Southern Television broadcast interruption

{{short description|TV audio transmission hoax in southern England (1977)}}

{{Infobox event

|Event_Name = Southern Television broadcast interruption

|Image_Name = HanningtonTransmitter.jpg

|Image_Caption = The Hannington transmitter mast in 2006, from where the broadcast signal was hijacked

|AKA =

|Location = Southern Television

|Date = {{start date and age|df=yes|1977|11|26}}

|Result =

|URL =

}}

The Southern Television broadcast interruption was a broadcast signal intrusion that occurred on 26 November 1977 in parts of southern England in the United Kingdom. The audio of a Southern Television broadcast was replaced by a voice claiming to represent the "Ashtar Galactic Command", delivering a message instructing humanity to abandon its weapons so it could participate in a "future awakening" and "achieve a higher state of evolution". After six minutes, the broadcast returned to its scheduled programme.

Subsequent investigations showed that the Hannington transmitter of the Independent Broadcasting Authority had rebroadcast the signal from a small but nearby unauthorised transmitter, instead of the intended source at Rowridge transmitting station. The event prompted hundreds of telephone calls from concerned members of the public, and was widely reported in British and American newspapers. These are sometimes contradictory, including differing accounts of the name used by the speaker and the wording of their message.

Event

On Saturday 26 November 1977, at 5:10 p.m. GMT, as ITN's Andrew Gardner presented a news summary where he reported on clashes in then-Rhodesia (now Zimbabwe) between security forces and the Zimbabwe African National Liberation Army, the audio was replaced by a deep buzz, followed by a distorted voice delivering a message for almost six minutes. The speaker claimed to be Vrillon, a representative of the Ashtar Galactic Command (Ashtar being a name associated with extraterrestrial communication since 1952).{{Cite book |last=Helland |first=Christopher |title=Surfing for Salvation |year=2002 |pages=592}} Reports of the incident vary, some calling the speaker "Vrillon"{{cite book

|last=Paulu

|first=Burton

|title=Television and radio in the United Kingdom

|publisher=University of Minnesota Press

|date=October 1981

|pages=[https://archive.org/details/televisionradioi0000paul/page/179 179]–180

|url=https://archive.org/details/televisionradioi0000paul

|url-access=registration

|quote=Vrillon.

|isbn=978-0-8166-0941-3}}

or "Gillon", and others "Asteron".{{Citation

| last = Sieveking

| first = Paul

| title = 50 Weird Years (see number 34)

| newspaper = The Independent on Sunday

| date = 26 December 1999

| url = https://www.independent.co.uk/arts-entertainment/100-weird-years-1134528.html

| access-date = 13 September 2009

}}

The interruption ceased shortly after the statement had been delivered, transmissions returning to normal shortly after the beginning of the 1947 Merrie Melodies cartoon The Goofy Gophers. Later in the evening, Southern Television apologised for what it described as "a breakthrough in sound" for some viewers. ITN also reported on the incident in its own late-evening Saturday bulletin.{{cite web |url=http://txfeatures.mb21.co.uk/hannington/spacemessage-offair.mp3|title=Recording of the broadcast interruption |access-date=9 December 2021}}

Transcript

A complete transcript of the message reads:{{cite web | last=Barnett | first=David | title=Vrillon: the alien voice hoax that became a legend | website=The Independent | date=2017-11-25 | url=https://www.independent.co.uk/news/long_reads/vrillon-hacking-alien-voice-seventies-extra-terrestrial-hoax-unexplained-mysteries-a8069926.html | access-date=2023-02-06}}

{{Cquote|This is the voice of Vrillon, a representative of the Ashtar Galactic Command, speaking to you. For many years you have seen us as lights in the skies. We speak to you now in peace and wisdom as we have done to your brothers and sisters all over this, your planet Earth. We come to warn you of the destiny of your race and your world so that you may communicate to your fellow beings the course you must take to avoid the disaster which threatens your world, and the beings on our worlds around you. This is in order that you may share in the great awakening, as the planet passes into the New Age of Aquarius. The New Age can be a time of great peace and evolution for your race, but only if your rulers are made aware of the evil forces that can overshadow their judgments. Be still now and listen, for your chance may not come again. All your weapons of evil must be removed. The time for conflict is now past and the race of which you are a part may proceed to the higher stages of its evolution if you show yourselves worthy to do this. You have but a short time to learn to live together in peace and goodwill. Small groups all over the planet are learning this, and exist to pass on the light of the dawning New Age to you all. You are free to accept or reject their teachings, but only those who learn to live in peace will pass to the higher realms of spiritual evolution. Hear now the voice of Vrillon, a representative of the Ashtar Galactic Command, speaking to you. Be aware also that there are many false prophets and guides at present operating on your world. They will suck your energy from you – the energy you call money and will put it to evil ends and give you worthless dross in return. Your inner divine self will protect you from this. You must learn to be sensitive to the voice within that can tell you what is truth, and what is confusion, chaos and untruth. Learn to listen to the voice of truth which is within you and you will lead yourselves onto the path of evolution. This is our message to our dear friends. We have watched you growing for many years as you too have watched our lights in your skies. You know now that we are here, and that there are more beings on and around your Earth than your scientists admit. We are deeply concerned about you and your path towards the light and will do all we can to help you. Have no fear, seek only to know yourselves, and live in harmony with the ways of your planet Earth. We here at the Ashtar Galactic Command thank you for your attention. We are now leaving the planes of your existence. May you be blessed by the supreme love and truth of the cosmos.}}

The Winter 1977 issue of Fortean Times (issue #24){{cite book

|title=Diary of a Mad Planet: Fortean Times Issues 16–25

|publisher=John Brown Publishing Ltd

|date=1995

|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=06m7AAAACAAJ&q=diary+of+a+mad+planet

|isbn=1-870021-25-8}} magazine featured a transcript of what they described as the "short message" that was broadcast:

{{Cquote|This is the voice of Asteron. I am an authorised representative of the Intergalactic Mission, and I have a message for the planet Earth. We are beginning to enter the period of Aquarius and there are many corrections which have to be made by Earth people. All your weapons of evil must be destroyed. You have only a short time to learn to live together in peace. You must live in peace ... or leave the galaxy.}}

Explanation

At that time, the Hannington television transmitter was unusual in being one of the few main transmitters that rebroadcast an off-air signal received from another transmitter, the IBA's Rowridge transmitter on the Isle of Wight, rather than being fed directly by a landline. As a consequence, it was open to this kind of signal intrusion, as even a relatively low-powered transmission very close to the rebroadcast receiver could overwhelm its reception of the intended signal, resulting in the unauthorised transmission being amplified and rebroadcast across a far wider area. The IBA stated that to carry out such a hoax would take "a considerable amount of technical know-how"{{cite news|title=From outer space at short range |newspaper=The Guardian |date=28 November 1977 |page=4}} and a spokesman for Southern Television confirmed: "A hoaxer jammed our transmitter in the wilds of North Hampshire by taking another transmitter very close to it."{{cite news

| title = Galactic hoax startles viewers

| newspaper = The Daily Collegian |page=18

| date = 2 December 1977

| url = http://digitalnewspapers.libraries.psu.edu/Olive/APA/collegian/sharedpages/SharedView.Page.aspx?sk=F2A1959A&href=DCG%2F1977%2F12%2F02&page=18

| access-date = 19 December 2016

}}

Public and media response

The incident caused some local alarm, with hundreds of worried viewers flooding Southern Television with telephone calls after the intrusion.{{cite news |url=https://www.britishnewspaperarchive.co.uk/search/results/1977-11-28/1977-11-28?basicsearch=voice&somesearch=voice&exactsearch=false&retrievecountrycounts=false&sortorder=2 |access-date=18 June 2019 |work=Birmingham Daily Post |date=28 November 1977 |title=Mystery TV voice inquiry}} In the next day's Sunday newspapers,{{cite news |title= |newspaper=Sunday Express |date=27 November 1977 |page=28}} the IBA announced the broadcast was a hoax,{{cite news |title=Mystery Voice Loses Its Loophole |newspaper=Los Angeles Times |date=30 November 1977 |page=B5}} confirming it was the first time such a hoax transmission had been made.{{cite newspaper The Times |title=Source of hoax space broadcast stays a mystery |date=28 November 1977 |page=2 |column=E}} Reports of the event carried worldwide,{{cite news

| title = Mysterious voice shakes up Britons

| newspaper = Chicago Tribune

| date = 30 November 1977

| url = https://pqasb.pqarchiver.com/chicagotribune/access/618290852.html?dids=618290852:618290852&FMT=ABS&FMTS=ABS:AI&type=historic&date=Nov+27%2C+1977&author=&pub=Chicago+Tribune&desc=Mysterious+voice+shakes+up+Britons&pqatl=google

| archive-url = https://web.archive.org/web/20121022142303/http://pqasb.pqarchiver.com/chicagotribune/access/618290852.html?dids=618290852:618290852&FMT=ABS&FMTS=ABS:AI&type=historic&date=Nov+27,+1977&author=&pub=Chicago+Tribune&desc=Mysterious+voice+shakes+up+Britons&pqatl=google

| url-status = dead

| archive-date = 22 October 2012

| access-date = 13 September 2009

}}{{cite news

| last = Smith

| first = Jack

| title = Every Bloke for 'Imself

| newspaper = Los Angeles Times

| date = 6 December 1977

| url = https://pqasb.pqarchiver.com/latimes/access/650232142.html?dids=650232142:650232142&FMT=ABS&FMTS=ABS:AI&type=historic&date=Dec+06%2C+1977&author=&pub=Los+Angeles+Times&desc=Every+Bloke+for+%27Imself&pqatl=google

| archive-url = https://archive.today/20130131172127/http://pqasb.pqarchiver.com/latimes/access/650232142.html?dids=650232142:650232142&FMT=ABS&FMTS=ABS:AI&type=historic&date=Dec+06,+1977&author=&pub=Los+Angeles+Times&desc=Every+Bloke+for+'Imself&pqatl=google

| url-status = dead

| archive-date = 31 January 2013

| access-date = 13 September 2009

}} with numerous American newspapers picking up the story from United Press International.{{cite news

| title = British Viewers Hear 'Message'

| newspaper = Ellensburg Daily Record

| date = 28 November 1977

| url = https://news.google.com/newspapers?id=KgkQAAAAIBAJ&sjid=YY8DAAAAIBAJ&dq=&pg=5086%2C3662230

| access-date = 20 September 2009

}}{{cite news

| title = Earth listeners receive 'special message'

| newspaper = Rome News-Tribune

| date = 28 November 1977

| url = https://news.google.com/newspapers?id=S6AFAAAAIBAJ&sjid=BDMDAAAAIBAJ&dq=&pg=1860%2C4460747

| access-date = 20 September 2009

}}

Speaking on British commercial radio on 6 December 1977,{{cite web |title=Bob Holness interviews John Whitmore |url=http://radio.bufvc.ac.uk/lbc/index.php/segment/0018800437019|date=6 December 1977|work=Space message on Southern TV |publisher=LBC Archive|access-date=21 September 2009|quote=I'd first like to refer to the recording itself of the complete message, one thing that struck me was that there was in fact nothing threatening whatsoever on the tape, and I was aware that most of the newspaper reports said it was threatening and frightening and so on, and so forth, and I just want to point out that that's sort-of a projection of the fears onto the material itself rather than the reality.}} Sir John Whitmore also questioned newspaper reporting of the incident, referring to a recording of the complete broadcast that appeared to exist at the time.

The broadcast became a footnote in ufology as some chose to accept the supposed "alien" broadcast at face value, questioning the explanation of a transmitter hijack. Within two days of the incident's report in the London Times, a letter to the editor published on 30 November 1977 asked, "[How] can the IBA — or anyone else — be sure that the broadcast was a hoax?"{{Cite newspaper The Times |title=Fact or science fiction? |date=30 November 1977 |column=Letters to the Editor |page=17}} The editorial board of one American regional newspaper, the Eugene, Oregon Register-Guard, commented, "Nobody seemed to consider that 'Asteron' may have been for real."{{cite news

| title = Pay Attention

| newspaper = Eugene Register-Guard

| date = 15 December 1977

| url = https://news.google.com/newspapers?id=HccTAAAAIBAJ&sjid=L-ADAAAAIBAJ&dq=&pg=4519%2C4894437

| access-date = 20 September 2009

}} By as early as 1985, the story had entered urban folklore, with suggestions there had never been any explanation of the broadcast.{{cite news|title=Galactic traveler issued a warning |newspaper=Columbia Missourian |page=4a |date=21 March 1985 |url=https://cdm16795.contentdm.oclc.org/digital/collection/colmo9/id/38465/rec/66|access-date=11 November 2023 }}

A 1999 episode of children's television series It's a Mystery, produced by one of Southern's successors, Meridian Broadcasting, re-enacted the incident with faux news reports and viewers watching the incident play out at home.{{cite AV media|url=https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=1L9ADyJT4HUM |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20210308214552/https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=1L9ADyJT4HUM |archive-date=2021-03-08 |url-status=dead|title=It's a Mystery: Series 3: Show 2: TXN 11.1.99|last=TheMeakers|date=1 December 2011|access-date=2 October 2016|via=YouTube}}