The Southern Television broadcast interruption hoax was a broadcast interruption through the Hannington transmitter of the Independent Broadcasting Authority in the United Kingdom at 5:10 PM on 26 November 1977. The transmission itself claimed to be from an extraterrestrial being.
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A speaker interrupted transmissions for six minutes and claimed to be a representative of an "Intergalactic Association". Reports of the incident vary, some calling the speaker "Vrillon"[1] or "Gillon", others "Asteron".[2][3]
The voice, which was disguised and accompanied by a deep buzzing, broke into the broadcast of the local ITV station Southern Television, over-riding the UHF audio signal of the early-evening news being read by Andrew Gardner from ITN to warn viewers that "All your weapons of evil must be destroyed" and "You have but a short time to learn to live together in peace."
The interruption ceased shortly after the statement had been delivered, transmissions returning to normal shortly before the end of a Looney Tunes cartoon. 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.
The broadcast took over the sound only, leaving the video signal unaltered. At that time, the Hannington UHF transmitter was unusual in being one of the few transmitters which rebroadcast an off-air signal received from another transmitter, 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 transmitter 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 the hoax would take "a considerable amount of technical know-how"[4] and a spokesman for Southern Television confirmed that "A hoaxer jammed our transmitter in the wilds of North Hampshire by taking another transmitter very close to it."[2]
The incident caused some alarm locally, and attracted considerable publicity in the next day's Sunday newspapers,[5] with the IBA immediately pronouncing that the broadcast was a hoax.[6] The IBA confirmed that it was the first time such a hoax transmission had been made.[7]
The event was reported around the world[8][9] with numerous American newspapers picking up the story from the UPI press agency.[10][11]
The broadcast also 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 report of the incident in the Times, a letter to the editor published on November 30, 1977 asked "[How] can the IBA - or anyone else - be sure that the broadcast was a hoax?".[12] An editorial in America's Eugene Register-Guard commented, "Nobody seemed to consider that 'Asteron' may have been for real".[13] By as late as 1985, the story had entered urban folklore, with suggestions that there had never been any explanation of the broadcast.[14]
The Winter 1977 issue of Fortean Times (issue #24) [15] magazine featured a transcript of what they described as the 'short message' that was broadcast:
"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."
The Fortean Times article went on to criticise reports of the incident appearing in newspapers:
"Inexplicably the News Of The World and D. Mail call the owner of the voice 'Gillon, of the Ashdown Galactic Command' and that he said: "Unless the weapons of Earth are laid down, destruction from outer space invasion will quickly follow." I hope their regular news reportage is more accurate than that, for the indication is that they've simply invented a more shocking message."
Speaking on British commercial radio on December 6, 1977,[16] Sir John Whitmore also questioned newspaper reporting of the incident, referring to a recording of the complete broadcast which appeared to exist at the time.
Author Nelson Algren included a variation of the message in his 1983 book, The Devil's Stocking, a fictionalized account of the trial of Rubin Carter, a real-life prize-fighter who had been found guilty of double murder. In the book, as a period of unrest within the prison begins, the character 'Kenyatta' gives a speech closely mirroring the Fortean Times transcript of the Southern Television interruption:
"I am an authorized representative of the Intergalactic Mission," Kenyatta finally disclosed his credentials. "I have a message for the Planet Earth. We are beginning to enter the period of Aquarius. Many corrections 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" - here he paused to gain everybody's attention - "you must live in peace or leave the galaxy!" [17]