A method and apparatus for quieting multiple channels on unlicensed spectrum is provided herein. During operation, a cluster head (or centralized controller such as a base station) will listen to determine if channels exist without primary system traffic. A message will then be sent out by the cluster head quieting the channels. All secondary nodes in the cluster will transmit a CTS-to-self if they do not hear any traffic by any primary system node (which may be nodes out of range of the cluster head) on the channels, otherwise they send a NAK on channels not being used by the hidden nodes. If a NAK is received by the cluster head, the process repeats until no NAK has been received. After the primary system is quieted, a poll message is sent by the cluster head to nodes instructing them to send a CTS-to-Self message so that the spectrum is quieted for the period indicated in the message.
