A method and apparatus for selecting a favored transmission slot for communicating non-voice data in conjunction with a voice-data communication. The slot, reflecting a favored power level and transmission rate for transmitting the non-voice data on a supplemental channel, is selected based upon the transmission power levels for voice-data transmitted by a base station to a remote station on a fundamental channel. The favored transmission slot is selected without the remote station messaging information to the base station concerning frequency channel or interference information for the supplemental channel. A method of performing forward-link scheduling in a wireless communication system includes determining the available base station power at the beginning of a frame, predicting the required transmit power at the beginning of the frame for each supplemental channel, determining rates sustainable with the predicted transmit power, dividing by throughput over a recent window to obtain a supplemental channel priority index, and allowing the supplemental channel with the highest priority index to transmit over the next frame.