A method and apparatus for wireless communication of multimedia broadcast multicast services (MBMS) data and unicast data using separate downlink carriers and are disclosed. A wireless transmit/receive unit (WTRU) having a single receiver that is switchable to receive either carrier is provided. A network station, such as a Node-B, preferably encodes K MBMS data packets to N MBMS encoded packets using erasure correction coding where N is preferably significantly greater than (K+ν) which is a determined number of MBMS encoded packets sufficient to recover the K MBMS data packets. The Node-B preferably generates a superframe for carrying the N MBMS encoded packets for each MBMS and transmits the superframe via an MBMS carrier. The Node-B preferably schedules a unicast transmission such that the WTRU is provided with sufficient time to switch to the MBMS carrier to receive at least (K+ν) MBMS encoded packets per superframe.