Westmark Custom Records

US label The business began as an avocation for DuWayne (Dewey) Kloos. Dewey was a public school music director and audiophile. His work in music and interest in high-fidelity audio led him to experiment with making his own recordings. He joined a consortium of individuals with similar businesses that existed to get volume-buying discounts for vinyl record mastering and pressing. This association, known then as Mark Custom Records, had grown out of the Century Custom Recording organization. When Mark Custom Records, Moorhead, Minnesota [u]broke ties with the central office in New York[/u] they chose the name Westmark Records as a way to both maintain name recognition and underscore their mutual location west of the Mississippi. Other members of the original Westmark consortium were Don Geiken in Moorhead, Al Opland in Pipestone, and Herb Streitz in Waseca. Doug Geston, after a six-month apprenticeship assumed ownership on September 15, 1999.