Three things collided in Pittsburgh this week: hatred, technology and infrastructure.
The result was antisemitic threats against Mayor Corey O’Connor broadcast over a public safety radio channel used by police and emergency responders.
O’Connor comes from a diverse background. His late father was Catholic, his late mother Jewish. He has spoken of his heritage as a strength. In a world where antisemitic threats are on the rise, it can also be a target.
Authorities say an unauthorized user transmitted the messages over the county’s analog system, interrupting communications meant for dispatchers and first responders. Experts told TribLive it might not have taken much to do it: A cheap two-way radio and publicly available information about frequencies can be enough to reach systems designed decades ago.
Analog systems are infrastructure, but not the kind locked down behind an iron firewall. They are built for communication and accessibility — the kind many people monitor with scanners. As the messages were broadcast this week, social media filled with listeners following along and asking what was happening.
Are there more secure communication systems? Yes. But this is not so much a failure of the radio systems as an issue of technology and will.
The technology is easy. The equipment can be found online and delivered overnight. It does not require the skills of a computer hacker. We’re talking walkie-talkies where you find the channel and push a button.
The will is where it becomes tricky. If someone wants to stage this kind of pirate attack, they will do so regardless of the tech threshold. They just need to crave the chaos and feed it with hate.
The ugliness is not in short supply.
The messages suggest O’Connor will be killed. They invoke Adolf Hitler as a hero. This comes after a June 2025 firebombing of a Colorado event supporting Israeli hostages in Gaza, as well as the April 2025 arson attack on the Pennsylvania governor’s residence.
And it comes in Pittsburgh, where 11 people were murdered at a synagogue in 2018 after a man made antisemitic threats on social media.
It is sadly familiar. The radio channel was simply the latest microphone.
The infrastructure plods slowly. Technology is much faster. But nothing rushes as headlong into the world as hatred.
