Episode 31: Creepy Broadcasts Interruptions

There’s a specific kind of unsettling that happens when your TV does something it’s not supposed to do.

Not buffering. Not lagging.

Just… wrong.

In this episode, I'm getting into real cases where broadcasts were interrupted, hijacked, or taken over sometimes for seconds, sometimes longer and left people genuinely confused about what they were seeing.

From the 1987 Max Headroom incident, to the Southern Television interruption in the UK, to real emergency alert hacks that exposed how vulnerable these systems actually are… this one gets weird fast.

We’re talking:

• how broadcast signal intrusions actually happen
  
  
• why these systems aren’t as untouchable as we think
  
  
• real cases that were never fully explained
  
  
• and why your brain reacts so quickly when something feels “off”
  
  

Some of these are strange.

Some are unsettling.

Some are just… no. I don’t like that.

Because it’s not just what people saw it’s the fact that something was able to interrupt a system that’s supposed to be controlled… and no one could stop it.

 

https://www.fcc.gov/media/radio/public-and-broadcasting

https://www.scientificamerican.com/article/patternicity-finding-meaningful-patterns/

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Broadcast_signal_intrusion

https://rewindtv.com/2021/11/22/wgn-max-headroom-signal-intrusion/ 

https://www.pbs.org/video/max-headroom-attack-yffnrt/ 

https://www.pbs.org/video/30-years-later-max-headroom-incident-remains-mystery-ugz9gm/ 

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=qIop2MsmMTQ&t=7s 

https://www.discoveryuk.com/mysteries/vrillon-the-broadcast-that-hijacked-britains-imagination/ 

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=OmXsvyOpPJk 

https://transdiffusion.org/2023/08/21/southern-interference/

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Southern_Television_broadcast_interruption 

https://www.independent.co.uk/news/long_reads/vrillon-hacking-alien-voice-seventies-extra-terrestrial-hoax-unexplained-mysteries-a8069926.html 

https://encyclopediaofarkansas.net/entries/katv-broadcast-interruption-of-1959 

https://www.tarrdaniel.com/documents/Ufology/intergalactic_message.html 

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Captain_Midnight_broadcast_signal_intrusion 

https://www.mentalfloss.com/entertainment/tv/when-captain-midnight-hacked-hbo 

https://freakylogo.fandom.com/wiki/HBO_Captain_Midnight 

https://ultimateclassicrock.com/captain-midnight-hbo/ 

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=gtdwD0qqApQ 

https://www.nytimes.com/1986/04/29/arts/hbo-piracy-incident-stuns-other-satellite-users.html 

https://www.networkworld.com/article/950900/man-who-hijacked-hbo-s-satellite-signal-30-years-ago-would-face-far-different-fate-today.html 

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=EEkWNCK6Hu4 

https://www.keranews.org/2013-02-12/zombie-alert-also-aired-in-michigan-hacking-traced-to-overseas-source 

https://www.theguardian.com/world/video/2013/feb/12/zombie-apocalypse-newsflash-tv-video 

https://www.govtech.com/security/hackers-broadcast-zombie-emergency-alert-on-tv.html 

https://www.abc.net.au/news/2013-02-15/zombie-apocalypse-hoax-exposes-flaws-in-system/4520554 

https://current.org/2013/02/zombie-emergency-broadcast-hoax-on-pubtv-station-blamed-on-overseas-hacker 

https://www.ksl.com/article/24061333/hackers-send-zombie-emergency-alert-through-ksl-station-others 

https://player.bfi.org.uk/subscription/film/watch-ghostwatch-behind-the-curtains-2012-online 

https://www.bbc.com/news/uk-england-41740176

https://www.theguardian.com/tv-and-radio/2020/oct/26/how-we-made-bbc-mockumentary-ghostwatch 

https://www.bfi.org.uk/features/why-i-love-ghostwatch 

https://www.curiousarchive.com/ghostwatch-bbc-controversial-broadcast/ 

https://bfidatadigipres.github.io/in%20dreams%20are%20monsters/2022/10/28/ghostwatch/

https://npg.si.edu/blog/orson-welles-and-70th-anniversary-war-worlds 

https://www.ebsco.com/research-starters/history/welles-broadcasts-war-worlds 

https://blogs.loc.gov/loc/2016/10/lcm-page-from-the-past-war-of-the-worlds/ 

https://www.history.com/this-day-in-history/october-30/welles-scares-nation 

https://www.smithsonianmag.com/history/infamous-war-worlds-radio-broadcast-was-magnificent-fluke-180955180/ 

https://www.psychologytoday.com/us/blog/misguided/202506/why-people-believe-conspiracy-theories 

https://www.psychologytoday.com/us/blog/the-savvy-psychologist/202007/why-we-believe-in-conspiracy-theories 

https://www.fcc.gov/media/radio/how-to-apply 

https://www.congress.gov/crs-product/IF13130 

https://docs.fcc.gov/public/attachand ments/DA-99-1099A2.pdf 

https://www.fcc.gov/sites/default/files/public_and_broadcasting_0.pdf