KQED-FM, the NPR powerhouse that has sat atop the Nielsen ratings for over a year, is all about public radio, with an emphasis on news.

But there are pockets here and there, in its offices on Mariposa Street in San Francisco, that indicate the future. A section of the radio news department has been given over to a small, young team that is working on a new podcast, “The Bay.” The title: “What Happens After an ICE Arrest.” Earlier this month, The Bay joined another recently launched podcast, “Political Breakdown.”

The initiatives come under the guidance of Holly Kernan, VP in charge of news. Kernan joined KQED (88.5) in 2014, after the death in late 2013 of Raul Ramirez, its longtime executive director of news and public affairs.

Kernan had worked at KQED previously, as a producer for “Forum” and “The California Report,” until 2001. She joined KALW (91.7) in 2004 as news director, building a newsroom and staff.

Back at KQED, she has been part of the station’s “Campaign 21,” which brought in enough funds to grow the news staff by some 30 percent, just in time for the 2016 elections.

KQED’s news department, among whose staples are “The California Report” and Michael Krasny’s “Forum,” has been growing its roster of podcasts.

They’re critical, said Kernan. “The audience wants you everywhere, all the time. More and more people want portable audio, listening on their own terms, their own time. KQED’s on-demand audience just about doubled over the past year. ‘The California Report’ on-demand audience tripled.”

KQED’s podcast collection includes “The Cooler” (covering pop culture), “Bay Curious” (local mysteries), “The Leap” (about “risks and transformation”) and “MindShift” (innovations in education).

While those are pure podcasts, Kernan calls “Political Breakdown,” featuring Scott Shafer and Marisa Lagos, “a hybrid,” a program that airs live on KQED Thursday evenings, then lives on as a podcast. There is also Q’ed Up, which Kernan describes as “one great story a week.”

The newest is “The Bay,” a five- to 10-minute podcast that digs into a local headline story through an interview with its reporter or another source. Hosted by Devin Katayama, it’s produced and posted Tuesdays through Fridays.

“The Bay” is modeled on the New York Times’ successful podcast, “The Daily,” which features national stories and runs upwards of 20 minutes.

“We’re the local version of what ‘The Daily’ does,” said Katayama. “We have the same format: One interview with a reporter with deep knowledge of the story.” But while “The Daily” often leads off with a central question, Katayama said, “we come more from a storytelling perspective; longer leads, to breathe into a story so you feel it a little more.”

Katayama, 34, who previously hosted the podcast “American Suburb,” has been in radio some 10 years.

“I always loved the storytelling aspect of it,” he says. “Something happens, and something happens, and you learn things along the way. When I got into radio, I understood how important news was to do what I wanted to do, and the two came together where I was like, it would be awesome to have a news show that sounded more like the storytelling I was hearing. My idea was to show the reporting process, or the discovery process.”

The producers of “The Bay” are Erika Aguilar and Vinnee Tong, who also do reporting. They meet daily with Katayama to decide on an “A” story for posting early the next morning.

“They’re top headlines where possible,” said Katayama, “something that would be on the front page of The Chronicle — and we try to get to the meat of a story. ‘Why do we care?’”

Getting there, and booking that piece’s main storyteller, then producing the piece, is a challenge, he said. As a backup, the team looks for another story “which might hold for the next day — a B idea, to back up while hoping the A story comes through.”

A or B, “The Bay” goes online at KQED.org and popular podcast sites in predawn hours. Katayama figures the audience is on the younger side, since listeners access podcasts primarily by phones: “Probably people under 50 who already listen to KQED or have an interest in local news.”

“I think that the thing I like the most about it,” said Kernan, “is that it’s three young journalists of color designing a product for their peers, for themselves.”

At a focus group session with younger listeners who heard pilot episodes of “The Bay,” Kernan said, “the general feedback was, ‘KQED, we want this from you last year!’”

“We know this is where radio stations and audio have been moving toward,” said Katayama. “We know it’ll be successful.”

Meanwhile…: KCBS has launched a podcast, “Ten Questions with Stan and Susan,” featuring morning anchors Stan Bunger and Susan Leigh Taylor quizzing “interesting people doing interesting work.” It’s on iTunes and Radio.com.