KQED Public Media announced today that it is making a “significant expansion” of its news services, adding eight staffers and 10 newscasts to its radio schedule. The expansion was detailed in the Chronicle and the SF Business Times.

Of the eight new hires, six will be journalists who will work for KQED Public Radio, KQED Public Television and the new online news service KQEDnews.org, officials said.

The Chron notes that the additional newscasts — which will air weekdays, mostly in two-minute segments — will be the first local news-only reports on KQED-FM in several years and will air on the half hour from 6:04 a.m. to noon and at 4:33 p.m. The two minutes of air time will be subtracted from the NPR newscasts that precede them.

According to the most recent Arbitron ratings, KQED-FM (88.5) ranks second behind KCBS-AM in weekday morning drive time and third behind KCBS and KOIT-FM in evening drive time among all listeners, the Chron reported. But among adults ages 25 to 54, KQED-FM is the top-rated station in the Bay Area during both the morning and afternoon drive times.