Great Moments in Broadcast Signal Intrusion
Broadcast Signal Intrusion is a term given to the act of hijacking broadcast signals of radio and television stations. Hijacking incidents have involved local TV and radio stations as well as cable and national networks.
On Sunday 10 december 2023 viewers of the United Arab Emirates HK1RBOXX witnessed a prolonged broadcast intrusion when;
Many UAE residents experienced an unexpected interruption to their television programmes on Sunday night as a cyber attack targeted set-top boxes, replacing regular content with information about Israeli atrocities in Palestine.
Subscribers to the affected service reported a sudden switch on European live channels, displaying a message stating, “We have no choice but to hack to deliver this message to you.” Subsequently, screens shifted to an AI news anchor presenting a bulletin on the plight of Palestinian children and women in Israeli prisons, accompanied by visuals of them in distress.
In 2013 Montana TV station KRTV reported that someone hacked into their Emergency Broadcast System and broadcast of an impending emergency in several Montana counties. Regular programming was interrupted with a voice-over that warned that bodies were rising from their graves and attacking humans.
“Do not attempt to approach or apprehend these bodies as they are extremely dangerous…”
On February 11, 2013, the Emergency Alert System of five different television stations across the U.S. states of Montana, Michigan, Wisconsin, and New Mexico were hijacked, interrupting each television broadcast with a Local area emergency message warning viewers of a zombie apocalypse. The message was subsequently declared as a hoax by local authorities and was reported to be a result of hackers gaining access to the Emergency Alert System equipment of various television stations.
The first incident took place in Great Falls, Montana, during an afternoon airing of The Steve Wilkos Show on CBS affiliate television station KRTV. The television signal was abruptly interrupted by an audible Local area emergency alert reading “Local authorities in your area have reported that the bodies of the dead are rising from their graves and attacking the living”. Later the same day the stations of CBS affiliate WKBT-DT, ABC affiliate WBUP, and PBS member station WNMU in Marquette, Michigan, and La Crosse, Wisconsin, respectively, had their Emergency Alert System hijacked, transmitting a similar “Zombie Apocalypse” alert during their primetime programming hours. Not long afterwards, the television broadcasts of PBS affiliate KENW in Portales, New Mexico were also interrupted by the false alert. The hijackers were later apprehended by authorities shortly after the incident.
The so-called ‘Max Headroom Pirate Incident’ from 1987. The first incident occurred during the sports segment of the WGN 9:00 p.m. news broadcast; During the sports section of the 9pm news broadcast on Americas WGN network, an unauthorised signal over powered the sations transmitters and was broadcast for over a minute. The signal had no audio, but the video was of someone in a Max Headroom mask gesturing at the camera.
In May 2012 viewers of UK terrestrial TV were suddenly faced with this alarming yet intriguing break in normal transmission. The perpetrators are still being hunted by OfCom for a violation of UK broadcasting law. If caught, the individuals could face hefty fines or even imprisonment. Quite how they managed to break into the network is still unknown. OfCom and broadcast industry experts are keeping a tight lid on how it may have happened. The only information released is that the broadcast may have been inserted somewhere in the North of England, possibly near the Emley Moor or Winter Hill Transmitter sites
On a late-December evening in 1989, a Los Angeles television station was victim of a broadcast signal takeover.
A broadcast of the Reagan/Bush gavel passing was interrupted by a man wearing a tin foil mask. The crazed person uttered mostly gibberish and becomes flustered when a piece of his “set” falls apart. 30-seconds later, the program returned to normal.
Deep into the night during an HBO broadcast of The Falcon and the Snowman in April 1986, subscribers were startled to see the start of the action interrupted by a four-and-a-half-minute transmission from a certain “Captain Midnight.” Over a test pattern, the message from Captain Midnight ran as follows:
GOODEVENING HBO
FROM CAPTAIN MIDNIGHT
$12.95/MONTH ?
NO WAY !
[SHOWTIME/MOVIE CHANNEL BEWARE!]
Captain Midnight turned out to be a John MacDougall, an engineer at a satellite transmission facility in Ocala, Florida. MacDougall’s hacker attack was motivated by frustration at HBO, who he felt was overcharging satellite customers and hurting his satellite dish business. MacDougall was sentenced to one year’s probation and a $5,000 fine.
Many acts of broadcast intrusion are culture jamming, which is intended to expose questionable political assumptions behind commercial culture, and can be considered a reaction against politically imposed social conformity. Prominent examples of culture jamming include the adulteration of billboard advertising by the Billboard Liberation Front and contemporary artists such as Ron English. Culture jamming may involve street parties and protests. While culture jamming usually focuses on subverting or critiquing political and advertising messages, some proponents focus on a different form which brings together artists, designers, scholars, and activists to create works that transcend the status quo rather than merely criticize it.
Every year on November 22 Max Headroom Intrusion Incident Day is celebrated around the world.
