The Bizarre Max Headroom Television Signal Hijacking That Was Never Solved

If you were watching TV in the Chicago area on the night of November 2, 1987, chances are good you would have had a front row seat to one of the greatest WTF moments in television history: the Max Headroom signal hijacking. 

This was when a mysterious person wearing a Max Headroom mask appeared not once but twice during that evening on two separate stations after intercepting the signal and said some very strange things to the camera.  

And that isn't even the craziest part of the story. It's the fact that nearly 40 years later this stunt, which stumped investigators, has never been solved. No one knows who was behind it although the most educated guess is that it was a television station employee with access to signal transmission equipment and knowledge of station pirating. All this time later, no one has ever come forward to claim responsibility. 

What Was the Max Headroom Incident? 

The Max Headroom incident was comprised of two separate programming interruptions featuring the same perpetrator(s). 

The first took place during the 9 PM news on the independent Chicago TV station WGN. In the middle of a news clip about the day's Chicago Bears football game, the screen changed to reveal a swaying person wearing a Max Headroom mask and sitting in front of a swiveling corrugated metal panel—an effect meant to emulate the animated graphic backdrop of the fictional TV character. 

There was no audio other than a buzzing noise, and the hijack lasted for 17 seconds before WGN employees were able to regain the station's signal. The screen returned to a bemused WGN sports anchor Dan Roan who attempted to explain to viewers what they just saw. "Well, if you're wondering what's happened, so am I," he chuckled. He followed this up by theorizing that the computer running the news program "took off and went wild." 

The odd moment was merely a practice run for what was to come two hours later for viewers of Chicago's PBS station WTTW. During an episode of Doctor Who the signal was intercepted for about 90 seconds, and things definitely took a turn for the weirder. 

This time "Max Headroom" spoke to the camera in a distorted voice and what came out sounded like a random stream of consciousness. Here's a list of the antics:

• He declared that he was better than WGN's sportscaster at the time, Chuck Swirsky, and referred to him as a "fricking liberal." 
• He referenced Coca-Cola's advertising slogan at the time—"Catch the Wave"—while holding up and throwing a Pepsi can to the floor). 
• He gave his middle finger to the camera. 
• He hummed the theme song to the 1959 cartoon series Clutch Cargo which was part of WGN's programming lineup.
• He pretended to do number two business (after complaining about his piles) by proclaiming, "Oh, I just made a giant masterpiece for all the greatest world newspaper nerds!" (a nod to World's Greatest Newspaper, WGN's slogan).
• He put on a glove (perhaps to emulate Michael Jackson), explaining that his brother had the other one and that it was dirty. 

But the most bizarre moment came at the end of the interception when a crude jump cut revealed a woman dressed as a French maid who could be seen hitting "Headroom's" bare bottom with a fly swatter.

The mask had been removed and was being held up, and although the signal hijacker's face could not be seen he continued his show by yelling out, "They're coming to get meeeee!" and "Please, make it stop!" before the signal faded out and returned to Doctor Who. 

You can see all this for yourself here:

And then just as quickly as he appeared "Max" vanished without a trace into the TV ethers, never to be seen or heard from again. 

Who Was Max Headroom?

Max Headroom was having his moment in the U.S. in 1987. He was the star of the ABC series Max Headroom as well as the advertising pitchman for New Coke. A literal talking head, he was an early example of AI; a wise cracking computer generated TV personality.

Max was the creation of British TV/film/music video directors and partners Annabel Jankel and Rocky Morton. Together they founded Cucumber Studios and directed music videos for Elvis Costello, Rush, Tom Tom Club, Talking Heads and other musicians/bands, incorporating computer graphics—which was an emerging artform—with live action and animation. 

Together with George Stone, who conceptualized Max Headroom's dialogue and background, they envisioned the character as a parody of slick talking media personalities. The name itself was inspired by the clearance warning for truck drivers displayed on bridges in the UK. It also suggested an empty head. 

Although Max appeared on screen to be digitized, he was actually portrayed by actor Matt Frewer—chosen for the role thanks to his defined features—in heavy prosthetic makeup. CGI wasn't advanced enough by the mid-80s which means Frewer had to don a plastic and fiberglass suit, eerie blue contact lenses (later replaced by Wayfarers when the contacts started to hurt his eyes), and a latex mask to play the character. 

Frewer Having His Max Makeup Applied

The effect was pretty convincing, especially for the mid-80s. As a teen I remember when Max started appearing on American TV screens I was unsure myself if he was an animation or a real person. 

Max made his TV debut in the UK in 1985 via a made-for-TV movie called Max Headroom: 20 Minutes Into the Future. He also hosted a music video show where he introduced videos and interviewed guests. He made his American network TV debut on Late Night with David Letterman in 1986, where he stuttered, glitched, shouted, warbled, growled, echoed, and sang in a bizarre exchange. The audience didn't seem to know what to make of him. 

If someone was going to hijack a TV signal and use the opportunity to act in a bizarre manner for some laughs and to thumb his nose at authority, Max Headroom was the perfect character at that time for the disguise.

Was the Person Behind the Max Headroom Ever Caught?

Getting back to the signal hijacking, viewers may have been amused, but FCC officials were not. "A powerful video prankster could become Max Jailroom" proclaimed The Chicago Tribune the following day. An investigation was launched, with the promise that whoever was behind it could be fined up to $100,000 and receive a one-year jail sentence. 

Image via Chicago Tribune

A stunt of this magnitude could never be replicated in today's digital world. Only the pre-2009 analog television signals could be interrupted, and it required someone with access to equipment that was capable of sending a microwave transmission to the stations' broadcast towers which was more powerful than what the stations were sending themselves. 

Taking the Stunt to the Max

Whoever did had access to extremely powerful equipment, according to WGN's director of engineering, Robert Strutzell, who The Chicago Tribune interviewed about the incident. He was reluctant to talk to reporters for fear that another jokester would try to replicate the signal hijacking but did tell that paper that "the interfering signal has to be quite strong."

"It's really unfortunate," he was also quoted as saying. "I certainly wonder about the mentality of people doing this." 

It all sounds very Ghostbusters, but someone was clever enough to a. actually pull it off and b. remain anonymous to this day. Whoever was behind it must have known that there would be no engineers on duty in the Sears Tower at that time of night. This is why the second signal interruption was able to last as long as it did: technicians monitoring the broadcast at WTTW tried to take corrective measures but couldn't, and "grew increasingly stressed out" according to air director Paul Rizzo as they couldn't do anything to regain the signal. 

Although there were some leads, no one was ever identified as the person behind the prank. Lead FCC investigator Dr. Michael Marcus was convinced that it was a disgruntled former employee or contractor that held a grudge against WGN and Chuck Swirsky. 

In 2010 an anonymous poster commented on Reddit that they had acquaintances that went by the initials J and K who were brothers that bragged about pulling off a massive broadcast hijacking back in the day. 

Even if someone were caught or came forward today, the statute of limitations expired in 1992—just five years after it happened. 

It seems that "Max", whoever he is, got the last stuttering laugh in.