So now that I’ve caught all you kids who never even saw the 80s up on some ancient history, let’s talk about the 1987 Chicago Area Broadcast Signal Intrusion Incident, commonly known as The Max Headroom Incident. Oddly, his appearances in New Coke commercials (and occasional VJ spots on MTV) were far more popular and memorable than his TV show. His show, cleverly titled uh… Max Headroom, was a cult hit, and they figured he’d make a great spokesperson for their flailing brand. He was an actor named Matt Frewer in some latex and prosthetics with a cheap stutter effect put on his voice. His name was Max Headroom, and he wasn’t computer generated at all. “Can we stop? I’ve really gotta Catch the wave like a motherfucker.” They couldn’t find an appropriate one since no one could be paid enough to hock New Coke, so they decided to borrow one who wouldn’t bitch: A computer-generated character with a programmable voice and movements… but this was 1987 and that technology didn’t exist yet, so he was really just a dude with a bunch of shit stuck to him. When numbers started to flag, Coke needed a spokesperson for their obscene form of alchemy. No, they decided to keep on making that shit for a while. They brought the old Coke back (but minus sugar, which is a conspiracy theory all its own.) But Coca-Cola Classic didn’t completely replace it. Ways to not impress your customers: Tell them their taste sucks.īut New Coke failed, and miserably. Coke wasn’t Coke anymore, and shit just got crazy. For 3 whole months, the world was a different place. Instead, they felt it prudent to make it taste a bit more like ass, and New Coke was born. In the halcyon days of 1985, some dweeb in Coke’s marketing department decided it’d be a good idea to change the formula of their flagship product, without considering that people might actually like the way it tastes. In this fierce war, both the Coca Cola Company and PepsiCo have pulled some stupid moves, but none is quite as infamous as New Coke. (Me, I’m neither, because I don’t give a fuck, but my wife likes Coke, so I guess I’m a Coke guy by default.) This is a battle that’s been fought for ages, a mythical conflict of epic stakes to win the hearts of sugary, caffeinated drink buyers everywhere.īefore it was HIGH FRUCTOSE CORN SYRUP! BWAHAH! (This is the scariest corn picture I could find.) Surely, they knew their prank would make the local papers, but it's doubtful they realized that we'd still be watching their video decades later.They say you’re either a Coke guy/girl or a Pepsi guy/girl. "I just made a great masterpiece for all the great world newspaper nerds," their Max Headroom said, making another WGN reference (WGN stands for World's Greatest Newspaper). Whoever they were, they made a lasting impression. Although the longer broadcast was on WTTW, it appears that WGN was the real target since the perpetrators made WGN-related references, including the mention of Swirsky and humming the theme of the cartoon Clutch Cargo. Or maybe they were disgruntled WGN employees. Perhaps the perpetrators were broadcasting students from a near by college. But last year, the FCC's lead investigator of the incident, Michael Marcus, told Vice Motherboard surplus amateur radio gear would have done the trick, though it would have at least required significant knowledge of broadcasting technology. At the time, WGN officials speculated that the pranksters would have needed powerful, expensive equipment to override its broadcast. The prevailing theory is that the hijackers beamed their own signal from a tall building, or perhaps a van, directly at WGN and WTTW's antenna, overpowering the signal sent by the companies' own transmitters. "Exactly how these pirates were able to pull off the overriding of WGN-TV and WTTW-TV's signals is not yet known for certain," Chicago Radio and Media reported in 2012. But also like today's hacks, the prank required sophisticated technical skills. Like most of today's acts of cyber-vandalism, the content of Max Headroom interruption was juvenile. It's been nearly 27 years, but the incident remains a mystery. >'Well, if you're wondering what's happened, so am I.' "Yeah, I think I'm better than Chuck Swirsky!" the infiltrator announced in a high pitched, distorted voice, referring to the Chicago area sports announcer. This time, the pranksters were able to broadcast their entire video, complete with audio. But two hours later, PBS affiliate station WTTW's broadcast of Doctor Who was similarly interrupted. "Well, if you're wondering what's happened, so am I," the station's sports anchor Dan Roan said when the signal was restored. After about 30 seconds, WGN's technicians were able to override the pirate signal.
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