Methods, systems, and devices for wireless communication are described. Generally, the described techniques provide a base station receiving an indication from a core network to serve multicast/broadcast traffic to one or more UEs. The base station may select a radio bearer mode from a plurality of radio bearer modes for delivery of the multicast/broadcast traffic to at least one UE of the one or more UEs. For example, the base station may select a multicast/broadcast only mode, a mixed multicast/broadcast mode and unicast mode, or a unicast mode for service of the traffic. Dependent on the selected mode and/or quality of service, the base station may select a dedicated radio bearer (DRB) for communication of the traffic in a unicast mode (e.g., to a particular UE) or a multicast radio bearer (MRB) for communication of the traffic in a broadcast/multicast mode.