1 of 1- ig
- Iain Grant
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Hacker hijinks: Station stuck with anti-Trump song
[Via MediaLife]
Donald Trump has certainly been a controversial figure ever since the start of his campaign.
But it still seemed like an unusually bold statement for a radio station in Louisville, Kentucky, to play the song “%$^# Donald Trump” over and over and over again on inauguration day.
Turns out that wasn’t exactly a voluntary decision.
WCHQ took to Facebook on Friday afternoon to inform listeners that it wasn’t trying to make some sort of a political statement.
In fact, its airwaves had been hacked, and the pranksters managed to wrest control of the station’s broadcast for 15 minutes Friday afternoon before the station finally booted them out.
“OK, not funny. some one has hacked into out [sic] transmitter tower, and the FM was playing a mp3 clip repeatedly of %$^# Donald Trump,” read a statement posted on the station’s Facebook page around 2:30 p.m.
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Madness takes its toll. Please have exact change.
- ig
- Iain Grant
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Re: Hacker hijinks: Station stuck with anti-Trump song
Somewhere Scruff is smiling.
Madness takes its toll. Please have exact change.
- •
Thread Starter- ig
- Iain Grant
Offline
Re: Hacker hijinks: Station stuck with anti-Trump song
Some engineering types are blaming the EAS receivers for being easy to hack into via the internet. This happened to half a dozen stations across the country. I don't buy it, but it's an interesting angle, it's ultimately the stations' responsibility for what they air, and it certainly shouldn't be that hard for them to pull the plug when something goes wrong. This has been a huge discussion point for ages though, and not going into it here obviously, but it is absolutely the fatal flaw in the system which apparently is now public knowledge.
Last edited by ig (January 22, 2017 10:17 pm)
Madness takes its toll. Please have exact change.
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Thread Starter- RadioActive
- Moderator
Online! 
Re: Hacker hijinks: Station stuck with anti-Trump song
From the article in the Louisville Courier-Journal:
"WCHQ Program director Gary Sampson said the hacker likely gained access to the airwaves via software the station uses for its FM broadcast. The software is designed to allow emergency broadcasts, such as government alerts, to immediately interrupt the station's signal at the transmitter tower, a system Sampson said hackers likely used to override the on-air program. The hack did not affect the station's internet broadcast.
Since many other FM stations use the same software, Sampson said it is possible that other stations were also hacked Friday, although he has not heard any similar reports."
I admit that I don't know a lot about our emergency system that's caused so much trouble here, but could that happen to stations in Canada or do we use something else?
- Old Codger
- Unregistered
Re: Hacker hijinks: Station stuck with anti-Trump song
RadioActive wrote:
but could that happen to stations in Canada
I hope so. Computers have helped the bottom line but, in going that route, (^&%#r the industry [along with Donald the Dork]. The 'learning grounds' have been pretty much completely obliterated. The audience gets the shit end of the stick most days and almost every night. News is just a shadow of what was once a station's source of pride and credibility. Radio's great 'leg up' gets pissed on every time when 'local' gets tossed in favour of 'mailed in' generic shows. Bland gets syndicated. And talent? Talent gets the shit end of the stick 'cause it costs too much and the audience doesn't need to be entertained after 9:00 a.m.
And then there's Saturday when 'they' re-run 'the best of Dick and Dinky'. GREAT radio. But what do you do after the first 3 minutes?
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So ya...P L E A S E...Hack 'em.
Last edited by Old Codger (January 23, 2017 7:02 am)