PBS Appalachia had applied for funding from the commission, whose officials weren’t comfortable funding both organizations, according to Newman.

One of those funding partners was the Virginia Tobacco Commission, which provided a total of more than $11 million over multiple grants to the cultural center, which opened in 2011. It simply was a matter of … once we started trying to piece together a partnership, the marriage of the nonprofits started to get a little messy because the cultural center has several layers of partnerships,” she said in an interview. “We’re not moving forward with a partnership with the Southwest Virginia Cultural Center. Newman said the change was made once those involved realized how complicated it would be to join two nonprofit organizations under the same roof.

The new station was first announced last July.

Originally, the plan was for the new station’s studio to be built over the last year at the Southwest Virginia Cultural Heritage Center in Abingdon. The exact location of the studio within the casino/hotel complex off Gate City Highway in north Bristol was not released.

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