Best Local Radio Program

Midday jock and station music-director Kimba -- no last name, just Kimba -- lends her husky, sultry voice to this Sunday-night show of music by area bands. From the stacks of demotapes and CDs mailed to the station, Kimba chooses the two hours' worth of tunes that make it on the weekly program, which airs from 10 p.m. to midnight. Since the show kicked off in February 1995, bands from Palm Beach, Broward, and Miami-Dade counties have been the focus ("They are the ones that can hear us and know to send their material in," Kimba explains), but any fledgling band from Florida is fair game. Sunshine State alternative rockers Seven Mary Three of Orlando and Mighty Joe Plum of Tampa got airtime on Local before they broke big. And so did Jacksonville rap-metal outfit Limp Bizkit. And while play on the program is no guarantee of greatness to come, the show provides a public service as well as entertainment: Otherwise unknown bands get exposure, and listeners get a preview of next week's live local gigs. "When I know a band has a show coming up," says Kimba, "I try to play them on the Sunday before they are playing out."