What if someone speaks to the viewer from the TV screen? This is normal, why not? Speakers broadcast to people on the other side of the screen, speak to them, say hello and goodbye. But what happens if someone else intervenes in this information idyll, and the viewer sees what he should not see? Next will be described the most scandalous and terrible moment in the history of American television, which is called the Wyoming incident.
Background
Before familiarizing yourself with a specific case, you need to understand how these events are generally characterized. What does “air invasion” mean? This is a crime against people who broadcast and receive television broadcasts. The invasion looks like a suddenly gone picture (film, news and other programs), after which there is a broadcast instead of it of the private material of the cracker. Of course, this act is criminally punishable, because such jokes can harm viewers or listeners (an invasion can be in radio format).
Local radio stations are most susceptible to such attacks, since their signal is not independent, and therefore weaker. It’s easier to kill. Despite the fact that such cases are very rare, television and radio companies regularly complain about attempts to hack from the outside.
Max Hedrum Incident
This happened on November 22, 1987 in the city of Chicago. In the evening, a review of a football match was held on WGN. Exactly at 21:14 local time, the announcer disappeared from the TV screens and an awful character took over the air for 30 seconds. Someone dressed as a mask of Max Hedrum (the character of the series) spoke strange words due to interference, grimaced and smiled. However, after half a minute of meaningless broadcasting, the channel managed to return the perplexed speaker. To this day, this is the most scandalous invasion of the air - the incident of Max Hedrum.
The “parodist” Max Hedrum repeated the invasion on another channel with an even stronger signal. This time, the speech of the unknown was clear. At 23:15, the WTTW channel began broadcasting the criminal for 90 seconds. During this time, the audience listened to a series of laughter, meaningless phrases and movements. At the end of the performance, the “parodist” bare his buttocks, and someone began to slap him with a fly swatter. In the background in both cases there was a moving striped background, as in the original Hedrum show, only in the form of a budget piece of corrugated iron.
How is this dangerous?
To date, the Max Hedrum incident (the famous hack) has remained a mystery. The crime has not been solved and remains so for thirty years. In this case, the audience was lucky not to be misinformed, scared, indignant or hypnotized. Television can already affect the fragile consciousness of some citizens, so this act is egregious and dangerous. There were cases when unknown channels invaded the air of children's channels and broadcast materials with pornographic content instead of cartoons.
The incident of Max Hedrum, by the way, also contained bare buttocks in the frames. Some terrorists use this form of interference as a way to draw the attention of more people and cause panic. There is also a risk of seeing ASC materials (changing the state of consciousness) - they cause panic, migraine, nausea, and more.
How did the story end?
Unfortunately, the perpetrator (as well as his accomplices, which obviously were) were not caught. The investigation gave several options for the development of events, but they did not lead to the trail of specific people, therefore they were meaningless.
The positive thing is only one factor - the costume incident of Max Hedrum did not harm anyone, the broadcast went on in the evening, when the children's audience was asleep, and some viewers perceived it as an ordinary joke.