The War of the Worlds (radio drama) Another announcement was repeated on the full CBS network that same evening at 10:30 pm, 11:30 pm, and midnight: "For those listeners who tuned in to Orson Welles's "Mercury Theatre on the Air" broadcast from 8 to 9 pm Eastern Standard Time tonight and did not realize that the program was merely a modernized adaptation of H. G. Wells' famous novel "War of the Worlds", we are repeating the fact which was made clear four times on the program, that, while the names of some American cities were used, as in all novels and dramatizations, the entire story and all
The Orson Welles Almanac Welles brought together for the show were an important force in the revival of traditional New Orleans jazz in the 1940s. ""The Orson Welles Almanac" was a format that intrigued Welles throughout the early 1940s," wrote radio historian John Dunning. "It consisted of everything from odd facts to jazz." The idea of doing such a variety show occurred to Welles after his success as substitute host of "The Jack Benny Program", radio's most popular show. When Jack Benny contracted pneumonia on a performance tour of military bases, Welles hosted four consecutive programs (March 14–April 4, 1943) and was Benny's first