A processing front-end for FM radio signals includes a receiver, a filter, and a mixer. The receiver obtains an FM radio signal including data content centered at a data frequency and programming content. The filter is coupled to the receiver and removes the programming content from the FM radio signal. The mixer accepts the filtered FM radio signal and shifts the center frequency of the data content to a lower frequency than the first frequency. The lower frequency is selected according to a sampling rate available in an analog-to-digital converter present in a subsequent processing stage, typically a low cost digital signal processor.