412 lines
17 KiB
Plaintext
412 lines
17 KiB
Plaintext
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# <Tolmes News Service> #
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# ''''''''''''''''''''' #
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# > Written by Dr. Hugo P. Tolmes < #
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#######################################
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Issue Number: 15-Part I
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Release Date: December 20, 1987
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Welcome to the first regular issue of Tolmes News Service (TNS). This issue
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will be on the topic of the Max Headroom video pirate.
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Due to the length of the report on Max Headroom, TNS Issue #15 will be
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released in two separate parts. The next section of TNS will be Issue #15
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Part II. This is the first time this has happened (the report on Shadow
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Hawk went into two issues ... not a single issue in two parts) and is due
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to the transcripts of the newscasts.
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Here's a summary of what happened:
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1) On Channel 9 (WGN) in Chicago, the 9 o'clock news was interrupted during the
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sports section.
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2) For about half a minute, a character in a Max Headroom mask came on the
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screen (with a moving background too).
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3) Channel 9 (WGN) cancelled out the signal after about half a minute.
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4) About 2 hours later, on Channel 11 (PBS) in Chicago, the Max Headroom
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TV pirate came on again. This time Max Headroom did a little skit where he
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would drink a can of Pepsi and throw it away and other antics. Toward the end
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of the skit, the man with the Max Headroom mask dropped his pants, mooned
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the screen, and was spanked with a fly swatter. The entire episode took place
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while the science-fiction series Dr. Who was being broadcasted. The skit
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lasted for about a minute and a half. The pirate stopped the broadcast on
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his own (Channel 11 didn't knock it off the air). Since Channel 11 is public,
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it didn't really have the power to knock the broadcast off.. so Max
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Headroom might have been on for half an hour if he wanted to be. Some words
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were heard but most of it was blurred.
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This TV pirate used an extremely powerful transmitter (and very expensive
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too) to knock out the other signals.
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My personal view: funny... we should have more TV pirates.. it didn't really
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do any real harm (even though the skit had some off-color parts) but was neat
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to watch.
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TV piracy is a serious crime. I'm sure most people remember Captain Midnight.
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He was eventually caught and Max Headroom might get caught soon too. Any
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developments will be covered in future issues of TNS.
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This issue will contain the transcripts to several news broadcasts as well as
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two articles from newspapers. The topic of Max Headroom will take up all of
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issue #15.
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First off, TNS will print two articles that cover the subject of the pirate.
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$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$
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TITLE: Powerful Video Prankster c-c-c-could become Max Jailroom
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FROM: The Chicago Tribune
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DATE: November 24, 1987
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By John Camper
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An off-colomed imitator of the television
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character Max Headroom showed up on Chicago area TV screens Sunday night,
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evidently the work of a sophisticated video pirate with an unsophisticated
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sense of humor.
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Officials of the Federal Communications Commission were not amused
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as they searched Monday for clues to the identity of the pirate, who somehow
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managed to override the signals of two television stations in two hours.
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The bizzare 1 1/2-minute skit, which ended with "Max" pulling down his
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pants and getting paddled with a fly swatter, interrupted a WTTW-TW (Channel
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11) broadcast of the British science fiction series "Dr. Who" at 11:10 p.m.
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Two hours earlier, the "Max" character made an unauthorized 28-second
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appearance in the middle of a newscast on WGN-TV (Channel 9) but was zapped by
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an alert engineer before the imposter could do anything offensive.
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Television engineers speculated that the stations had been victimized by a
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practical joker with an expensive transmitter. They said it would take
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extremely high-powered equipment to squeeze out the microwave signals that
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carry the programs from the stations' Northwest Side studios to downtown
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skyscrapers, where they are retransmitted to television sets throughout
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the Chicago area.
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"You need a significant amount of power to do that," said Robert
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Strutzel, WGN's director of engineering, who was reluctant to discuss the
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prank in detail for fear of providing a "how to" guide for others. "The
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interfering signal has to be quite strong."
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"This guy had to have quite a rig," said Larry Inman, chief engineer
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of an Urbana station, WILL-TV. "Transmitters with that much power cost
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$400,000 to $600,000."
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Strutzel speculated that the piratte operated from somewhere on the
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city's North or Northwest Sides, between the two studios and their downtown
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transmitters. WGN has studios at 2501 W. Bradly Pl. and transmits from the
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top of the John Hancock Center. WTTW's studios are at 5400 N. St. Louis Ave.
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and its transmitter is atop the Sears Tower.
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The first interruption occurred at 9:14 p.m. during videotaped highlights
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of the Chicago Bears game on WGN's newscast. A character wearing a Max
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Headroom mask gyrated for almost half a minute but did not make audible sounds.
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Strutzel said an engineer quickly changed the frequency of the signal
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that was transmitting the news show to the Hancock building, thus breaking the
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lock established by the video pirate. Sports reporter Dan Rohn apoligized for
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the interference and continued the sports report.
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Two hours later, a "Dr. Who" episode called "Horror of Fang Rock" on
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Channel 11 was interrupted by wobbling black and white lines. Then the
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character in the "Max Headroom" mask appeared and swayed back and forth while
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saying a number of barely audible words.
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Among the words that could be heard were "Chuck Swirsky" (the name of a
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WGN sportscaster), "TV studio," "great newspaper" and "but it's dirty."
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"Max" picked up a can of Pepsi-Cola (the real Max Headroom advertises
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Coca-Cola) and threw it away. He then gotlike a glove.
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"Max" bent over, exposed his bare buttocks and was paddled several times
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by a fly swatter that appeared to be wielded by a woman standing off camera.
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"By the time our people began looking into what was going on, it was
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over," said Anders Yocum, vice president for corporate communications at
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Channel 11. "Initially, we checked our internal video sources before thinking
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about something from outside.
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"We've spent most of today figuring out what we can do to prevent this
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sort of thing in the future, and we believe we will be able to avoid it,"
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he said. Channel 9 officials said they, too, were studying ways to improve
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security over their broadcast signal.
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The legitimate Max Headroom, a wisecracking, stuttering, computer-
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generated character, originated on British television in 1985. His own
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American prime time television show, carried on ABC, was cancelled earlier
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this year.
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The original story line for the Max character involved a futuristic
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world dominated by television, where video piracy- such as what occurred
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Sunday night -was punishable by death.
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Video piracy in the U.S. carries a criminal penalty of up to $10,000 in
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fines and up to one year in prison, an FCC official said.
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"We consider this a serious matter," said Maureen Peratino, the FCC's
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deputy directory for public affairs. She said she was unaware of any previous
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thefts of a TV station's signal.
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The most celebrated case of video piracy occurred in April, 1986, when a
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pirate calling himself "Captain Midnight" intercepted the satellite
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transmission of Home Box Office, a cable television programmer, and
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broadcast a message criticizing the company for scrambling its signal to
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prevent non-subscribers from receiving it on privately owned satellited
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dishes.
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Captain Midnight later was identified as John R. MacDougall, a
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satellite dish salesman from Ocala, Fla. He was fined $5,000 and placed
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on probation for a year.
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In Octover, 1985, an electronic bandit overpowered the signal of the
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popular Wally Phillips show on WGN-AM radio and made sexually explicit
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comments.
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$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$
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TITLE: 2 Channels Interrupted to the Max
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FROM: Chicago Sun-Times
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DATE: November 24, 1987
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By Don Hayner
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Federal Communications Commission officials are seeking to unmask a phony
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Max Headroom.
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A video pirate disguised as the high-tech television character illegally
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invaded TV airwaves Sunday night to interrupt briefly programming at
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WGN-Channel 9 and WTTW-Channel 11.
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At the end of the 1-minute-28-second inturruption of "Dr. Who" on Channel 11, the Headroom
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character appeared to have his pants down while being spanked by a fly
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swatter or spatula.
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FCC officials are seeking the person behind the Headroom mask. If
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caught, that person and any others involved could face up to $100,000 in
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fines and a year in jail, said FCC spokeswoman Christine Jelinek.
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Additional federal obscenity charges could also be brought by the
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U.S. attourney's office, Jeline ABC "Max Headroom" series has been cancelled.
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The first interruption came during the Bears highlights on the 9 p.m.
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newscast of Channel 9. the intruding broadcast, which appeared only in the
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Chicago area, showed the Headroom character rocking back and forth with
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hands held in the air. It played for 25 seconds until WGN workers changed
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transmission paths.
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That same 25 seconds apparently aired on Channel 11 and continued for
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about a minute longer. "It was not broadcast quality," said Anders Yocom,
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WTTW vice president of corporate communications, and the character "was
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uttering words and phrases almost impossible to understand."
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Yocom said changes have been made at the stations that are designed to
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frustrate interruptions.
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"It was exactly the same video shown on both stations, but on Channel
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9 it ended after about 25 seconds," said Bill Baxman, 38, of Des Plaines,
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who was watching each channel when interruptions occurred.
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Baxman said the Headroom character appeared in front of a "zigzaggy
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background of stripes... I was watching 'Dr. Who' when all of a sudden it
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came on again.
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"I thought it was, you know, a little cute for the time, but when you
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think about it, it's not that cute.... They could be interrupting something
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extremely important."
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FCC spokesman Jelinek said much of the sound on the recordings of the
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incidents is incoherent. Jelinek explained that the FCC uses monitoring
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equipment to trace such illegal broadcasts, but it generally requires an
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interruption of several minutes. The monitoring, however, is done only
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randomly.
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"It's pretty apparent it was local," said Robert Strutzel, WGN
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director of engineering. Strutzel explained that the intrusions could have
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come from a high-rise apartment or a roof between the WGN transmitter on the
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Northwest Side at 2501 W. Bradley and its antenna atop the Hancock Building.
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"It's not the kind of thing that's done by somebody in his basement,"
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Strutzel said. "It's sophisticated microwave equipment at pretty high power
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levels to overcome our installation. And the room for error is very small."
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Commercial-grade equipment of this sort would cost around $25,000 and
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could be carried in a few suitcases, he said- or the equipment could be
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rented.
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$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$
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TNS will now print out several news reports from the Chicago area on the
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Max Headroom Incident.
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Anything like this: *> xxxxxxxxx <* is an explanation of what was put on
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tv during the report. This will just represent what each channel showed
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while the report was in progress.
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$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$
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Channel 5 News (NBC) in Chicago
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- - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - -
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CM= Carol Marin (anchorwoman)
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BS= Bob Strutzel (WGN director of engineering)
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- - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - -
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CM: The FCC is trying to track down a television video pirate who raided
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who raided two tests last night. First hit: WGN.
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It's signal was jammed during the news in the middle of the Bears
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highlights. The pirate mimicked the Max Headroom character that you see on
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TV.
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*> A Tape of the Max Headroom Pirate <*
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BS: It takes some pretty significant equipment, technical equipment, and
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some knowledge of broadcast frequencies, microwave frequencies, and
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a lot of power.
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CM: Less than two hours later, Channel 11's broadcast of Dr. Who was
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disrupted. The 90-second interruption ended with the video pirate's
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bare bottom being spanked with a fly swatter.
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*> A Scene from Dr. Who the Previous Night <*
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*> Dr. Who Getting Cloudy and Knocked Off <*
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*> Max Headroom Coming On-Screen <*
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*> A Max Headroom image with buttocks exposed <*
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CM: But his penalty will be far worse if he is caught. The maximum penalty
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is one year in jail and a fine... it says a hundred dollars. I think it
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is a higher fine than that.
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- - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - -
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The fine is $100,000, I think -Hugo
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$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$
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Channel 2 News (CBS) in Chicago
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- - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - -
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AN= The CBS Announcer
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MH= Mike Hirsch (a reporter at CBS who was assigned to cover the incident)
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BS= Bob Strutzel (WGN director of engineering)
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PB= Phillip Bradford (a representative from the FCC)
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AN: And federal investigators.. uhh.. another one is on tonight. This time
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for the video pirates who managed to scramble Chicago airwaves. The
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pirates interrupted WGN and WTTW programming with a show of their own.
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Our Mike Hirsch has more.
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*> Max Headroom the Pirate <*
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*> A Scene from Dr. Who <*
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*> Dr. Who Getting Knocked Off <*
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MH: Channel 11's Dr. Who was unexpectedly knocked off the TV screen last
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night by a broadcast pirate who was disguised as Max Headroom.
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*> Max, Jumping Up and Down <*
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*> Max Headroom Doing Strange Things <*
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*> The Max Headroom Pirate with No Pants <*
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MH: The wacky and at times perverse TV surprise came shortly after 11
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o'clock, lasting about a minute and a half. The same thing happened at
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WGN's 9 o'clock news broadcast earlier in the evening.
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*> Bears Highlights Getting Knocked Off <*
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*> On TV: The Max Headroom Pirate Again <*
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BS: If someone wants to get into your house, they can find a way to do
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that. And likewise, if someone wants to interfer with your signal, they
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can find a way to do that.
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*> Some Graphics of How the Signals were Jammed <*
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MH: The FCC says the pirates were able to use stronger microwave signals to
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override the television signals which are transmitted f and Sears towers.
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*> Flash to Some Black Dude from the FCC <*
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PB: We'd like to inform anyone who was involved in this sort of thing that
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there's a maximum penalty of a hundred thousand dollars, 1 year in
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jail, or both.
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*> On Screen: A Scene from "The Falcon and the Snowman" <*
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*> The Scene Gets Cloudy and Something Else Comes On <*
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*> Captain Midnight's Footage is Shown on the Screen <*
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*> "GOOD EVENING HBO" <*
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*> "FROM CAPTAIN MIDNIGHT" <*
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*> "$12.95/A MONTH?" *<
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*> "NO WAY".. etc.. etc.. <*
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MH: The broadcast pirate who broke into HBO programming about at year and a
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half ago and threatened HBO with this message was caught by the FCC and
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fined $5,000 and put on one year probation. The FCC says the wiseguys
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who pulled off this latest stunt are in really big trouble. Mike
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Hirsch, THE 10 o'clock News.
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AN: The FCC says, or warns, that should the pirates try it again, they will
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only make it easier for the FCC to track them down.
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- - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - -
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I especially like the parts where they ask the pirates to turn themselve in.
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And how they shouldn't try it again.
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$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$
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This ends Part I or TNS Issue #15. The story on Max Headroom is continued
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in Part II of this issue.
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$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$
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