On 22 November 1987, an unknown person wearing a Max Headroom mask broke into two Chicago television broadcasts. The first interruption briefly displaced WGN-TV’s evening news; the second took over WTTW during Doctor Who with a longer and stranger performance. Viewers suddenly received the pirate transmission in place of the scheduled programme.
Why It Mattered
The intrusions exposed the unsettling possibility that somebody with the right equipment could seize control of a television signal. The masked performance became one of broadcasting’s strangest unsolved incidents, and the Federal Communications Commission never identified the people responsible.
Two interruptions
- A contemporaneous wire report records that WGN-TV's sports segment was displaced by masked video.
- WTTW records a second intrusion during its transmission of Doctor Who later that night.
Broadcast record
- A contemporaneous broadcast-industry report identified WGN-TV and WTTW-TV as the two affected stations.
- The two intrusions occurred on 22 November 1987.
- That report stated that the Federal Communications Commission was searching for the perpetrator.
Documented limits
- Recordings preserve both broadcast interruptions.
- The perpetrators’ identity and motive remain unknown.
Associated With
Unidentified transmitter operator or operators; affected stations WGN-TV and WTTW - creator or operator
Defining Feature
Two recorded analogue broadcast intrusions showing a person in a Max Headroom mask
Status
Unresolved - Perpetrator identity remains publicly unconfirmed; both interruptions survive in broadcast recordings
- All sixteen image sources are not yet verified — editorial review required.
Rights Notice
Images are included for historical and archival reference.
Rights holders may contact Forgotten Archive through the publishing account to request a credit correction or removal.
WGN Channel 9 / The Museum of Classic Chicago Television; reproduced by BuzzFeed
Licence
Historical Ephemera
Displayed for commentary and research. Fair dealing under the UK CDPA 1988 applies only where its conditions are met. No permission for reuse is granted.
Caption
The masked figure in Chicago's Max Headroom broadcast intrusion was an impersonator, not the television character's performer, turning a familiar face into an unsettling interruption.
