WHNT began operations on Thanksgiving Day , November 28 , 1963 ( the first new station to be launched after President John F. Kennedy was assassinated ) . It has been a CBS affiliate for its entire existence , and is the only Huntsville-area station to have never changed its affiliation . The Federal Communications Commission ( FCC ) originally licensed the frequency for WHNT to the city of Fort Payne some to the southeast . The station was founded by a former employee of Birmingham station WAPI ( now WVTM ) , Charles Grisham , now deceased , who later added two other Southern stations , WSLA in Selma , Alabama and WYEA in Columbus , Georgia , to his portfolio
assassinated
Assassination of John F. Kennedy
WHNT-TV