Albert Oram, or Albert O as he is known in the radio business, was among a core group of announcers and managers who pushed the progressive rock format into the stratosphere at the legendary Boston radio station WBCN. He, along with Charles Laquidara, Maxanne Sartori, Ken Shelton, Carter Alan, Danny Schechter, Tony Berardini, Oedipus, and others broke the molds of commercial radio in the 1970s and 1980s. The “Rock of Boston” was a force in both the radio industry and the music industry.

That was back in the day when the deejays were given more latitude to find good music and play it on the radio. WBCN put then unknown bands like U2, Aerosmith, The Cars, The Ramones and The Police on the air when few others did, and the rest is music history.

As he sits in a corner at the Loft in Oak Bluffs, where he hosted a free WUMB member concert featuring Willy Mason on Saturday, Mr. Oram thinks back on those days.

Albert O began his career at WBCN in Boston. — Peter Simon

“I try to explain it to my kids,” he said. “There’s just no explaining.”

But those days are gone. The music changed, radio changed, and Mr. Oram could be easily forgiven for joining those who lament the heyday of progressive rock radio. But he is not much of a lamenter.

“No, I don’t miss it,” he said. “I like to think maybe I’ve grown up. I was pretty lucky. I was there in the prime, when the most people were listening. It was probably the most fun and connected, and yes, it did make a long slow spiral down. Things changed. There are so many people out there who still think it should be the way it used to be 30, 40 years ago. It’s not going to be. It’s just not.”

Now, quite happily anchored in the afternoon drive slot at WUMB (3 to 7 p.m., Monday through Friday, 91.9 FM), he is still finding good music, and still playing it on the air.

In addition to his weekday program, Albert O hosts a Saturday morning program called Highway 61 Revisited, The program, named for the Bob Dylan album released 50 years ago this year, features music of that era.

“Crazy, but all that music still resonates,” Mr. Oram said. “Nothing against what’s coming out this day and age, there’s a lot of great music out there.” He said his audience includes a surprising number of young listeners, including some who were born long after the Bob Dylan songs climbed the charts.

“The cool thing is,” he said, “it skipped a generation or two, but this generation is looking back like other generations did not, and emulating and taking inspiration from what happened in the ‘60s and ‘70s. I like to think it’s a healthy combination of the familiar, what you remember, a healthy combination of maybe what you missed first time around. A lot of stuff has just aged well over the years. Some didn’t, some does.”

Mr. Oram said he started his career working in underground radio, and he feels his job at WUMB, located at the UMass Boston campus, is in some ways a return to those days.

“I started working at MIT, it was a community station,” Mr. Oram said. “It was in a basement. You have listeners who cared and who knew about music. It’s almost like I’ve come full circle.”

It is easy to see why the soft-spoken, thoughtful announcer has survived the descent of the radio industry. His philosophy is pretty simple.

“I don’t think I’m so up here on a pulpit saying this is what I’m playing. It’s more just a bunch of friends sitting around playing music.”

Saturday’s concert was a bit of a departure from the usual WUMB sponsored concerts. The radio station organizes performances frequently, where donors can reserve premium seats. Saturday, the station hosted a reception at the Loft for members, but also opened the concert to everyone at no charge.

“We haven’t been down here for a long time, so here we are,” Mr. Oram said. “We found we have a lot of listeners down here, so we kind of owe it to them.”

While he said he wished he could visit Martha’s Vineyard more often, Mr. Oram did get out and enjoy the Island during the holiday weekend. The station has a strong connection with the Vineyard through its support of Willy Mason, the Island singer-songwriter who is winning critical acclaim all over the world.

“That last album of his (Carry On) was my favorite album of 2013,” Mr. Oram said. “We played it to death.”