More Messages: Subliminal Imagery

Here's how cool I am. Last night, I was at home with my family, watching 30 Rock, Tina Fey's amusing sitcom (Alec Baldwin rules), on Channel 9. Suddenly, in the middle of the broadcast, my son, Nick, noticed something flash in the middle of the screen. Shortly thereafter, the rest...

By Michael Roberts

January 26, 2007

Audio By Carbonatix

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Here's how cool I am. Last night, I was at home with my family, watching 30 Rock, Tina Fey's amusing sitcom (Alec Baldwin rules), on Channel 9. Suddenly, in the middle of the broadcast, my son, Nick, noticed something flash in the middle of the screen. Shortly thereafter, the rest of us caught similar glimpses of what seemed to be an NBC logo. But since I'm too poor -- and not nearly cool enough -- to have TiVo, I couldn't verify this theory.

Fortunately, a reader came to the rescue with a Friday morning e-mail that begins as follows: "Okay, this sounds crazy. I have DirecTV and can rewind and pause TV. At 8:12 this evening, during Scrubs (yes, kind of lame), a 9News logo flashed on the screen during the show. I saw a blip really quickly and wondered if NBC was doing weird subliminal messages or something. But I rewound it and saw the local news logo."

In all likelihood, this was a technical glitch rather than an attempt to make all of Denver mindlessly tune in 9News at 10 p.m. (I've left a message for Channel 9 news director Patti Dennis, and will share her explanation after I hear from her.) Whatever the case, the e-mailer's conclusion rings true: "Very creepy. And I'm not talking about Adele Arakawa's hair..." -- Michael Roberts

Michael Roberts began his career with Westword in 1990 as music editor. In 1999, he took on a new role, full-time media reporter, as author of a column called The Message. In 2008, he became the lead writer for Westword's news blog, The Latest Word, a position he held until January 2023. Michael continues to freelance for Westword, covering everything from business to sports and the media; he also contributes to Jazziz, a national music magazine. He holds a bachelor's degree from what is now Colorado Mesa University and master's degrees from the University of California, Los Angeles, and Northwestern University.

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