Sirius XM to carry BuzzFeed radio show

(Reuters) - Sirius XM is launching "BuzzFeed Radio", a weekly show hosted by the editors and reporters of BuzzFeed, a fast-growing website known for its quirky content that spreads quickly online.

The one-hour call-in show will air live to the satellite radio provider's 22 million subscribers on Tuesday at 6 pm Eastern and be replayed again on Wednesday mornings and evenings.

BuzzFeed said late Sunday it built its Web audience of more than 30 million monthly unique visitors by posting viral content such as animal photos and witty lists such as "the 21 Absolute Worst Things in The World", but is now expanding its political coverage.

In January it hired Politico's senior political writer Ben Smith to be its editor-in-chief. In February it hired award-winning writer Michael Hastings, who broke a major story involving General Stanley McChrystal in Rolling Stone magazine in 2010.

BuzzFeed has also has partnered with the New York Times to stream video from the upcoming Democratic and Republican conventions.

The company was started by Jonah Peretti, a co-founder of The Huffington Post, and is backed by $27 million in venture capital funding.

BuzzFeed Managing Editor Scott Lamb said in a statement that people who call in to the show will share "the same emotional reaction" as someone who comments or reacts to a BuzzFeed story on a social network. The show, which is already being promoted on Sirius XM channels, will air on channel 104, a talk radio channel targeted at male listeners, according to the company's website.

Sirius XM Chief Content Officer Scott Greenstein called BuzzFeed "a top authoritative force in the social web" that many people check several times a day.

(Reporting by Liana B. Baker; Editing by Richard Chang)