In August 2001, Indianapolis adult-contemporary station WENS-FM (97.1) fired its morning team, Ann Craig and John Cinnamon. No one knew it then, but that would be the beginning of a downward slide from which the station has yet to recover. Four years, four morning shows and two format changes followed.

Last Friday, WENS flipped to country music. The new “Hank FM,” WLHK (for “We Like Hank”), now takes on WFMS-FM (95.5), the No. 1 station in the market for the past three years, a station so popular that 21 percent of its listeners never touch their radio dial.

An uphill fight? Yes. But look at it this way, says David Edgar, operations manager for WLHK and Emmis Communications’ two other Indianapolis FM stations: WFMS is only one station. With WENS, you essentially had five stations competing for the same younger, female listeners.

“It’s good to have one enemy instead of four,” Edgar says. “The expectation is that they haven’t had a true competitor for as long as they’ve been around. That’s given them the ability to stand up and say, ‘We’re the greatest.’ Well, we’re gonna give them a run for their money. I believe it is possible for us to bring them down significantly, level the playing field, and then it’s a race.”

Yeah, well, maybe. (WFMS officials weren’t immediately available to comment.) Look at the track record of upstart stations competing with powerhouses. WNAP-FM (93.1) couldn’t touch WFBQ-FM (94.7) and become WNOU (Radio Now). WXNT-AM (1430) is a mouse to WIBC-AM’s (1070) elephant.

FMS’ success goes beyond country music. Its morning show is consistently second only to The Bob and Tom Show. Afternoon DJ J.D. Cannon is in the Country Music Disc Jockey Hall of Fame. Darren Tandy’s Country Lovin’ draws more listeners at night — at night! — than many stations do during the day. They have that “good, clean fun the whole family can enjoy” thing down.

That’s not to say it can’t be done, but you might hear Willie Nelson play death metal first.

Hank FM, Edgar says, will showcase country music from the last 20 years — the hits of the ’80s, ’90s and today. For the first month, you’ll hear a lot of music — and no personalities — while they decide how the former WENS morning show, Wank & O’Brien, and Monique Marvez from the afternoon show, Monique & the Man, might fit in.

The change could be a disaster. Or it could be liberating, because WENS had demons to battle. The station had a long history as “Lite Rock 97,” which made it hard to change its image when the music became more contemporary and its personalities a little more edgy. Its final incarnation, a hybrid music/talk format called Real 97.1, never caught on. It finished with a 1.5 rating — 1.5 percent of the audience — good for 18th place. No. 1-ranked WFMS has a 12.5 rating.

“This is daunting,” Edgar acknowledges. “But they said the same thing when Fox News went after CNN.”

Those with ESPN Classic should make a point to see 50 Years of the Final Four: Behind the Lens of Rich Clarkson, which airs at 9 p.m. Friday and 4 p.m. April 4. The hour-long special, produced by Indianapolis-based Pathway Productions, looks at some of the great NCAA men’s basketball tournaments through the eyes of the great still photographer, who’s photographed everyone from James Naismith to Bob Knight. Clarkson’s work serves as a jumping-off point for stories about race relations, the beginnings of Sports Illustrated, the undefeated 1976 IU Hoosiers, UCLA and John Wooden and more. This show’s for everyone, not just college hoops fans.