[1][2][3][4] The first incident took place during the sports segment of independent TV station WGN-TV's 9:00 p.m. newscast and featured a person wearing a mask swaying erratically in front of a semi-swiveling corrugated metal panel, apparently meant to resemble Max Headroom's animated geometric background.

The masked figure made reference to the real Max Headroom's advertisements for New Coke, the animated TV series Clutch Cargo, WGN sportscaster Chuck Swirsky, "Greatest World Newspaper nerds", and other seemingly unrelated topics.

[5] A criminal investigation conducted by the Federal Communications Commission in the immediate aftermath of the intrusion could not find the people responsible and despite many unofficial inquiries and much speculation over the ensuing decades, the culprits have yet to be positively identified.

The individual rocked erratically in front of a semi-rotating corrugated metal panel that mimicked the real Max Headroom's geometric background effect, accompanied by a staticky and garbled buzzing sound.

[1][10][11] The entire intrusion lasted for about 30 seconds and was cut off when engineers at WGN changed the frequency of the signal linking the broadcast studio to the station's transmitter atop the John Hancock Center.

[12] Upon returning to the airwaves, WGN sports anchor Dan Roan commented, "Well, if you're wondering what's happened, so am I",[1] and joked that the computer running the news "took off and went wild".

[8][11] The masked figure spent the next minute or so making a quick series of brief and seemingly unrelated comments and cultural references interspersed with excited noises and exclamations.

[15] After some random moaning, the masked figure sang the phrase "Your love is fading"; hummed part of the theme song to the 1959 animated series Clutch Cargo, and said, "I still see the X!"

[1] Though the incident only briefly caught the attention of the general public, it has been overtly or subtly referenced in a variety of media over the ensuing decades, with Motherboard claiming that it has been an influential "cyberpunk hacking trope".

[9] The first reference came soon after the initial events when WMAQ-TV, another Chicago TV station, humorously inserted clips of the hijacking into a newscast during Mark Giangreco's sports highlights.