Broadcast Interruptions That Scared Millions

The family gathers around the dinner table. Their radio sits on the kitchen counter, and the kids and their father sit in their seats while their mother serves each plate and sets each one down one by one. She serves her own plate last, but before sitting down, she remembers to turn on the radio and flips through different stations. It's time for Everyone's River Show. They listen every evening during dinner, and as they're eating and laughing, the show suddenly stops and a disturbing message plays over and over again. These radio frequency hijackings or broadcast signal intrusions don't happen often, but when they do, it ends up a mystery, and in most cases, the people that cause these are never caught. My name is Edmon, and here's a horror story. Before streaming services like Netflix or Hulu, and before network television, radio was the form of entertainment for most American households. While scientists and researchers were experimenting with radio and the late eighteen hundreds and early nineteen hundreds worldwide. In the United States, the first commercial radio stations began broadcasting in the nineteen twenties. This kicked off the Golden Age for radio, which lasted well into the nineteen fifties. Families would gather to listen to their favorite shows together. The most popular drew in millions of listeners. By the year nineteen thirty one, the majority of US households had at least one radio. In nineteen thirty three, sixty million people tuned in to Roosevelt's first fireside chat, and in nineteen thirty eight, thirty two million tuned in for the War of the World's radio drama show. It was extremely popular. When TV became widely available in the nineteen fifties, it took over home entertainment and check out how fast this grew. Before the year nineteen forty seven, less than five thousand Americans had televisions in their home. They're only five years later twelve million Americans had televisions, and by nineteen sixty almost every household had one. Frequency hijackings happened to both radio and television signals. When it comes to radio hijacking a signal is not as complicated as it may seem. Now I'm not saying to do this, but here's an overview. All that's needed is an FM transmitter that can overpower the broadcasting frequency. For those of you who have taken programming or computer courses, you probably know what a raspberry pie is. It can actually be done with that, so you can kind of get an idea of how simple it can be. There have also been cases where hijackers have spliced audio directly into a network feed. When it comes to newer television broadcast systems, though it's a little more difficult, but whatever the former of entertainment radio or television broadcast, hijackings can be terrifying to experience. WOPGAM, formerly known as woco AM WOKOAM, was one of the first radio stations at Alberdy, New York. It was assigned to frequency fourteen forty kilohertz by the FCC, which is the Federal Communications Commission. On the morning of Wednesday, November twenty fourth, nineteen forty three, the regular Catholic preprogramming suddenly went silent. It was followed by ninety seconds of confusion and terror. Instead of music, listeners heard a man speaking in German. You could only recognize the words like Reich, Japan in Paris. None of these sentences were coherent. One minute and a half later, it was. The FBI got involved in the investigation, and the intruder was never found. They concluded it had been an accidental intrusion, possibly a phone call, but still hearing those words during World War II was jarring for WOKOAM patrons. Sixty three years later, another New York radio station was hijacked for ninety seconds. It was a Wednesday morning and w BAB a Babylon New York classic rock station, and the radio jockey had just announced the Pink Floyd song was up next. When he stopped talking, muffled voices could be heard, but not understood. These voices were not followed by the promised Pink Floyd song. Instead, it was ninety seconds of a song by a nineteen sixties era white supremacist country singer, Johnny Rebel. When the station regained control of their radio station, the morning host, Roger Loose was shocked. Quote whatever that was, it was very racist. Twenty two years at this station, I've never seen anything like this. Who Ever had done this it was never found. In twenty fifteen, an alternative rock station WXXR ninety seven point three was hijacked for thirty minutes. It was a special Sunday night. The small local station was celebrating their one year anniversary of being on air. It was a festive and happy mood, that is till seven thirty PM. A couple of seconds of silence were followed by a strange message greeting, citizens of the world. We are anonymous. We are reaching out to you in such a direct manner because we have exhausted every other avenue. We would like to take a few minutes of your time to inform you about the United States government's plan to murder over one hundred and twenty million citizens. We do not have enough time to reveal all of the evidence or history on this plot. You must find the trinth out for yourself. Open your eyes. People are already disappearing in the USA. The homeless are being rounded up in the night by military persons and disposed of. Mass graves are already in place, as well as millions of coffins that President Ogamma has built himself for the citizens of the US. Each crematorium ready coffin can fit five bodies easily. The citizens of America have already been divided into groups based on data gathered on them. This message was on repeat for thirty minutes. Dwayne Doherty, the station engineer, told the Tribune Star newspaper that he headed towards A ninety seven point three's transmitter as soon as you heard the odd message plane, but he was unable to locate where it was coming from. The station claimed they contacted the FBI and the FCC, but nothing came of the investigation. Some began to think it was a stunt for attention, after all, why would anonymous hack a random Indiana alternative rock radio station. Either way, most listeners were extremely disturbed by the hijacking, and it's worth saying radio hijackings are more common, but television broadcast intrusions will always get more news coverage. One of the strangest and most well known signal hijackings took place on November twenty second, nineteen eighty seven. It was nine pm in Chicago. The WGN nine o'clock news was on as usual. It was a sports segment. Dan Roach, the Channel nine sportscaster, was recapping the Chicago Bears game while a highlights reel played in the background. As Dan Roach said, then the defense which had him put up a sack of defense in twelve quarters. Finally did it and he was cut off. The screen went black. Ten seconds went by, the channel nine viewers were met with a man in an oversized mat that appeared to be homemade. The mask had sunglasses, slick backed blonde hair, a giant, disturbing smile, and a protruding chin. He wore a brown suit, a white shirt, and a black tie. Behind the masked man was a metal background. To some, this might have looked like some random horror character, but it was not. It was Max Headroom. Max Headroom was a fictional artificial intelligence character portrayed by a Canadian American actor Matt Freuer. With the assistance of prosthetic makeup, a molded plastic suit, and a blue screen, Matt depicted a Max Headroom. The character was advertised as a computer generated and many actually believed it was. In the show, Max was a journalist who worked in a news station owned by a large corporation. He uncovers a dark secret during an investigation and is killed because of it. After his murder, Max's hacker friend preserve his brain and uploads it to a network. Max then becomes a digital news anchor who exists only inside of broadcast signals and computer systems he drops into television broadcasts. According to his creators, Max's personality was meant to be a satirical exaggeration of the worst tendencies of television hosts in the nineteen eighties, those who wanted to appeal to youth culture yet weren't a part of it. If you were going to hijack a news channel, this might have been the best disguise to choose. Channel nine News viewers stared in confusion as a person disguised as Max Headroom laughed and bobbed his head. This lasted for twenty five seconds. The screen went black and Dan Roach was back on the screen. Oh, if you're wondering, what's happened? So am I? Actually the computer that we have running our news from time to time took off and went, So, what we're gonna do is turn over from the top of the Bears and tell you once again about the thirty to ten victory they had over Detroit today out of Soldier Field. We'll show you from the top and show you again. To change that they made, Channel nine News proceeded with the regular scheduled program while studio engineers searched the building. It was assumed to be an inside job, but no one was found on the site. It was quite a disturbing interruption for those who witnessed it, but it wasn't Over Two hours after the Channel nine nine o'clock news, local PBS affiliate WWTW was airing an episode of Doctor Who, and as Doctor Who tells Adelaide, I'll get you a drink and turns around, scanned lines appear on screen. Instead of Doctor Who, viewers were met with the man disguised as Max Headroom again, only this time he has an incoherent message, I'll get you a hot drink. Man checks worsens. The clip went from strange to creepier and creepier. Max Headroom calls another sportscaster or Nerd. He drinks pepsi while singing a Coca Cola song. At one point, the unknown hijackers partially exposes his behind and is spanked by a woman using a fly swatter. Only her hand in the side of her brown dress are visible. The man can be heard screaming as scanlines return to the screen, followed by the same Doctor Who episode. When this second hijacking took place, there were no w d wtw's engineers on site. And if there had been, the intruding signal could have been stopped sooner. The hackers ended the signal before engineers reached the transmitter. Some viewers found it funny and some were just confused, but others were horrified at what they had seen, and it was all over the news. The FCC and the FBI were not amused. The following morning, the FCC spokesman Phil Bradford went on air and stated, I would like to inform anybody involved in this kind of thing, but there's a maximum penalty of one hundred thousand dollars one year in jail or both. The only certain conclusion the investigation by the FBI came to was a strong suspicion that the hijacking was an inside job. The company had just gone through some layoffs and there were several disgruntled employees. Decades after the initial FCC FBI investigation, read at internet sleuths arrived at the same conclusion to believe the transmitter was used to overpower the signal sent by the TV network. This transmitter was likely located somewhere high up, like a rooftop, between the TV network and the transmitter in order to enact the hijacking, the overpowering transmitter had to be extremely powerful. Eventually, the FCC figured out that the background of the Max Headroom video was a warehouse, and they tracked down a district with similar warehouse doors. The investigation went nowhere. Since nineteen eighty seven, several names have been thrown around as suspects, but nothing concrete. If those responsible are ever found, they would not be charged with anything. The five year Statute of limitations came and went in nineteen ninety two, and still no one was identified. It's been thirty six years and the hijacking still remains a mystery. Small as I can tell a massive electric shot. He died. The Max Headroom incident may be the most notorious TV hijacking, but it's not the first or last. Just a year before Max, HBO was subject to a hijacking. The Falcon and the Snowman was airing just past midnight. East Coast HBO subscribers watch as the movie was cut off, and then a message appeared in its place, Good Evening HBO from Captain Midnight twelve dollars in any five cents a month, no way, and then in brackets it says showtime slash movie channel. Beware. The message was displayed in front of the SMPTE color bars, the ones that show like a test pattern with vertical bars. You know what I'm talking about. But there was something different about this case, unlike the Max Headroom one, Captain Midnight was caught. A man in Gainesville, Florida, overheard someone bragging about the incident in a phone booth and fouled the police report. John McDougall was an electrical engineer. He owned a TV satellite business, but had to get a second job as a master control operator to make ends meet. He blamed HBO's rising prices than his second job gave him access to hijack HBO. He was found guilty of transmitting without a radio license and was charged five thousand dollars as a fine and a year of probation. After Captain Midnight satellite jamming became a felony. These broadcast signal intrusions are confusing and bizarre for viewers. I don't know if you've ever seen one, but because screens go black, it's easier to identify as a hijacking. Other intrusions have been just as creepy, but more difficult to identify as fake. Sometimes when we're watching TV, a buzzing alarm goes off by a banner that contains text on the screen and sometimes a voice message. The show remains in the background. This is the Emergency Alert System. I'm pretty sure you've heard of it. It is a national warning system in the United States, and its purpose is for authorized officials to broadcast emergency alerts and warning messages to the public via cable, satellite, and radio. It was implemented in nineteen ninety seven, replacing an older alert system, and is usually used for local weather warnings or emergencies. Though it is not perfect. When the wrong message is broadcasted to the public, it can cause a panic in hysteria. On January thirteenth, twenty eighteen, at exactly eight oh four am in Hawaii, the Hawaii Emergency Management System sent out in EAS a warning of an inbound ballistic missile, and the alert claimed that it was not a drill. It read ballistic missile threat in bound to Hawaii. Seek immediate shelter. This is not a drill. Hawaiians all received that message straight to their phones and their televisions. They heard the following message the US Pacific Command has detected a missile threat to Hawaii. A missile may impact on land or see within minutes. This is not a drill. The television broadcast stated. If you are indoors, stay indoors. If you are outdoors, seek immediate shelter in a building. Remain indoors well away from windows. If you are driving, pull safely to the side of the road and seek shelter in a building or lay on the floor. We will announce when the threat has ended. This is not a drill. Take immediate action measures. Of course, chaos ensued. Hundreds ran for cover at a gymnastics meet in Kailua. Motorists sped to find cover inside of tunnels. Students at the University of Hawaii ran for shelters, only to find them locked. Cars were speeding at over one hundred miles per hour trying to head to bomb shelters. All phone lines were jammed nine to one one. Calls didn't go through. People couldn't contact their loved ones. People recorded their last goodbyes. One man even had a heart attack after saying what he thought was goodbye to his children. Twenty minutes went by before the Hawaiian Emergency Agency stated no missile threat to Hawaii the problem. They sent it out in a tweet. The message didn't even reach those who weren't on the social media platform. Another eighteen minutes went by before the emergency alert system alerted all mobile devices that it was a false alarm. It turns out an employee had accidentally pressed the wrong button. Instead of activating the drill, he activated the real alert. Mistakes with the EAS can be serious. Well. Many false or accidental messages have been mistakes. The system has also been hijacked in the past. It was a Monday morning, February twelfth, twenty thirteen. The Steve Vocal show was on KRTV, which is a local channel in Great Falls, Montana. In New York somewhere watching The Bachelor. Oh, there is a show on the c W or pancake infomercials. They all got the same message. Civil authorities in your area have reported that the bodies of the dead are rising, that the bodies of the dead are rising, bring their graves and attacking their living. Follow the messages on screen that will be updated as information becomes available. Do not attempt to approach or apprehend these bodies, as they are considered extremely dangerous. I repeat, Civil authorities in your area have reported that the bodies of the dead are rising from their graves and attacking their living. Follow the messages on screen that will be updated as information becomes available. Do not at time to approach or apprehend these bodies, as they are considered extremely dangerous. This morning applies to all areas receiving this broadcast. Turn it into nine twenty eight to get updated information. An evently or separated from intelevision. But if electrical service is interrupted, so what is known then is how the EAS system was hacked. The EAS uses decoders that allow authorities to interrupt broadcasts. The company that makes these decoders, Monroe Electronics, release public firmware updates for DAS Deck one and DAS Deck two, which are the decoders utilized by the EES. This firmware update included a private route security shell key. I know this is a lot of techi stuff, but stick with me. What it means is that with this information, anyone with the skills can use it to manipulate any emergency alert system. Monroe Electronics released a firmware update to fix their prior mistake. Two months after the hijacking, incident. Signal hijackings also seem to have their place during wartime. These incidents aren't new to the Russia Ukraine region, but they have increased dramatically since the invasion. In January twenty twenty three, television signals in Crimea were hijacked and broadcasted a speech by Ukrainian President Selensky. The next month, in February, hackers struck again. This time Crimean radio stations were hijacked to broadcast Ukraine's national anthem and a speech by Kurillo Bhudanov, the head of Ukraine's military intelligence. False warnings of inbound missiles were broadcasted in the same month all across Russia. On May ninth, Russian satellite TV guides were hacked. Instead of displaying channel information, you have blood on your hands could be seen. It was Russian victory Day and every channel was bombarded with anti war slogans. You have the blood of thousands of Ukraines and hundreds of dead children on your hands. The TV and the authorities are lying was another one of the quotes. On June fifth, two local Crimean channels Rosiya and Friday were hijacked. The video showed Ukraine soldiers staring into the camera as that held up a finger to their lips was followed by a message plans like silence, there will be no announcement that it's starting. Two fighter jets sore in the sky in a man's voice, says sh Hackers have been enacting these hijackings since the Russian invasion, sometimes with a serious message, but also to troll. Since the nineteen eighties, a mysterious signal has been transmitted from the middle of nowhere in Russia. The signal is known as the Buzzer and has spawned countless theories. The Buzzer is a short wave radio station broadcasted on forty six to twenty five kilo herds. The beginning had transmitted a two second beep over and over again. Then in the nineteen nineties it transmitted a buzz, repeating at a rate of twenty five per minute twenty four hours a day. In two thousand and three, it changed again. This time it was a higher tone that lasted longer, and if you tune in now, it's back to the familiar nineteen ninety sound. It rarely deviates from these repeating tones, but every once in a while the buzzing stops and voices can be heard. At first, these voice messages were extremely rare. In nineteen ninety seven, a man's voice read something like the following yeah UVB dash seven six and then yeah dash uvb seven one eighty zero eight bromol seventy four twenty seven, ninety nine fourteen boris roman Olga mikhael Anna larissa seven four three seven nine one four. In two thousand and one, another message was heard, I am one forty three not receiving degenerator. The stuff comes from hardware room. Behind the buzzing. Muted and unintelligible voices can be heard, as well as the occasional noises. This has led many to believe that this is not some pre recorded tone. Instead, it is a manually produced sound. The buzzer went silent in twenty ten, and it resurfaced later from a different location and a different name. The former transmitter was located in a remote Russian village near Povarovo, Russia, ten kilometers northwest of Moscow. It was then moved near Saint Petersburg, next to the village of Kerro Massiv. UVB thath seventy six became m d z HB and after this move, when a male voice interrupted the regular buzzing sound, said Nikhil Dmitri Senya Boris MDZHB. The Russian government has never stated what the purpose of the buzzer is, further fueling conspiracy theories. Some believe the buzzard is a part of Russia's perimeter missile system and amidst a dead hand signal. This signal will trigger a nuclear attacked if it's interrupted as a result of a nuclear attack on Russia, but this is not likely as the buzzer stops regularly. Others theorize that it is a way for Russian spies to receive secret communications across the world, though this is a difficult thing to believe due to the low transmitter power of the station. It is also believed to be just a placeholder so that no one takes a frequency. In January twenty twenty two, the usual and familiar buzz was interrupted. The hijacker played Ganem style and different anime songs and daft Punk never Gonna Give You Up by Rick Astley and Glory to Ukraine. They also sent spectrogram images of cartoon characters and SSTV images that were decoded into different characters. The buzz was restored, but since the Russian invasion it is frequently hijacked to play similar songs. At the time of this episode, MDZHB is buzzing like normal broadcast signal hijackers are using this as a method to fight back. We have seen countless signal hijacking since the decades of the infamous Max Hederroom incident. Since then, these types of intrusions have become felonies, and if caught, the hijacker can face prison and a very hefty fine. That's the key, though if caught, very few frequency hijackers are caught and charged. In the different cases from this episode, only one Captain Midnight was found. Instead, these hijackers come and go anonymously, leaving viewers confused and scared, or maybe even in speired. Attacks from activists like the well known group Anonymous have a ring of similarity to older cases. Perhaps they were their predecessors. Next time you're watching TV or listening to the local radio station, look out for a strange interruption. It might be a joke or a song, perhaps a warning of a zombie invasion or an incoming missile. Send in your ideas for horror story to me on Instagram or via email. I'll leave it in the description of this episode. Up next, check out our other shows from scary FM, like Scary Story Podcast or Scary Mystery Surprise. If you want to support us, try out Scary Plus over on scaryplus dot com or over on Apple Podcasts. Of course, you can also help by leaving a review. Thank you very much for listening to soon