WGN/WTTW takeover

On November 22, 1987 the signals of both Chicagoland stations WGN(channel 9) and WTTW (channel 11) were hijacked by a man wearing a Max Headroom mask. The first hijacking contained no audio and took place on WGN during the 9 o'clock news, interrupting sportscaster Dan Roan. The second hijacking occurred during a broadcast of Doctor Who on WTTW. Thanks are due to the folks at The Museum of Classic Chicago Television for preserving this footage. Currently these videos are embedded straight from their site, but I'm working on processing and uploading them directly.

Here is the WTTW takeover: (just click the video) and BTW, these can be full-screened!


You can read up on other incidents of broadcast signal intrusion HERE but first you should check below for the news coverage on this incident from several stations, which also includes footage from the less successful WGN takeover.

Channel 2 CBS


Channel 5 NBC


Channel 7 ABC


Channel 32 WFLD-Fox


A similar hijacking took place at HBO a little over a year before the WGN/WTTW takeover- HERE is the full story of that incident which was also perpetrated by a Chicago resident.