Today FM is reaching 9 per cent of the radio audience, a figure to please the national station after its relaunch last January.
Today FM, under its previous incarnation as Radio Ireland, achieved such low figures it appeared that more than 70 per cent of radio listeners had never heard the station at all. Its share was about 1 per cent.
But sources at the station are quietly pleased with the latest figures from the Joint National Listenership Research prepared by the market survey company, MRBI.
The view in the advertising industry is that with 500,000 listeners a week the station is "getting there", in the words of one media director.
But the listenership is still predominantly male and middle-class, which is disappointing for advertisers wanting to reach the all-important housewives' market.
The last figures, for July to December last year, gave the station 5 per cent reach. With the latest, showing 9 per cent for January to June of this year, the station has almost doubled its daily number of listeners.
Industry sources attribute the success to two factors: the money spent on marketing the station, something that was not done for Radio Ireland; and a careful cutting of those elements of the original mix that did not work.
The biggest success is without doubt Eamon Dunphy and The Last Word. Dunphy is now one of the most successful presenters in the country, bringing Today FM up to nearly half the audience level of RTE Radio 1, with about 100,000 listeners against an equally successful programme, Five Seven Live.
His achievement can be measured by the fact that he is the biggest single draw on the station, attracting many more listeners than the heavily promoted breakfast slot.
Mr Dunphy's programme attracts 170,000 listeners compared to Five Seven Live's 222,000. Dunphy, however, is broadcasting on a station that normally reaches only 9 per cent of the audience, compared to Radio 1's 33 per cent.
The irony is that when the relaunch of Today FM was being planned, The Last Word was to be a casualty. Consultants brought in to save the station late last year did not believe the programme fitted into an otherwise music-driven station.
It is believed Mr Dunphy alone convinced management to retain his mix of current affairs, opinion and comedy with the two characters, Navan Man and the Drunken Politician.
Yesterday the station's chief executive, Mr Tom Steele, said building up the station "is a gradual process and the figures validate our build of a loyal and staunch listenership".
He said the figures, taken with interim figures earlier this year, showed a healthy development and gave optimism for the future.
Today FM is also claiming that the figures show it is making inroads into its target audience of the 20- to 44-year-olds. Its growth, however modest, is also being reflected in advertising revenue, which Mr Steele said was up 46 per cent.