Ep 309: The Max Headroom Pirate TV Incident Part 2
“And I turned around all of a sudden, and we don’t have Dr. Who on air; we have this Max Headroom mask, and as the content got weirder, we got increasingly more stressed out over our inability to do anything about it.”
Description:
In Part 2 of our series on the Max Headroom Broadcast Signal Interruption, we dig deeper into the analog chaos that unfolded in 1987 Chicago — a surreal, rebellious hijacking that mocked media itself. We explore the investigation, the lingering mystery, and what it says about how we interact with technology, culture, and entertainment today. Who was behind that mask? Who wielded that fly-swatter? Let’s get into it.
Reference Links:
“Who Was Mac Tonight? McDonald's Moon Man Mascot” from the Weird History Food channel on YouTube – mentions that the Mac Tonight McDonald’s mascot was inspired in part by Max Headroom
Guest Rob Southgate’s Southgate Media Group and podcast network
1995 episode “Max Headroom - 20 minutes into the Future” on the TV Time Machine YouTube channel
The song "Paranoimia" by the English synth-pop group Art of Noise
“Who Remembers C-Band Satellite Dishes?” from the Solid Signal Blog
“Max headroom incident With Subtitles (1987)” on Kenny Triton’s YouTube channel
“The Freakiest TV Hack of the 1980s: Max Headroom” on Atlas Obscura
“30 Years Later, Notorious ‘Max Headroom Incident’ Remains a Mystery” from WTTW PBS station
“Clutch Cargo | The Big X” on the 8thManDVD.com™ Cartoon Channel on YouTube
The “Pat n’ Patti’s Backpack Shack” sketch on Saturday Night Live
“Did Formula 1 CGI a Giant Vulture Shadow Into the U.S. Grand Prix Live Feed?” on TheDrive.com
“1988 McDONALDs "Mack the Knife" ad for $.99 BIG MACs” on the MotionDevotion YouTube channel
“UNSOLVED: The Creepiest TV Hack in History” from The Why Files
Suggested Listening:
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CREDITS:
Episode 309: The Max Headroom Pirate TV Incident Part 2. Produced by Scott Philbrook & Forrest Burgess. Audio Editing by Sarah Vorhees Wendel of VW Sound. Music and Sound Design by Allen Carrescia. Tess Pfeifle, Producer and Lead Researcher. Ed Voccola, Technical Producer. Research Support from The Astonishing Research Corps, or "A.R.C." for short. Copyright 2025 Astonishing Legends Productions, LLC. All Rights Reserved.