Forever Media, which owns radio stations across the region, has laid off several workers, including WDEL's Allan Loudell and Robin Bryson.

The layoffs come as revenue drastically drops for many news organizations because local businesses are being closed to slow the spread of the coronavirus.

"It was a real punch to the gut," said Bryson, one of more than 10 people let go by Forever Media. "I was blindsided. I had no idea this was going to happen to me or any of the other 10 people."

The layoffs occurred at other Forever-owned stations as well. The Pennsylvania-based company did not immediately respond Friday to calls or emails seeking comment about the layoffs.

Forever Media finalized its purchase of WDEL and nine other radio stations in May for $18.5 million.

WDEL sold: WDEL and partner stations sold for $18.5 million, layoffs possible

Bryson said he'd been working from home for the last week and a half when he was told to call Forever Media's corporate office on Thursday. When he did, the 40-year radio veteran was told his job had been terminated.

"The reasons he gave was the company has lost a lot of revenue because of all the businesses shutting down," Bryson told Delaware Online/The News Journal.

Bryson said he'd noticed the number of commercials the station was running were down over the last two or three weeks.

"And it's accelerated a bit when all the nonessential businesses were told that they had to close down," he said. "That's a good portion of who our advertisers are.

"So you know they're not open, they can't afford to advertise so they cancel their contracts and then we don't have any commercials to run and we're not getting any revenue."

Effective Tuesday, Delaware Gov. John Carney closed all nonessential businesses and ordered Delaware residents to stay at home as the pandemic raged on around the region.

Delaware hunkers down:

Carney announces stay-at-home order for Delaware, effective Tuesday

Coronavirus: Delaware small-business owners shut down by state brace for cold spring

Find out how much your stimulus check could be

The toll of the coronavirus on the news media could be worse than the 2008 financial crisis, which saw newspapers experience a 19% decline in revenue, Ken Doctor, a news industry analyst with Newsonomics, told BuzzFeed. "[Newspaper] advertising revenue is getting just wiped out."

For some publications, “this seems like for them truly it is the full extinction event. I don't know how they come back,” Doctor told the online media company.

Loudell, who hosted "Del-Aware with Allan Loudell," could not be reached for comment.

Contact Esteban Parra at (302) 324-2299, eparra@delawareonline.com or Twitter @eparra3.