David Berlo’s model:

• In 1960, David Berlo expanded on Shannon and Weaver’s (1949) linear model of communication and created the SMCR Model of Communication.
• The Sender-MessageChannel-Receiver Model of communication separated the model into clear parts and has been expanded upon by other scholars.
• It is NOT a model because it was never actually tested. Berlo designed what he thought would be the ideal system to describe communication, but never had a chance to put it to the test in real life.
• Since it was never “field-tested,” the “model” that Berlo developed has to take on a new title. It has to be called a “theory”.
• This model includes four elements source, message, channel, and receiver. In source communication skills utilized knowledge and attitudes are important variables.
• The receiver has the same variables. Channels include seeing, hearing, touching, etc and messages are varied in their structures, elements, contents, code, and treatment.