A page receiver is provided a list of alternative paging channels to which it can tune if the paging channel presently being received becomes unreliable. This list, and other lists used by paging receivers in the other geographical areas, are disseminated by linked paging transmitters that broadcast identical paging signals throughtout a large geographical area. When a paging receiver finds a channel carrying paging data, it identifies which of the plurality of transmitted lists is appropriate for its use by finding the list that references the channel to which the receiver is presently tuned. The channels referenced in the identified list are then stored in a memory and may be tuned if the existing paging signal is lost. Data is desirably transmitted with the local channel lists to permit each paging receiver to locate the list relevant to its geographical area without examining each of the transmitted lists.