NEWS NOTES: CBS has joined the roster...

NEWS NOTES: CBS has joined the roster of U.S. record companies providing material to the Personics system, which makes it possible for record-store shoppers to custom-design their own cassettes by choosing songs from a bank of more than 4,000 titles. The agreement with CBS means that five of the six major U.S. distribution giants are on board (RCA is the lone holdout). The first group of CBS selections will enter the Personics catalogue in May. Among the artists involved: Cyndi Lauper, the Bangles, Cheap Trick and REO Speedwagon. . . . “Bad English” is the name of the debut album by a new group of the same name featuring John Waite and his former Babys colleagues Jonathan Cain and Ricky Phillips, as well as Cain’s former Journey mate Neal Schon. . . .

Our Minneapolis spy reports that Prince has been testing the songs he’s recorded for the upcoming movie “Batman” by checking audience reaction to them at First Avenue, the Minneapolis dance club where “Purple Rain” was filmed. . . . Carole Bayer Sager served as executive producer for June Pointer’s first album for Columbia Records, due next month. Sager and Burt Bacharach also produced some tracks on the album, as did Phil Ramone and David Foster. But the album isn’t all pop. Kashif, Rhett Lawrence and Narada Michael Walden also pitched in.