Copy Link
Add to Bookmark
Report
Tolmes News Service 14
#######################################
# #
# #
# ======== =\ = ====== #
# == = \ = = #
# == = \ = ====== #
# == = \ = = #
# == = \= ====== #
# #
# #
# <Tolmes News Service> #
# ''''''''''''''''''''' #
# #
# #
# > Written by Dr. Hugo P. Tolmes < #
# #
# #
#######################################
Issue Number: 15-Part I
Release Date: December 20, 1987
Welcome to the first regular issue of Tolmes News Service (TNS). This issue
will be on the topic of the Max Headroom video pirate.
Due to the length of the report on Max Headroom, TNS Issue #15 will be
released in two separate parts. The next section of TNS will be Issue #15
Part II. This is the first time this has happened (the report on Shadow
Hawk went into two issues ... not a single issue in two parts) and is due
to the transcripts of the newscasts.
Here's a summary of what happened:
1) On Channel 9 (WGN) in Chicago, the 9 o'clock news was interrupted during the
sports section.
2) For about half a minute, a character in a Max Headroom mask came on the
screen (with a moving background too).
3) Channel 9 (WGN) cancelled out the signal after about half a minute.
4) About 2 hours later, on Channel 11 (PBS) in Chicago, the Max Headroom
TV pirate came on again. This time Max Headroom did a little skit where he
would drink a can of Pepsi and throw it away and other antics. Toward the end
of the skit, the man with the Max Headroom mask dropped his pants, mooned
the screen, and was spanked with a fly swatter. The entire episode took place
while the science-fiction series Dr. Who was being broadcasted. The skit
lasted for about a minute and a half. The pirate stopped the broadcast on
his own (Channel 11 didn't knock it off the air). Since Channel 11 is public,
it didn't really have the power to knock the broadcast off.. so Max
Headroom might have been on for half an hour if he wanted to be. Some words
were heard but most of it was blurred.
This TV pirate used an extremely powerful transmitter (and very expensive
too) to knock out the other signals.
My personal view: funny... we should have more TV pirates.. it didn't really
do any real harm (even though the skit had some off-color parts) but was neat
to watch.
TV piracy is a serious crime. I'm sure most people remember Captain Midnight.
He was eventually caught and Max Headroom might get caught soon too. Any
developments will be covered in future issues of TNS.
This issue will contain the transcripts to several news broadcasts as well as
two articles from newspapers. The topic of Max Headroom will take up all of
issue #15.
First off, TNS will print two articles that cover the subject of the pirate.
$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$
TITLE: Powerful Video Prankster c-c-c-could become Max Jailroom
FROM: The Chicago Tribune
DATE: November 24, 1987
By John Camper
An off-colomed imitator of the television
character Max Headroom showed up on Chicago area TV screens Sunday night,
evidently the work of a sophisticated video pirate with an unsophisticated
sense of humor.
Officials of the Federal Communications Commission were not amused
as they searched Monday for clues to the identity of the pirate, who somehow
managed to override the signals of two television stations in two hours.
The bizzare 1 1/2-minute skit, which ended with "Max" pulling down his
pants and getting paddled with a fly swatter, interrupted a WTTW-TW (Channel
11) broadcast of the British science fiction series "Dr. Who" at 11:10 p.m.
Two hours earlier, the "Max" character made an unauthorized 28-second
appearance in the middle of a newscast on WGN-TV (Channel 9) but was zapped by
an alert engineer before the imposter could do anything offensive.
Television engineers speculated that the stations had been victimized by a
practical joker with an expensive transmitter. They said it would take
extremely high-powered equipment to squeeze out the microwave signals that
carry the programs from the stations' Northwest Side studios to downtown
skyscrapers, where they are retransmitted to television sets throughout
the Chicago area.
"You need a significant amount of power to do that," said Robert
Strutzel, WGN's director of engineering, who was reluctant to discuss the
prank in detail for fear of providing a "how to" guide for others. "The
interfering signal has to be quite strong."
"This guy had to have quite a rig," said Larry Inman, chief engineer
of an Urbana station, WILL-TV. "Transmitters with that much power cost
$400,000 to $600,000."
Strutzel speculated that the piratte operated from somewhere on the
city's North or Northwest Sides, between the two studios and their downtown
transmitters. WGN has studios at 2501 W. Bradly Pl. and transmits from the
top of the John Hancock Center. WTTW's studios are at 5400 N. St. Louis Ave.
and its transmitter is atop the Sears Tower.
The first interruption occurred at 9:14 p.m. during videotaped highlights
of the Chicago Bears game on WGN's newscast. A character wearing a Max
Headroom mask gyrated for almost half a minute but did not make audible sounds.
Strutzel said an engineer quickly changed the frequency of the signal
that was transmitting the news show to the Hancock building, thus breaking the
lock established by the video pirate. Sports reporter Dan Rohn apoligized for
the interference and continued the sports report.
Two hours later, a "Dr. Who" episode called "Horror of Fang Rock" on
Channel 11 was interrupted by wobbling black and white lines. Then the
character in the "Max Headroom" mask appeared and swayed back and forth while
saying a number of barely audible words.
Among the words that could be heard were "Chuck Swirsky" (the name of a
WGN sportscaster), "TV studio," "great newspaper" and "but it's dirty."
"Max" picked up a can of Pepsi-Cola (the real Max Headroom advertises
Coca-Cola) and threw it away. He then gotlike a glove.
"Max" bent over, exposed his bare buttocks and was paddled several times
by a fly swatter that appeared to be wielded by a woman standing off camera.
"By the time our people began looking into what was going on, it was
over," said Anders Yocum, vice president for corporate communications at
Channel 11. "Initially, we checked our internal video sources before thinking
about something from outside.
"We've spent most of today figuring out what we can do to prevent this
sort of thing in the future, and we believe we will be able to avoid it,"
he said. Channel 9 officials said they, too, were studying ways to improve
security over their broadcast signal.
The legitimate Max Headroom, a wisecracking, stuttering, computer-
generated character, originated on British television in 1985. His own
American prime time television show, carried on ABC, was cancelled earlier
this year.
The original story line for the Max character involved a futuristic
world dominated by television, where video piracy- such as what occurred
Sunday night -was punishable by death.
Video piracy in the U.S. carries a criminal penalty of up to $10,000 in
fines and up to one year in prison, an FCC official said.
"We consider this a serious matter," said Maureen Peratino, the FCC's
deputy directory for public affairs. She said she was unaware of any previous
thefts of a TV station's signal.
The most celebrated case of video piracy occurred in April, 1986, when a
pirate calling himself "Captain Midnight" intercepted the satellite
transmission of Home Box Office, a cable television programmer, and
broadcast a message criticizing the company for scrambling its signal to
prevent non-subscribers from receiving it on privately owned satellited
dishes.
Captain Midnight later was identified as John R. MacDougall, a
satellite dish salesman from Ocala, Fla. He was fined $5,000 and placed
on probation for a year.
In Octover, 1985, an electronic bandit overpowered the signal of the
popular Wally Phillips show on WGN-AM radio and made sexually explicit
comments.
$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$
TITLE: 2 Channels Interrupted to the Max
FROM: Chicago Sun-Times
DATE: November 24, 1987
By Don Hayner
Federal Communications Commission officials are seeking to unmask a phony
Max Headroom.
A video pirate disguised as the high-tech television character illegally
invaded TV airwaves Sunday night to interrupt briefly programming at
WGN-Channel 9 and WTTW-Channel 11.
At the end of the 1-minute-28-second inturruption of "Dr. Who" on Channel 11, the Headroom
character appeared to have his pants down while being spanked by a fly
swatter or spatula.
FCC officials are seeking the person behind the Headroom mask. If
caught, that person and any others involved could face up to $100,000 in
fines and a year in jail, said FCC spokeswoman Christine Jelinek.
Additional federal obscenity charges could also be brought by the
U.S. attourney's office, Jeline ABC "Max Headroom" series has been cancelled.
The first interruption came during the Bears highlights on the 9 p.m.
newscast of Channel 9. the intruding broadcast, which appeared only in the
Chicago area, showed the Headroom character rocking back and forth with
hands held in the air. It played for 25 seconds until WGN workers changed
transmission paths.
That same 25 seconds apparently aired on Channel 11 and continued for
about a minute longer. "It was not broadcast quality," said Anders Yocom,
WTTW vice president of corporate communications, and the character "was
uttering words and phrases almost impossible to understand."
Yocom said changes have been made at the stations that are designed to
frustrate interruptions.
"It was exactly the same video shown on both stations, but on Channel
9 it ended after about 25 seconds," said Bill Baxman, 38, of Des Plaines,
who was watching each channel when interruptions occurred.
Baxman said the Headroom character appeared in front of a "zigzaggy
background of stripes... I was watching 'Dr. Who' when all of a sudden it
came on again.
"I thought it was, you know, a little cute for the time, but when you
think about it, it's not that cute.... They could be interrupting something
extremely important."
FCC spokesman Jelinek said much of the sound on the recordings of the
incidents is incoherent. Jelinek explained that the FCC uses monitoring
equipment to trace such illegal broadcasts, but it generally requires an
interruption of several minutes. The monitoring, however, is done only
randomly.
"It's pretty apparent it was local," said Robert Strutzel, WGN
director of engineering. Strutzel explained that the intrusions could have
come from a high-rise apartment or a roof between the WGN transmitter on the
Northwest Side at 2501 W. Bradley and its antenna atop the Hancock Building.
"It's not the kind of thing that's done by somebody in his basement,"
Strutzel said. "It's sophisticated microwave equipment at pretty high power
levels to overcome our installation. And the room for error is very small."
Commercial-grade equipment of this sort would cost around $25,000 and
could be carried in a few suitcases, he said- or the equipment could be
rented.
$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$
TNS will now print out several news reports from the Chicago area on the
Max Headroom Incident.
Anything like this: *> xxxxxxxxx <* is an explanation of what was put on
tv during the report. This will just represent what each channel showed
while the report was in progress.
$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$
Channel 5 News (NBC) in Chicago
- - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - -
CM= Carol Marin (anchorwoman)
BS= Bob Strutzel (WGN director of engineering)
- - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - -
CM: The FCC is trying to track down a television video pirate who raided
who raided two tests last night. First hit: WGN.
It's signal was jammed during the news in the middle of the Bears
highlights. The pirate mimicked the Max Headroom character that you see on
TV.
*> A Tape of the Max Headroom Pirate <*
BS: It takes some pretty significant equipment, technical equipment, and
some knowledge of broadcast frequencies, microwave frequencies, and
a lot of power.
CM: Less than two hours later, Channel 11's broadcast of Dr. Who was
disrupted. The 90-second interruption ended with the video pirate's
bare bottom being spanked with a fly swatter.
*> A Scene from Dr. Who the Previous Night <*
*> Dr. Who Getting Cloudy and Knocked Off <*
*> Max Headroom Coming On-Screen <*
*> A Max Headroom image with buttocks exposed <*
CM: But his penalty will be far worse if he is caught. The maximum penalty
is one year in jail and a fine... it says a hundred dollars. I think it
is a higher fine than that.
- - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - -
The fine is $100,000, I think -Hugo
$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$
Channel 2 News (CBS) in Chicago
- - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - -
AN= The CBS Announcer
MH= Mike Hirsch (a reporter at CBS who was assigned to cover the incident)
BS= Bob Strutzel (WGN director of engineering)
PB= Phillip Bradford (a representative from the FCC)
- - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - -
AN: And federal investigators.. uhh.. another one is on tonight. This time
for the video pirates who managed to scramble Chicago airwaves. The
pirates interrupted WGN and WTTW programming with a show of their own.
Our Mike Hirsch has more.
*> Max Headroom the Pirate <*
*> A Scene from Dr. Who <*
*> Dr. Who Getting Knocked Off <*
MH: Channel 11's Dr. Who was unexpectedly knocked off the TV screen last
night by a broadcast pirate who was disguised as Max Headroom.
*> Max, Jumping Up and Down <*
*> Max Headroom Doing Strange Things <*
*> The Max Headroom Pirate with No Pants <*
MH: The wacky and at times perverse TV surprise came shortly after 11
o'clock, lasting about a minute and a half. The same thing happened at
WGN's 9 o'clock news broadcast earlier in the evening.
*> Bears Highlights Getting Knocked Off <*
*> On TV: The Max Headroom Pirate Again <*
BS: If someone wants to get into your house, they can find a way to do
that. And likewise, if someone wants to interfer with your signal, they
can find a way to do that.
*> Some Graphics of How the Signals were Jammed <*
MH: The FCC says the pirates were able to use stronger microwave signals to
override the television signals which are transmitted f and Sears towers.
*> Flash to Some Black Dude from the FCC <*
PB: We'd like to inform anyone who was involved in this sort of thing that
there's a maximum penalty of a hundred thousand dollars, 1 year in
jail, or both.
*> On Screen: A Scene from "The Falcon and the Snowman" <*
*> The Scene Gets Cloudy and Something Else Comes On <*
*> Captain Midnight's Footage is Shown on the Screen <*
*> "GOOD EVENING HBO" <*
*> "FROM CAPTAIN MIDNIGHT" <*
*> "$12.95/A MONTH?" *<
*> "NO WAY".. etc.. etc.. <*
MH: The broadcast pirate who broke into HBO programming about at year and a
half ago and threatened HBO with this message was caught by the FCC and
fined $5,000 and put on one year probation. The FCC says the wiseguys
who pulled off this latest stunt are in really big trouble. Mike
Hirsch, THE 10 o'clock News.
AN: The FCC says, or warns, that should the pirates try it again, they will
only make it easier for the FCC to track them down.
- - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - -
I especially like the parts where they ask the pirates to turn themselve in.
And how they shouldn't try it again.
$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$
This ends Part I or TNS Issue #15. The story on Max Headroom is continued
in Part II of this issue.
$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$
