A push-to-talk (PTT) radio resource controller (441) establishes a “reverse” channel using a forward channel resource request module (461), a reverse channel resource request module (463), an allocation rules module (470) that is coupled to the forward channel resource request module (461) and the reverse channel resource request module (463), and a channel resource availability module (480) that is coupled to the allocation rules module (470). A method (300) for establishing a reverse channel in a PTT system initiates a forward PTT circuit (313) between an originating device and at least a first called device, initiates a first reverse PTT circuit (319) between the first called device and the originating device before releasing (329) the forward PTT circuit, and then releases (339) the first reverse PTT circuit.