A fan broadcast
Maximum Overdrive is a free fan production made for entertainment purposes only. We run it
for fun, not for profit. The host you see and hear is a simulation. The original performer did not
record these bulletins.
Who owns what
The original character, the Network 23 name and logo, and the original TV material belong to
their respective rights holders. This project is independent of the original production, its cast
and the publishers on the dial. Their appearance here does not imply sponsorship or endorsement.
Tuning in gives you no additional rights to reuse someone else’s reporting, recordings or artwork.
Check the original story
Maximum Overdrive carries a dated transmission log with its reporting sources. The studio also plays short publisher bulletins. A bulletin can lag behind a correction.
Follow the headline for the publisher’s full story. The delivery and the dad jokes are ours.
When the signal drops
The broadcast is offered “as is” and “as available.” We can’t promise every headline is current or
every broadcast will play. To the extent permitted by law, the project’s creator disclaims liability
for losses from relying on a bulletin or from interrupted service. The quality of the puns carries
no warranty whatsoever.
Welcome to Maximum Overdrive
We built a little TV studio for a host who never needed a chair. Our studio comes complete with moving backdrops, scanlines and more sunglasses than a newsroom strictly needs.
Made by Pete Hottelet
Work the dial
The main broadcast plays the latest prepared edition of Maximum Overdrive. Use the RSS button to subscribe in your feed reader. The feed includes past episodes, transcripts and reporting sources.
You’re in the control room
Use Studio settings to change the backdrop, choose a video look or adjust softness, chroma and tape tracking noise.
Open the speaker menu to adjust the volume. You can choose background music there or in Studio settings under Audio.
What your browser remembers
You can tune in without an account. Your browser stores settings such as your backdrop,
wardrobe, video look, softness, chroma and tracking glitches. It also remembers which jokes have played and whether you’ve seen
the power-on sequence. Clear this site’s data in your browser to reset those choices.
When you tune in
Your browser requests bulletins and jokes from the site. The server fetches headlines
from the publisher and may send the bulletin script to a speech service to generate audio.
Generated broadcasts are cached for replay. If studio speech is unavailable, your browser may use
its own speech service. The site’s host receives ordinary connection details, such as your IP
address and the page or file requested, to deliver the broadcast.
Live conversation
Turn on mic starts a live chat with an AI host. While your mic is on, your audio goes to
Tavus through the live connection to understand you and generate the avatar’s response.
Speech services generate the host’s voice. Your camera stays off. Mute stops sending your
microphone audio; End chat disconnects. Calls end after five minutes.
A signed browser cookie counts chats and enforces usage limits. The live gateway does not
save recordings or transcripts. Anonymous connection diagnostics help us find failures; they exclude message content, audio, and credentials. Tavus handles conversation processing under its own privacy
policy. Background separation and playback effects run locally in your browser.
Private studio chat
The microphone streams while you record. Cloud mode sends that audio to OpenAI for live transcription
and sends your question, recent chat turns, and relevant broadcast excerpts to generate a reply.
Local mode handles transcription and answers on the studio computer. Both modes use a speech service
for the host’s voice. The optional Runway preview also sends the host’s reply audio to Runway to animate his portrait.
You can stop a reply from the chat bar.
Leaving the studio
A headline link takes you to the publisher’s site. Its privacy policy applies once you get there.
