The Max Headroom incident has been increasing in notoriety year upon year.
Ever since pirates hijacked the signals of two Chicago television stations in November 1987, the Federal Communications Commission, and latterly the Internet, have been attempting to solve the mystery of who exactly was behind the stunt.
In this podcast, Dan and Carl posit some of their own unique ‘alternative theories’ regarding the Max Headroom broadcast signal intrusion.
Music in this episode was provided by Mr Nissness.
Watch
Listen (podcast version)
- Direct download: Television Sofa Club – 2022-11-15 – The Max Headroom TV pirating incident of 1987 (87mb, 1h 47min)
- You can also listen on Retro Unlim here.
Timecodes
(For the YouTube video version.)
0:00 Coming up on TV Sofa Club
1:02 Scary intro: contemporary news reports
3:11 Podcast begins, host intros
4:57 What is the Max Headroom Incident? Segment voiced by Patrick.
9:25 Canonical ending
14:59 Chuck Swirsky
18:59 Current consensus
23:03 FCC
27:12 Carl’s big conspiracy theory!
43:20 The incident was actually carefully planned
55:00 Max = best Doctor? And a new generation of chat show hosts
1:00:38 I’m going to have to tape over it!
1:07:26 Pre-meditation
1:12:44 ‘User Friendly’, the prototype Max
1:16:56 Did Max jump the shark?
1:26:50 Max Headroom Incident responsible for a comeback?
1:30:45 Matt Frewer is a r-r-robot
1:33:58 Dan’s (serious) theory
1:45:21 Max under attack & The Death of Max
1:49:28 A world without the Max Headroom Incident
1:54:15 TV Sofa Club will return
1:59:43 Outro theme: VHF (The Marauders) by Mr Nissness
Errata
- Matt Frewer is American-Canadian, not Canadian
- Max’s single with the Art of Noise was entitled ‘Paranoimia’ and charted at no. 12 in the UK
Links
‘The Bizarre’ documentary about the Max Headroom Incident
Oddity Archive: Max Headroom Incident 30th anniversary revisit
Fuzzy Memories – The First ‘Max Headroom’ Incident
Frecklesam – (Second) Headroom Incident 25th Anniversary Remaster
ZetaReticuli1 – Max Headroom Incident Second Broadcast restored by Notelu
Fuzzy Memories – WFLD Channel 32 – Pirate Report
Fuzzy Memories – WLS Channel 7 – Pirate Report
Fuzzy Memories – WMAQ Channel 5 – Pirate Report
WBUR Endless Thread: The Max Headroom Incident
“I believe I know who was behind the Max Headroom Incident” Reddit thread by bpoag
Amazon – Creative Computer Graphics by Annabel Jankel and Rocky Morton: https://www.amazon.co.uk/Creative-Computer-Graphics-Annabel-Jankel/dp/0521262518
Music by Mr Nissness: https://www.youtube.com/@mrnissness
https://mrnissness.bandcamp.com/
Voiceover by Patrick of Classic Game Night Fridays: https://www.youtube.com/channel/UC1vgJod-AoioVERHiY4HIlQ
Teletext R on Apple Podcasts: https://podcasts.apple.com/us/podcast/teletextr/id1445105820
RSS Feed: https://www.retrounlim.com/series/teletextr/feed/
Teletext Discord: https://discord.com/invite/DKnvNnj
Teletext Facebook group: https://www.facebook.com/groups/TeletextGroup/
Twitter:
https://twitter.com/teletextr
http://twitter.com/illarterate
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