Performing a decoding mode of a frequency modulation (FM) signal for an adaptive FM radio receiver includes passing the FM signal through a FM demodulator to obtain a composite signal that includes a pilot signal and noise around the pilot signal, passing the composite signal through a band bass filter, filtering the pilot signal from the noise using a pilot and noise separator that includes a notch filter that filters the pilot signal from the noise, obtaining average amplitudes of the pilot signal and the noise, comparing a ratio between the average amplitudes of the pilot signal and the noise with a programmable threshold, and selecting a decoding mode and an audio low pass filter. The decoding mode is selected based on a quality of the pilot signal being decoded and the audio LPF is selected based on the comparison ratio.