The UMFM radio fam­i­ly is deeply sad­dened by the pass­ing of one of our long­time mem­bers and hosts Gail Stock­burn, known to many in the music scene and her long­time lis­ten­ers as Gail Comfort.

Host of the beloved Com­fort Café on Sun­day evenings since March 2010, Gail was a warm pres­ence at the sta­tion, a cham­pi­on of the music she loved, a ded­i­cat­ed vol­un­teer not only at UMFM but also with the Win­nipeg Folk Fes­ti­val and the Thin Air writer’s Fes­ti­val, and an enthu­si­as­tic sup­port­er of the local artis­tic scene.

Nev­er with­out a beam­ing smile and a sug­ges­tion for what new song­writer to check out, Gail’s spir­it was infec­tious and her love for the peo­ple she encoun­tered in her role as a radio host was pal­pa­ble. She shared that love and infec­tious spir­it annu­al­ly at Birds Hill Park act­ing as an emcee at sev­er­al Win­nipeg Folk Fes­ti­val stages where – just as she did on Com­fort Café – she made sure that the focus was on the music mak­ers. She loved get­ting to know all the new vol­un­teers to the sta­tion each year, and made it her mis­sion to make sure that they were wel­comed with open arms.

Gail was a great radio host, but more so a great per­son and a true friend — her pres­ence at UMFM and with­in our local music scene will be immense­ly missed.