The War of the Worlds (radio drama) the adaptation, with a copy of his script being made into a paperback book enjoying large printings and an album of the broadcast selling over 500,000 copies, part of the income also going to him as copyright owner." The book, "The Panic Broadcast", was first published in 1970. The best-selling album was a sound recording of the broadcast titled "Orson Welles' War of the Worlds", "released by arrangement with Manheim Fox Enterprises, Inc." The source discs for the recording are unknown. Welles told Peter Bogdanovich that it was a poor-quality recording taken off the air at the time of broadcast
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