Changes afoot in the nation’s largest TV market as Tribune cuts its GM at WPIX-TV and declines to renew the contract of a longtime news vet.

Tribune asked WPIX-TV president and general manager Betty Ellen Berlamino to leave, and told  late-news anchor Jim Watkins it wouldn’t renew his contract, reports the New York Daily News.

According to the report, the news surprised employees at the station, because both Berlamino and Watkins are well-liked. Berlamino had worked at the station since 1994 and become general manager in 2000, while Watkins moved to the station in 1998.

"For several weeks I have been in the process of evaluating the management teams across our television stations, and today I decided it was time to make a change at WPIX – general manager Betty Ellen Berlamino has left the station," wrote Tribune station head Jerry Kersting in a memo to the station’s staff, the article said.

Kersting said that he will oversee the station as it looks for a new general manager. Meanwhile, Watkins was told last week his contract wouldn’t be renewed in August when it expires. The changes comes as the station has a number of changes, the article says, including the departure last year of a news director.