www.montereycountynow.com JUNE 19-25, 2025 MONTEREY COUNTY WEEKLY 29 CULTURE March 22, 2021 started out as just “an ordinary Monday,” Erika Mahoney says. At the time, she was the news director at the local NPR station, KAZU. She was live on air for a pledge drive when she got a call from her mom in Boulder—odd, because her parents never called when she was live. But there’d been a shooting at the neighborhood grocery store, King Soopers. And Mahoney’s dad had gone shopping. We know the painfully familiar details of his normal shopping routine—him leaving the store with a cart full of groceries, then returning the empty cart—from Senseless, a podcast Mahoney hosts that premiered on Tuesday, June 17. She unfurls in incredible detail her dad’s routine errand, and how it forever changed her family story. She describes the agony of the unanswered phone calls, of watching the news live and seeing a man’s body in the parking lot and wondering whether she recognized the jacket. Ten people were murdered in a mass shooting; Kevin Mahoney was among the dead. “I still talk about my dad in the present tense—he’s still the best dad,” Mahoney says. “He and I were extremely close. It’s still hard that I couldn’t say goodbye.” Overcome with grief, she eventually left her job at KAZU. She became a mom just a few months after her dad was killed, and her family—now four of them—moved back to her hometown of Boulder in 2024. Meanwhile, the world had moved on to the next news story, the next disruption of violence, just like Mahoney herself had done as a reporter covering a shooting at the Gilroy Garlic Festival in 2019. But for Mahoney and her family, it was still the raw reality of every day. “I realized I was no longer a journalist covering this American tragedy,” she says in Episode 1. “I was living it.” She spun her grief into something deeply personal and also deeply reported. The podcast production team includes two fellow former KAZU news directors, Krista Almanzan and Jerimiah Oetting. Telling her own story has not come easily, but it has been positive. “I was worried I was going to tumble into this dark cave,” Mahoney says. “The result was the opposite; I felt so much lighter. There is something really powerful and healing about telling your own story.” Listen to Senseless on any major podcast platform or at lemonadamedia.com/show/senseless. COURTESY ERIKA MAHONEY In Her Words Journalist Erika Mahoney became a character in a tragic story. She’s telling it in a new podcast. By Sara Rubin Erika Mahoney started out reporting for television at KION, then became news director at KAZU. Now she’s hosting her first podcast, Senseless, which premiered on June 17. INDOOR AND OUTDOOR DINING AND TAKEOUT Eat + Drink ’24 BEST RESTAURANT IN MONTEREY! JOIN US NIGHTLY FOR DINNER AT 4:30PM TWO HAPPY HOURS DAILY 5-6PM & 8-9PM Call or go to sardinefactory.com for details, reservations. 701 Wave Street, Monterey, 831-373-3775 OPEN EVERYDAY for DINNER at 4:30pm Offering all your favorites plus wine, cocktails, bottle and draft beers. 763 Wave St., Monterey 831.373.3778 thewhalingstation.com ’24 Best Steak Fisherman’s Wharf’s Newest Restaurant Serving Fresh Seafood, Pasta, Steaks, Sandwiches Open Daily at 11:30am Great views at the end of the Wharf #1 www.rockfishmonterey.com • 831.324.4375 Monterey’s MOST Recommended Pizzeria Open at 4pm Mon-Thurs • Open at 3pm Fri Open at 12pm Sat.& Sun. 725 Lighthouse Ave, Monterey giannispizzamonterey.com 831-649-1500 Best Pizza ’98-’24 Wood Fired Pizzas, Burgers, Pasta, salads, sandWiches and more 11:30am mon-Fri, 10am Sat & Sun melvilletav.com 484 Washington St., Downtown Monterey 831.643.9525 haPPY hour Food & drinK sPecials Sun-Thurs 4-6pm WEEKEND BRUNCH WITH BOTTOMLESS MIMOSAS 57 Fisherman’s Wharf, Monterey 831-373-1851 www.abalonetti.com ’24 LUNCH & DINNER SERVED DAILY from 11:30am-8:30pm Monterey County’s Best Calamari Indoor and Outdoor Dining on the Dog Friendly Patio Tapas (Happy) Hour 4:30–6pm Nightly Saturday & Sunday Brunch 9am–1:30pm 700 Munras Ave., Monterey | 831-375-0176 | estebanrestaurant.com ’24 Best Appetizers/ Small Plates BEACH HOUSE RESTAURANT + BAR @ LOVERS POINT ★ CASUAL CALIFORNIA DINING INDOOR & PATIO DAILY AT 4:30PM 620 OCEAN VIEW BLVD. PACIFIC GROVE 831-375-2345 • BEACHHOUSEPG.COM LOVERS POINT BEACH CAFE OPEN DAILY, 9AM–4PM ’24 Best Restaurant in Pacific Grove
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