Executive at BBC Asian Network breathed a sigh of relief today after the latest figures showed a slight up-turn in listenership.

Audience numbers published by Rajar today showed that audience for the digital radio station increased from 405,000 to 421,000 over the last three months.

Other Asian radio stations also showed a rise in listeners.

Asian Network has been under pressure since it was singled out for criticism in the recently published annual BBC Trust report. There were some accounts that it was in danger of being shut down. But such a move is highly unlikely anytime soon.

Commenting on the figures controller Andy Parfitt said: “Given the huge changes the team has made to the schedule, we’re pleased that the audience has gone up and that listeners are staying with the Asian Network for longer.”

The publication of listening figures also brought some cheer to chief rival Sunrise radio.

While audiences for Sunrise radio in Greater London stayed roughly the same at 330,000, it’s national numbers increased from 473,000 to 494,000. The radio group also owns local licences in 6 cities across the UK, which are combined to form a joint national figure.

Sunrise Radio Group’s sister station Kismat saw a marginal bump in numbers: from 86,000 listeners to 91,000. Punjabi Radio, previously known as Yarr Radio, increased listeners from 30,000 to 34,000.

The west London-based independent station Panjab Radio, which joined Rajar recently to have its audiences measured, saw numbers jump by nearly 40% – from 44,000 to 61,000 listeners.

East London based youth station Club Asia Radio also saw its audience rise from 188,000 to 202,000.

These are the only Asian station that have their audiences measured by the industry body Rajar.

Local stations such as Radio XL in Birmingham, Asian Star in Slough and Sabras Radio in Leicester do not measure their audiences via Rajar, primarily because of the high costs involved in doing so.