Techniques for supporting efficient operation by terminals in a wireless communication system are described. A base station transmits a preamble periodically in each superframe. The preamble includes at least one first OFDM symbol for control information followed by at least one second OFDM symbol for paging information. A terminal receives the first and second OFDM symbols and determines a receiver gain based on the received power of the first OFDM symbol(s), e.g., with an AGC loop having a shorter time constant than the duration of the first OFDM symbol(s). The terminal processes the second OFDM symbol(s) based on the receiver gain to obtain the paging information. The terminal may operate in an idle state, determine superframes assigned to the terminal, sleep between the assigned superframes, and process the first and second OFDM symbols in each assigned superframe to obtain the paging information.