The BBC's digital radio station 6 Music has added 115,000 listeners in the last year – and bosses are putting the success down to anarchic presenter Russell Brand.
Year on year the station's reach is up 40% from 285,000 to a record 400,000.
The Big Brother's Big Mouth presenter joined 6 Music in March to host a headline-grabbing Sunday morning show.
Lesley Douglas, controller of 6 Music and Radio 2, said: "It has been good for digital radio to have a star like Russell presenting on 6 Music. He really is at the top of his form.''
Brand, 31, is a former heroin addict who was sacked from his job at MTV in 2001 for turning up for work the day after the September 11 attacks dressed as Osama bin Laden.
A 6 Music insider said: "To put on 40% more listeners in a year is great for us and we're putting it down to the Russell Brand effect."