching. television is a mental heath threat
I loved how in back to the future 2 they had Michael Jackson in max headroom style talking to Marty on the TV screen and Marty orders a Pepsi, Pepsi perfect to be exact.
Even though I have the bell icon enabled. RU-vid doesn't notify me when there's a new video. I'm glad I remembered to search you up again and see if you have any new videos.
Presumably, whoever did this would more than likely be in their mid to late 60’s now. I’m hoping they will take credit in their latter years and give us some insight to their train of thought then and perhaps even do some interviews. I know the government will still want their pound of flesh, so I’m sure they’ll hold onto the secret until a time where any punishment would be futile due to age.
I loved the Max Headroom show. It was so far ahead of everything else on TV. I also had the pleasure of playing rugby with Matt Frewer at St Albans rugby club. He was a cool dude.
A moment's notice? It took more than a few months to plan. Not to mention the fact that first attempt failed, and we all thought we were going to jail and didn't try again for quite a while.
Only one type of personality who would pull a stunt like this AND not talk about it until they are 100% retired, and thats a radio personality. So which Chicago DJs back then would have the stones to pull this off??
@@AngryMonkeyification well yes I agree for a minute I'm saying had he tried to use it for an extended time to expose corruption you know they wouldn't have let him go more than a handful of times before he'd be under the jail and completely ruined financially.
@@SlickArmor on that second broadcast he had all that time but he said all that nonsense about the x mark from that show and smacking the other guys ass and stuff lol he could have covered plenty. Makes you think it's a kid except he'd need the equipment
Thanks for the blast from the past! Fun video! I was glued to Max Headroom as a young teenager and was bummed when it ended. Still a Cokeologist! F*^k Pepsi! 🤣
I had never heard of the Max Headroom incident until I watched this video. My boyfriend was also recently introduced to your channel through a friend of ours, and I had to watch this myself.
