Ground Control without telemetry link / MAVlink

Excuse the noob question but I plan on using Mission Planner in real time during flight. I also just realized that telemetry is now integrated in many TX/RX which makes the separate telemetry radio or MAVlink redundant.
For ground control operations during live flight does that mean a separate telemetry radio is still needed?
Or is there a way for the ground control PC to connect through (piggyback) the RC transmitter?
Or some other solution?
Thanks