PASADENA, Calif. — The Simpsons rocks! Homer and the gang open their 14th season Nov. 3 on Fox with “Treehouse of Horror XIII,” followed on Nov.10 with Homer attending a rock 'n' roll fantasy camp.

        He'll rock with Mick Jagger, Keith Richards, Tom Petty, Elivs Costello, Lenny Kravitz and Brian Setzer.

        On Nov. 24, wife Marge Simpson gets breast implants, while her son Bart watches an episode of Batman and Robin voiced by original Batman stars Adam West and Burt Ward.

        The Simpsons,TV's longest-running current sitcom, will celebrate its 300th episode with “Barting Over” on Feb. 16, featuring guest stars Blink-182 and skateboarder Tony Hawk. Other guests this season: Little Richard, Elliot Gould, Marisa Tomei and Simpsons executive producer James L. Brooks (The Mary Tyler Moore Show, Breaking News).

        Getting animated: Guest voices on Fox's King of the Hill cartoon include Jennifer Aniston, Allison Janney, Jamie Kennedy, Lucy Liu, Michael Keaton, Bernie Mac, George Foreman, Pamela Anderson and Kid Rock.

        Prime Conan: Late Night host Conan O'Brien jumped at the chance to host the 54th annual Prime-Time Emmy Awards on Sept. 22 to increase his exposure to viewers after nine years at NBC.

        The former Simpsons and Saturday Night Live writer has been No. 1 in his time slot for 2 1/2 years.

        “We think it's Conan's turn to be seen by the biggest audience that will ever see Conan,” says Jeff Zucker, NBC Entertainment president.

        Mr. O'Brien got the gig after NBC executives made a courtesy call to Jay Leno, TV's No. 1 late-night star. Mr. Leno “was relieved” to hear that the network didn't want him to host the awards telecast.

        The New York-based Mr. O'Brien was eager to host the live show, and strut his stuff for the prime-time audience, NBC programmers say.

        “Conan is one of the great success stories in network television, the unsung hero who was trashed by many of you (TV critics) when he began, and almost canceled by us many times,” Mr. Zucker says.

        Fox fixtures: Fox executives admit they were surprised at the ratings collapse for two long-running series last year, The X-Files and Ally McBeal. A year ago, there was no question in their minds about whether to renew the aging hits.

        “The X-Files was the No. 2 show on all networks among dramas in the 18-49 demographic. It's pretty hard to walk away from that when its creator, Chris Carter, is very enthusiastic about his new cast, and feels very strongly that there were additional stories left to tell,” says Gail Berman, Fox Entertainment president.

        “Ally McBeal had a terrific season with Robert Downey Jr., obviously. There was no way to anticipate the level of drop that we would see without him,” she says.

        Enquirering Mind: An Enquiring mind wanted to know: How will Fox fill prime-time in October if a baseball strike wipes out postseason baseball games?

        “If there is a strike, we have a contingency plan,” says Ms. Berman, refusing to discuss specifics.

        “We have gone over it internally. We've discussed all the possibilities and ramifications of it. We do have a plan set up,” she says.

        For now, Fox will roll out some new Tuesday, Wednesday, Friday and Saturday shows starting with Cops and America's Most Wanted on Sept. 14. Bernie Mac and (cq) Cedric the Entertainer Presents will premiere Sept. 18. That '70s Show returns Sept. 17, but 24 won't start again until Tuesday, Oct. 29.

        Monday series won't air until Oct. 21, after the first rounds of baseball playoffs. Sunday series will be delayed until Nov. 3, when Fox will air The Simpsons, King of the Hill, Malcolm in the Middle and The Grubbs.

        Fox's Thursday night lineup will not debut until “sometime following the November sweeps,” Ms. Berman says. Translation: December or January.

        Radio ratings: Clear Channel's WLW-AM (700) was the big winner in spring quarter Arbitron ratings, taking first place with all adults in morning, midday, afternoon and evening ratings.

        Sister station WEBN-FM (102.7) was second, rebounding from sixth place in winter quarter. WLW-AM and WEBN-FM also ranked one-two in with listeners age 25-54, the target audience for most advertisers.

        Clear Channel's WKFS-FM (KISS 107.1) ranked third, its highest in station history.

        Here are the top 20 of he spring quarter and audience share:

        1. WLW-AM (11.1); 2. WEBN-FM (6.6); 3. WKFS-FM (6.5); 4. WIZF-FM (6.2);

        5. WRRM-FM (6.1); 6. WGRR-FM (5.9); 7. WUBE-FM (5.7); 8. WOFX-FM (4.6); 9. WKRQ-FM (4.3); 10. WMOJ-FM (4.1);

        11. WYGY-FM (4.0); 12. WVMX-FM (3.5); 13. WKRC-AM (3.1); 14. WSAI-AM (2.8); 15. WAQZ-FM (2.5); 16. WAKW-FM (1.6); 17. WNLT-FM (1.1); 18. (tie) WDBZ-AM, WCKY-AM, WHKO-FM (0.9);

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