By day, Wade Minter is a technologist, a product principal at Dualboot Partners and co-founding entrepreneur of Suggestion Ox, an anonymous feedback platform targeting human resource departments.
But by night? He’s the voice of the Carolina Hurricanes, a guy with a “slightly scratchy" voice on Tuesday thanks to Monday night’s busy third period against the New York Rangers.
While most National Hockey League public address announcers have backgrounds in radio and voice acting, Minter stands out.
“When you think about it, not many software developers in the group,” he said.
In an exclusive interview, Minter details how he got here and what he’s expecting to see on Thursday, when the Canes return to PNC Arena for Game 6 against the Rangers.
From software developer to Canes announcer
Minter grew up in a small town in Virginia, the son of an English teacher who pushed him into forensics – the public speaking track, not the science – starting in middle school.
And he was always a multitasker. At the College of William & Mary while getting a computer science degree, he worked on the school newspaper and wrote the first website for the school’s athletics program. As part of that website project, conversations began with the athletics department. They had seen he had a public speaking background, and asked if he would hmind announcing for some of its sports teams.
“Absolutely,” he remembers saying, before spending his senior year moonlighting as the public address announcer for the women’s soccer, volleyball and basketball programs.
Minter claims he was “abjectly terrible at it,” making a lot of mistakes in a low-pressure college environment. He didn’t flex his announcer chops again until moving to Raleigh and getting involved in its improv scene in 1999. Initially, he joined a group called ComedySportz, a sports-themed improv show.
“I did that announcer character for a very long time,” he said.
In 2006, Minter started playing hockey. And a few years later, through a connection at his improv group, he started announcing for “very minor league” professional wrestling.
That gig led to Minter answering a call on Twitter from N.C. State University’s club hockey team, looking for announcers. By the time he tried out for the Carolina Hurricanes job in 2015, he had built up quite a resume and scored the gig.
Through it all, he kept working at technology companies, founding firms such as TeamSnap and Suggestion Ox.
It’s a lot to juggle.
“I just figure out a way to make it work,” he said. “It’s 45, 50 nights a year and my family is very understanding about me having to take those nights. I just kind of work around the schedule.”
His primary employer, Dualboot, has allowed him to set his own schedule, and he calls that flexibility essential.
So far, he has announced 401 consecutive Canes games.
“I have never missed one,” he said.
And that’s not counting the fan watch parties he emcees at Carolina Ale House for some away games and playoff battles.
A tough gig
Minter says announcing isn’t as easy as most people think. It requires plenty of preparation, from YouTube video scouring to ensure proper pronunciation to organization skills.
Minter remembers being surprised at the amount of preparation that goes into putting the show together every game. He came from an improv background, where he was used to rolling with the punches. But the Canes have a system of so many moving parts timed down to the second.
“There’s not a ton of wiggle room there to just kind of go off on your own,” he said.
And there’s a big misconception that he somehow hangs out with hockey stars.
“I do not,” Minter said. “There’s a very strong wall between the hockey operations side of the house… and the game entertainment staff where I am, so I almost never have any interaction with the players.”
While Minter does get paid per game (he won’t say how much), he’s in it for the hockey, having been a fan since he moved here. Minter was cheering the team on at its very first game in the building in 1999. He has seen the ups and downs and was there to see the Stanley Cup win in 2006.
The six-year run under Coach Rod Brind’Amour and owner Tom Dundon has been particularly “amazing,” he said, pointing to the “culture of success” they’ve created.
“It’s made it a lot more fun to be an announcer,” he said. “The team is doing the work for me to get people excited and pumped about what they’re seeing.”
He sees this year as the “best shot” for a core group of players that may see some changes with contract negotiations in the coming months.
But it won’t be easy. With the win Monday night, they’re “clawing their way back.” But they still have to win two more to keep going. Minter, however, is optimistic.
“Seeing the resilience in this team… it just feels like a special season,” he said.
Minter hopes to return next year, win or lose.
“I’ll keep coming back as long as they let me in the building,” he said.