LUCKY SEVEN (1978) – Years before the hacker calling himself Captain Midnight hijacked HBO airtime to protest their high prices and years before the weird Max Headroom parody hack in Chicago came this forgotten incident in the annals of pirate broadcasting.
As many people know, pirate radio stations were often able to operate for months or even years before getting shut down, but pirate television broadcasting was limited to random hacks of a few minutes tops. The exception was Lucky 7, a rogue outfit that operated on the (then) unused frequency for what would have been Channel Seven in Syracuse, New York.
The host for Lucky 7 was a memorable man wearing a gas mask on his face like he was some kind of late-night Horror Host. This figure would introduce the programs and movies being shown on the channel and would also editorialize about the way corporations and the government held a monopoly on the airwaves.
Not content to merely hack into other television broadcasts for a few minutes the rebels at Lucky 7, who called themselves the Renegade Broadcasting Company, were seen on thousands of tv screens in Upstate New York for roughly eight hours per night. 8 or 10 PM to 4 or 6 AM are often claimed. Continue reading
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