KTRB-AM 860, a nearly two-year-old 50,000-watt talk station, is adding more than 40 hours a week of sports-talk programming produced in San Francisco.

Starting today (Jan. 5), KTRB will air the syndicated “Sports Byline USA” hosted by Ron Barr from 7 to 10 p.m. The program originates from an office building at Broadway and Sansome Street and is heard on about 170 stations and the Armed Forces Radio Network.

“It’s always nice to come home,” Barr said. “I think the over 40 hours a week of Sports Byline programming on KTRB will give Bay Area sports fans the kind of choice they haven’t had here in several years.”

KTRB is also adding “Sports Overnight America” (from 10 p.m. to 1 a.m.) with Chris Townsend and weekends with Patrick Mauro.

“Bay Area sports fans will now have real choice on the radio,” KTRB VP/General Manager Jim P. Pappas said in a press release. “Instead of listening to sports programs that originate in New York or Southern California, they will be able to tune in to KTRB and hear sports programs that are hosted by Bay Area broadcasters.”

UPDATE: KTRB has also signed a deal to become the flagship of the Oakland A’s and carry all 162 regular season games, plus 17 spring training games, the Contra Costa Times reports this morning. Terms weren’t disclosed, but the deal gives the A’s a considerably stronger signal than they had last year when the team was heard on CBS Radio’s KFRC-FM 106.9 and KYCY-AM 1550 AM.

However, the broadcast team will return intact for the 2009 season, featuring play-by-play announcers Ken Korach and Vince Cotroneo, as well as Ray Fosse, who joins the booth as an expert analyst for non-televised games, and post-game host Robert Buan, according to the CC Times.