POP/ROCKEntering at No. 1: “Purple,” the new...

POP/ROCK

Entering at No. 1: “Purple,” the new album by the Southern California band Stone Temple Pilots sold 252,000 copies last week and will enter the nation’s pop chart at No. 1 on Saturday. The rock band’s debut album, “Core,” has sold more than 3 million copies. Other new entries bursting into the Top 10 include Long Beach rapper Warren G.’s “Regulate . . . G-Funk Era” at No. 2 with 176,000 units sold, veteran rock band Boston’s “Walk On” at No. 7 with 106,000, and country crooner Vince Gill’s “When Love Finds You” at No. 10 with 82,000.

* Late Payment: Bo Diddley’s late manager siphoned at least $400,000 from the singer over the past decade and the manager’s widow will have to repay the money, a Los Angeles judge ruled Wednesday. The judge also ordered Lila Otelsberg to turn over her husband’s books and records dating to 1972--when Martin Otelsberg began managing Diddley’s affairs--to determine if even more money is due, said Diddley’s attorney. Wednesday’s judgment is based only on records from 1988, with some partial records from 1986 and 1987. The 65-year-old Diddley--known for such songs as “Hey Bo Diddley” and “Who Do You Love?”--said he became suspicious of Otelsberg when Lila Otelsberg came up with various excuses not to return Diddley’s financial records after the manager’s death.

* Legal Briefs: Long-grounded rock group Jefferson Airplane has filed a lawsuit in San Francisco against computer software company Berkeley Systems Inc., claiming the company stole the band’s 1973 “Thirty Seconds Over Winterland” album cover for a “flying toaster” design used on the screen-saver program “After Dark.” . . . New York-based 57/Sunset Entertainment Inc. has dropped its $76-million lawsuit against pop star Michael Jackson. The company had claimed Jackson reneged on a deal to let it record rap versions of about a dozen Beatles songs Jackson owns.

* New Technology: “Head First,” a never-before-released, broadcast-quality song by rock group Aerosmith, will go out on-line June 27 to members of the CompuServe Information Service. After typing in GO AEROSMITH, CompuServe users will be able to download the entire song for free in what Geffen Records says will make music history. Aerosmith will waive its royalties for the song, and CompuServe will waive its connect-time charges. Said Aerosmith singer Steven Tyler: “If our fans are out there driving down that information superhighway, then we want to be playing at the truck stop.”

CLASSICAL MUSIC

Symphony Director: Gisele Ben-Dor, 39, a native of Uruguay who emigrated to Israel in 1973, has signed a three-year contract as music director of the Santa Barbara Symphony. Ben-Dor was one of nine candidates who led the orchestra during a 15-month search period. Trained in Uruguay and Israel and at Yale, Ben-Dor was a fellow at the 1984 L.A. Philharmonic Institute, where she conducted the Institute Orchestra at Hollywood Bowl. She has also held posts with orchestras in Houston and Annapolis.

RADIO & TV

New Adult Alternative: KLIT-FM (101.9) will soon abandon its easy-listening format for “adult alternative rock” programming, with a sound that industry insiders liken to a college radio station. The current format has not been a big ratings-getter. The new format is expected to debut July 1, with on-air personalities including Chris Douridas, who currently hosts KCRW’s “Morning Becomes Eclectic,” and Nicole Sandler, producer of the “Mark and Brian Show” at KLOS.

* AMA Calls for New Ratings: The American Medical Assn. is calling for new sex and violence ratings for TV, movies, music recordings and videos, and suggests that even violence on news shows should be censored. In a policy statement approved at the group’s annual meeting on Tuesday, the group said a “substantial expansion” of violent and sexually explicit entertainment and programming has become available to children at a time when parents seem to have less control over what their kids watch.

* Tenors on Tape: KCET-TV Channel 28 and KOCE-TV Channel 50 will hasten to broadcast taped replays of “Encore! The Three Tenors,” the July 16 concert reuniting Luciano Pavarotti, Jose Carreras and Placido Domingo. The two local stations will be blacked out from a live feed to PBS stations from Dodger Stadium that Saturday, but both plan to air the program on tape the next day. KCET in Los Angeles will run it at 7 p.m.; KOCE in Huntington Beach plans two broadcasts, at 5 p.m. and 7:30 p.m.

* No More Shopping: “Can We Shop,” the latest venture for former talk-show host Joan Rivers, has been canceled by producers QRT Enterprises. The daily, syndicated home shopping program will finish production Friday, and the last new show will air July 15. According to QRT, the 6-month-old show’s gross sales totaled more than $14 million.