DON'T call him Ashton Farley, 23-year veteran of Hongkong broadcasting, any more. In the tradition of Cassius Clay and Cat Stevens, Ashton has become Ashiq Ali Khan. Not that we're going to be hearing too much of Ashton/Ashiq these days. He signed off his late-night AM Alive show at midnight on March 31/April 1 and he's setting sail for Perth, Australia, in May. The key to Ashton's conversion to Islam lies in the Commercial Radio newsroom. Her name is Uzma Ahmed, and she's to become his wife shortly - the date is being kept a secret. We are also led to believe that Uzma's father was keen on Ashton's conversion before the couple, who have been together for about seven years, tie the knot. Ashton tells us he left CR for ''reasons of relocation'', after 12 years there and 11 years at RTHK. ''I have decided to look after my business interests in Australia and I also want a change of lifestyle,'' he said. Ashton denied there was any rancour with CR management, who are rumoured to be completely overhauling the AM Alive format from around April 15. STICKING with radio, RTHK stalwart Anna Chilvers has become part of the Radio 3 programme shake-up by station chief Larry Ottoway which starts on Monday. She signed After signing off on the lunchtime show in January and will she'll start reading the financial news from April 5. Yes, this unexpected occurrence will take place on Monday, during The Martin Clarke Show at ''drive-home'' time between 4pm and 6pm. Chilvers has been retained as producer for of the show - as well as financial analyst. Other Radio 3 changes include a political satirical show created by Barry Bakker, which also starts on Monday night at 6.15pm. - ''Radio 3 is not ready to become a mouthpiece just yet,'' said an RTHK spokesman. And the station has a whole new computerised play-guide completely on compact disc. Plus Gerry Jose is going bilingual from 7pm to 9pm on Monday. ''We don't want to be a funky station though,'' said Martin Clarke from the warm-up seat of his new show. ''We're very much a middle-of-the-road operation.'' This will not come as a surprise to listeners. . . Clarke acknowledges that he has to create an audience between 4pm and 6pm. ''There's only been music at this time before,'' he said. ''Drivetime is a bit later here, though, than in England. We'll go uptempo a bit after 5pm.'' SOMEBODY over at TVB's in-house Standards and Practices Department has blown a political fuse. And Hongkong has now descended to the all-time low of censoring 11-year-old children. It may not have been the most original of ideas, but Eye on Hongkong (not normally a subversive programme) decided to interview school kids from various educational establishments for airing on Tuesday night. Katie Ledger was dispatched to ask probing questions about Chris Patten and the relationship between Hongkong and China. The children were forthright, needless to say. In fact, too forthright for Standards and Practices. One particular little mite was deemed too subversive for the TVB censors and his observation about China's octogenarian governors was cut from the show. But this is not a first for Standards and Practices with Eye on Hongkong. This time last year an interview with American film director Mickey Remle about his movie Compassion in Exile, the story of the Dalai Lama set against 40 years of oppression in Tibet, was cut. Remle said: ''When China invaded Tibet. . .'' Standards and Practices reckoned that the correct word was ''liberated'' and took out the scissors. We look forward to the day when someone ''liberates'' S&P. READERS of this column will know that Warner Brothers has been behaving in a confused manner recently, pulling Unforgiven from the Astor and Columbia Classics after two weeks, replacing it with Chaplin, nixing that after a week, putting on the panned Hoffa, and finally sticking Accidental Hero on before fans even had time to notice the changes. But now that Clint has pulled off a four-Oscar sweep (and the movie did, after all, make a respectable $100,000 here before it was axed), will Warner do the right thing and put it back on? Yes, says the film company. Unforgiven will come back at the Astor and Columbia Classics - probably from next Friday ''although don't quote me on that,'' said a Warner representative. There is no word on whether the company will continue to cut the credits before the final sign-off scene from Clint.
