Methods, systems, and devices for wireless communication are described. A user equipment (UE) may monitor a narrowband (e.g., a single carrier, anchor carrier, etc.) for a control message that includes a grant for downlink data transmissions. The narrowband containing the control message may be a portion of a system bandwidth. The UE may then monitor a wideband (e.g., all or multiple carriers of the system bandwidth) for data according to the control message. Monitoring the wideband may include additional or alternate circuitry being powered (e.g., receiver circuit switching) to enable reception on an increased range of frequency spectrum. In some examples, a gap or narrowband data transmission may be scheduled between the control message and the grant to allow grant processing and receiver circuitry switching at the UE. In some cases, the control message and data transmission may be received in the same or different transmission time intervals (TTIs).