On the night of November 22, 1987, the television signals of two stations in Chicago, Illinois, were hijacked, briefly sending a pirate broadcast of an unidentified person wearing a Max Headroom mask and costume to thousands of home viewers.

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

Thank you @FlyingSquid for reminding me of this strange bit of broadcast history!

…are you kidding me, I just made this

great minds think alike!