The Max Headroom Incident

Two days before New Year’s Eve in 1975, a bomb exploded at LaGuardia Airport in New York City. 75 people were injured and 11 people were killed. The bombing has never been solved. Elon Green wrote “The Forgotten Bombing of LaGuardia Airport” for Slate Magazine. Bryan Burrough’s b ...  Show more

Muffler shop owner Marvin Heemeyer bought a 45-ton Komatsu bulldozer and parked it on his lot in Granby, Colorado. When someone asked him what he was planning to do with it, he said, “I think I'm going to bulldoze the town." Patrick Brower's book is Killdozer: The True Story of t ...  Show more

THE MAX HEADROOM INCIDENT. November 22nd, 1987 was a pretty normal evening for television viewers in Chicago. That night, like every night, Dan Roan was covering sports on WGN-TV, Channel 9. Then suddenly, the signal was disrupted and screens across the city cut to black. Enginee ...  Show more

In 1987, a very strange broadcast intrusion occurred in the city of Chicago. For just a couple of minutes, the odd TV character Max Headroom appeared onscreen in the middle of an episode of Dr. Who. He spoke in garbled tones, brandished a marital aid, and was spanked on the rear ...  Show more

Ah, the 80s. Back when MTV ruled the airwaves, shoulder pads were mandatory, Coca Cola was going through some identity issues, and television signal jacking was still possible. It was a magical time when someone in Chicago could turn on the tv and get an unintended eyeful of weir ...  Show more