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

TELEVISION

Going Back to the Bay: KNBC Channel 4’s Wendy Tokuda, who has co-anchored “Channel 4 News” at 6 p.m. with Jess Marlow since February 1993, will return to the San Francisco Bay area to become co-anchor and special assignment reporter for KRON’s 4 p.m. newscast, “First 4 News.” Tokuda spent 14 years in the Bay Area at KPIX-TV, where she began as a news reporter in 1978. Her first job in broadcasting was with KING-TV in Seattle, where she started as a secretary in public affairs. Tokuda was traveling in Japan and could not be reached for comment, but said in a prepared statement: “I am thrilled to be coming home to the Bay Area. I feel very lucky to have this opportunity with KRON.” Carole Black, NBC Channel 4 president and general manager, said Tuesday that Tokuda asked to be released from her L.A. contract to return to the Bay Area.

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Former Senator at CBS News: Former Sen. Bill Bradley has landed a job with CBS News, where he will contribute stories about American life to the TV network’s weekend newscasts, doing a mix of commentary and reporting. The New Jersey Democrat and former professional basketball star quit the Senate after three terms last year but hasn’t closed the door on political life. “I want to focus on our changing circumstances in our country: economically, socially, ethnically and politically,” he said. CBS News President Andrew Heyward said he wooed Bradley, intrigued by his writing in “Time Present, Time Past,” the senator’s 1996 memoir about his life in the Senate. Bradley did radio reports for a CBS-owned station in St. Louis after graduating from Princeton and while studying at Oxford. He will start at CBS in the next few months.

MOVIES

Giving Up the Fight: Kit Culkin agreed Tuesday to give up the custody fight for his six minor children--including “Home Alone” star Macaulay Culkin, 16--surrendering control of their lives and careers to their mother, Patricia Brentrup, just as custody hearings were to begin. “Mr. Culkin does not wish to contest the proceeding and put the family through any more pain,” said his lawyer, Donald Frank. The hearing, considered a formality after Culkin’s decision, went forward with testimony from Brentrup and was to continue Thursday with testimony from Macaulay Culkin, whose estimated worth is $17 million.

RADIO

KPFK Chooses Public Affairs: With a goal of having a stronger public affairs presence, KPFK-FM (90.7) on Tuesday began airing “Living Room” at noon, hosted by Larry Bensky, Pacifica network’s national affairs correspondent. The one-hour show is described as “a free-flowing call-in conversation on today’s personal and political landscape.” The show replaces a potpourri of musical offerings that ran from noon to 2 p.m.; several of them will find new homes on the weekend schedule. Gone altogether is Monday’s “Music of the Americas,” which broadcast classical and experimental music. At 1 p.m., KFPK will temporarily air shows done by local independent producers, followed at 1:30 by 30 minutes of Pacifica Network News. Program Director Kathy Lo says the station made the changes “to build stronger public affairs shows on weekdays. It’s what our listeners want.”

MUSIC

Blues Grants: The Rhythm and Blues Foundation, a nonprofit organization founded in 1988 to foster wider recognition, preservation and financial support for R&B;, has announced its first performance grant awards, totaling $79,500, to 15 musicians from across the country; individual grants range from $3,000 to $7,500. California grantees are Terrell Leonard of Los Angeles, to support concerts at inner-city schools for children ages 6 to 13, and Vernon Green (& the Medallions) of Perris, to support the artists in a performance for disabled veterans and area high school children. Other recipients include the Cadillacs, Irma Thomas, Bobby “Blue” Bland, Rufus Thomas, the Staple Singers and Justine “Baby” Washington.

SHORT TAKES

Former “Dynasty” star Joan Collins has signed on to do another Aaron Spelling soap: “Pacific Palisades,” which premieres April 9 on Fox. Collins will join the show, about “the on-the-edge lifestyle of young professionals,” in the fourth episode. . . . Singer Lena Horne will receive the Ella Award for Lifetime Achievement--named after the late Ella Fitzgerald--on June 23 at New York’s JVC Jazz Festival. . . . Billy Crystal, who poked fun at Vice President Al Gore during last week’s Academy Awards ceremony (“The only one guaranteed with waking up with a statue is Tipper Gore”) phoned in best wishes to Gore during his 49th birthday party Monday. . . . The NCAA basketball championship game between Arizona and Kentucky attracted more than 28 million viewers Monday, up about 3% over last year. The rating was the highest for any broadcast on CBS, in fact, since the UCLA-Arkansas championship game two years ago. . . . Victoria Morgan, former resident choreographer and ballet mistress for the San Francisco Opera, has been named the artistic director of the Cincinnati Ballet. She will begin her tenure there with the 1997-98 season.