An apparatus and method of transmitting a Redirect message in a wireless communication system is described. A Redirect message is generated comprising an 8 bit MessageID field, a 16 bit StayAwayDuration field wherein the StayAwayDuration field indicates the units of second for which an access terminal will not make an access attempt at the sector sending this message, an 8 bit NumChannel field wherein the NumChannel indicates the number of channel records included in the message, an 8 bit RedirectReason field wherein the RedirectReason reflect the redirect reason and a Channel field wherein the Channel field indicates the channel that the access terminal should reacquire. The Redirect message is transmitted over a communication link.