A woman and her husband were driving in Tuscasloosa, Ala., when their car radio started to play something disconcerting.
Laura Salter (@l.a.u.r.a_s.a.l.t.e.r) uploaded the moment that her local radio station appeared to get hacked on TikTok.
Salter explained what was going on in the caption, which read, “This radio station keeps playing the same 3 Taylor Swift songs / Russian and then this creepy voice came on.”
“What the hell is going on?” the concerned woman asks.
In the short clip, Salter records the infotainment screen of the car, which says the song “Shake it off” by Taylor Swift is playing. However, it’s an unusual remix of the song most people know.
The radio seems to be playing a Russian cover of the hit song. The screen also clearly says “USSR,” and after the song ends, a strange voice comes on the airwaves saying undecipherable phrases.
“This is the, uh… we have made for group, and we are the… We come Tuscaloosa, USA, and we have…” the voice says, among other things.
The recording seemed to insinuate that Russians hacked the station and taken over the airwaves.
Radio listeners react with confusion
The video received 3.7 million views on TikTok. Salter’s viewers were just as unclear as she was on what was going on with the radio. Many people offered up explanations, some veering toward conspiracy theories with no basis in reality.
“Sometimes I think we all died and are in some kind of limbo,” one person said.
“I’ve lived in the same house for 24 years and I watch the sunset and sunrises. Let me tell you nothing is the same anymore. The sun rises and sets in places it has never before,” another said.
“Has anyone called the radio station? Maybe just to make sure they’re not being held hostage or something,” someone else asked.
“I’m listening to it to now. It’s very dystopian and what they would play during end time. they’re talking about aliens and some dude freaking out about them,” another said.
@l.a.u.r.a_s.a.l.t.e.r This radio station keeps playing the same 3 Taylor Swift songs I Russian and then this creepy voice came on. What the hell is going on??? #Tuscaloosa #Alabama #Russian #Hackers #FYP #projectbluebeam #creepy #wtf ♬ losing – Lonnex
An explanation emerges
Of the many theories posted by commenters, one person seemed to have hit on a plausible explanation.
“Any chance this station is about to change its radio format and this is a marketing stunt,” they asked.
As it turns out, this was the case. According to a report from Radio Insight, the station, WQRR, had recently decided to change its alternative music channel, “Alt 101.7,” to a Christian channel called “101.7 The River.” In anticipation of the change, the station had planned the broadcast “interruption” as a marketing ploy.
However, the promotional stunt quickly got out of control as several listeners took the broadcast seriously. The “hacking” then went viral as more people reported hearing Russian language covers of Taylor Swift songs. The station has since removed these recordings.
The Daily Dot reached out to WQRR via email and to Laura via TikTok direct message for further information.
Internet culture is chaotic—but we’ll break it down for you in one daily email. Sign up for the Daily Dot’s web_crawlr newsletter here. You’ll get the best (and worst) of the internet straight into your inbox.
