A system and method for pausing communications from a transmitting radio for a certain period of time in order to allow transmission of other messages. When a first radio determines that a message needs to be transmitted either to a second radio or the transmitting radio, the first radio determines whether there are any available forward channels to transmit the call. If no forward channel is available, the first radio determines a period of time required to transmit the message and sends, on a reverse channel, a “request to pause” signal to the transmitting radio identifying that period of time. Upon receiving the “request to pause” signal, the transmitting radio ceases transmission on the forward channel for the specified period of time, during which time the first radio transmits the message.