TALKIN' RADIO : IT'S TRIPLE-A FOR KACD-FM.

Byline: Fred Shuster

The album alternative format of beloved but defunct KSCA-FM is back with a different name and a new home on the dial.

As expected, dance-oriented Groove 103.1 flipped formats Monday afternoon to triple-A (adult album alternative), with ex-KSCA music head Nicole Sandler plotting the playlist.

The Santa Monica station, KACD-FM (103.1) - now known as Channel 103.1 - will operate without disc jockeys while a nationwide hunt continues for air talent and a music-intensive morning show, Sandler said.

``We're talking to lots of people, the best in the biz from around the country,'' she said, adding that new KACD owner, Kentucky-based Jacor Communications, promises a long-term commitment to album alternative in Los Angeles.

``This format needed to be back on the air in L.A.,'' said David Benson, KACD's acting program director.

Benson also programs Denver's heritage triple-A outlet KBCO-FM, which recently placed third in the market in the sought-after 25-to-54 demographic.

``Our intent is to have a lot more variety and lot less repetition for the kind of artist that has become more mainstream since KSCA went off the air,'' Benson said.

KSCA ceased broadcasting Feb. 4, 1997. Since then, other local adult-oriented stations like Star 98 have picked up some of the format's core artists, including Natalie Merchant, Sheryl Crow and Sarah McLachlan.

Benson said KACD's playlist will be broader, ranging from Bob Marley to R.E.M. to Lucinda Williams and others.

``We're calling it `wall-to-wall world-class rock,' '' Benson said. ``We're in the process of building a music library, so we're starting out by playing what we have.''

Once the talent roster is in place, Sandler will helm KACD's afternoon-drive program from 3 to 8 p.m. The station is also available over the Internet at www.channel1031.com.

More on Art Bell

Little has been revealed about the circumstances that drove UFO aficionado and overnight talk host Art Bell to resign from the airwaves Oct. 13. But a new announcement from Bell hinted he may return soon.

Bell's statement at the beginning of a replacement program heard locally on KABC-AM (790) late Monday again referred to a ``terrible life-threatening event, which occurred to my family about a year ago.''

Insiders say Bell, 53, left the airwaves to help his young son through a nonmedical emergency.

The radio host asked listeners to keep him and his family in their prayers.

Bell's ``Coast to Coast'' syndicated call-in show was broadcast from a trailer in Pahrump, Nev., about 50 miles from Las Vegas, to roughly 6.5 million listeners on more than 400 stations.

The program was a kind of ``X-Files'' of the airwaves, focusing on alien abductions, cattle mutilations and secret government programs.

Show-tune time

KCSN-FM (88.5) has a new weekly program devoted to show tunes. ``The David & Peter Show'' is broadcast at 9 p.m. Thursdays. Hosts David Presby and Peter Goldman created the off-Broadway hit ``431 of My Closest Friends,'' which also ran for eight months in Hollywood.

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