Longtime morning Colorado radio personality Bret Saunders shocked his fans late Wednesday morning when he said goodbye to a nearly 30-year career at KBCO, according to various social media channels.

He posted this on X Wednesday: “To My Friends: Thank you for 28+ years. I’ve loved every day with you, and being a small part of your lives has been my greatest honor and pleasure. My time at KBCO has come to an end. I’ll miss the laughs, the countless people I’ve met and being a part of the community. I will check in again soon, but for now, just know I delighted in being with you.”

An email and phone calls to JoJo Turnbeaugh, region senior vice president of programming at iHeartMedia in Denver asking for an explanation, were not returned by the time this story published.

There have been other signs of change at iHeart Media, which owns KBCO and other Denver area stations. In April, iHeart Denver Region President Brenda Eggers was laid off. In addition, Wednesday morning, Denise LaPlante announced on her Facebook page that she is also a victim of layoffs.

“After 8 amazing years, my journey with 106.7 The Bull and iHeartMedia has come to an end,” she said in the post.

The news came as a surprise to many, especially after Saunders intimated in a tweet on April 22 that he had been guaranteed a job.

“The media landscape is changing — mutating constantly,” he wrote. “But yours truly just re-upped at KBCO. Sorry haters!”

Reaction poured in not only from fans but from some of the musicians with whom Saunders developed close relationships over the decades.

“KBCO was the station I listened to when I first moved here, and Bret was playing stuff like the Avett Brothers,” Wesley Schultz, lead singer of the Lumineers, said in a previous interview with The Denver Gazette.

“Bret truly loves music, which should be a prerequisite to be a DJ — but it’s not. And since Day One, Bret has been, for me, the biggest supporter of our music. When we went in to finally play live in Studio C, it was just very unexpected because they have such a big reach.”

Saunders started at Boulder’s KBCO 97.3 in 1997 hosting weekday morning programming. The Detroit native started his career at a small radio station in Craig, Colorado and eventually moved into the morning drive slot in 1993 at Fort Collins’ 93.3 KTCL where the unassuming radio jock with the quick wit established a cult following.

In an interview this past Saturday, he said of his stint at KTCL, “I was there a few years and then just one day they said, ‘You’re going to KBCO.’ And I said ‘OK.’ So that’s how I ended up there. But the cool thing is that I always wanted to work at that radio station.”

Saunders recently married his longtime partner at a service in Colorado U.S. Sen. John Hickenlooper’s home.

Social media was on fire with reaction from Saunders’ followers upon hearing the news of his upcoming departure from the morning airwaves.

“You are quite literally the only radio personality that matters,” wrote one Threads follower.

Others called Saunders’ exit “the end of an era” and another remarked, “This is a kick in the head that none of us needed.” Some wished him well and encouraged him in his next endeavor.

What lies ahead for Saunders is unknown. There’s no word as to how long Saunders will be hosting the KBCO morning show, and none as to who will replace him.

In Saturday’s interview, the longtime voice of Denver morning radio said that he had no plans to retire from KBCO. “I can’t imagine being anyplace else,” he said. “I want to do this forever.”