Arts and entertainment reports from The Times, national and international news services and the nation’s press.

TELEVISION

Pounding the Police Beat: “NYPD Blue” producer Steven Bochco will mine some familiar territory with his next series, a police drama for CBS called “Brooklyn South,” the network announced Monday. The show, which has not yet been cast, is planned for next fall. Bochco’s company is also developing a project for ABC. In other development news for next season, Barry Kemp, who created the long-running ABC comedy “Coach,” will produce a new CBS comedy starring Tom Selleck, and the network is developing a show for “Night Court” alumnus John Larroquette, whose NBC series was recently canceled. The WB network, which has announced orders on series starring Tom Arnold and Cindy Williams, also said it’s developing separate shows that (if they go forward) would star Shelley Long of “Cheers” and “Waiting to Exhale” co-star Loretta Devine.

RADIO

Spanish Stronghold: Adult alternative rock station KSCA-FM (109.1) will become a Spanish-language station in about a month, its new owners said Monday. “It’s a done deal,” said Richard Heftel, president and general manager of Heftel Broadcasting Corp.’s KLVE-FM (107.5), the No. 1-ranked station in the Los Angeles radio market, and KTNQ-AM (1020), a Spanish talk station. As had been rumored for weeks, the San Antonio-based Heftel paid $10 million to Gene Autry’s Golden West Broadcasters for an option to buy the station for an additional $102.5 million. “We are excited to strengthen our commitment to the Spanish-speaking residents of Los Angeles,” said Lowry Mays, Heftel’s president and chief executive officer. Precisely what format KSCA will have in the Spanish-language field has not yet been revealed by Heftel.

MOVIES

Golden Science: The first Academy Awards of the year--scientific and technical--were announced Monday, with Imax Corp. given the highest honor, an Academy Award of Merit. The Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences cited Imax’s innovations in developing a method of filming and exhibiting large-format motion pictures for more than 25 years. The award is an “upgrade” of a Scientific and Engineering Award originally presented to Imax in 1985, said John Pavlik, a spokesman for the motion picture academy. Scientific and technical awards were given for devices, methods, formulas, discoveries or inventions of special and outstanding value to the arts and sciences of motion pictures. For instance, among the 12 awards announced, four artists (John Schlag, Brian Knep, Zoran Kacic-Alesic and Thomas Williams) won for developing the Viewpaint 3D Paint System, an interactive 3D system that allows color and texture details to be applied to computer-generated effects. Also, in a movie year that saw the mega-success of “Twister,” Jim Hourihan was awarded for the concept and design of the Dynamation software system, which is used to create tornadoes, flames, sparks, snow and clouds for visual effects. Technical achievement winners included James Kajiya and Timothy Kay for “their pioneering work in producing computer-generated fur and hair in motion pictures.” The awards will be presented March 1 at the Regent Beverly Wilshire hotel.

*

“Avon” Calling: Talks are underway for “First Wives Club” actresses Diane Keaton, Bette Midler and Goldie Hawn to team up again in the comedy “Avon Ladies of the Amazon,” a spokesman for United Artists said Monday. While no deal has been struck and negotiations are in an early stage, he said, the actresses are “interested” in “Avon Ladies.” (Their “Club” broke $100 million at the box office.) “Avon Ladies” was initially written by Jane Anderson (“The Positively True Adventures of the Alleged Texas Cheerleader-Murdering Mom”) several years ago and is based on a People magazine article about a fast-growing market for Avon in the Amazon. It would be rewritten to accommodate the three actresses.

*

Social Value: Robert Duvall was named one of the top recipients in the American Cinema Foundation’s E Pluribus Unum film and television awards announced Monday. Duvall was selected winner of the Carl Foreman Prize, honoring a creative talent whose body of work best uses film to positively address social issues; the award carries a $10,000 prize. A movie last year starring Duvall--”A Family Thing,” the story of a white man raised in the rural South who learns that his natural mother was a black woman--was winner in the film category. Episodes from WB network’s “The Parent ‘Hood” and the syndicated “Babylon 5” and the CBS “Hallmark” movie “Captive Heart: The James Mink Story” also will receive awards at a Jan. 17 luncheon at Universal City.

QUICK TAKES

A one-hour prime-time music series backed by General Motors and the Hard Rock Cafe, “Hard Rock Live Presented by Pontiac Sunfire,” will premiere in March on VH1. The program, which will feature live recorded performances, will be taped in New York in front of a studio audience. Robert Small, co-creator of MTV’s “Unplugged” series, has signed on as producer. . . . Bryant Gumbel’s emotional farewell on NBC’s “Today” show Friday generated that program’s highest rating for a single day in more than seven years. . . . The UPN and WB networks, both of which currently program three nights a week, say they will each offer a fourth night within the next year; UPN is targeting a fourth night in January 1998 and WB said it will expand its lineup later this year.