Student tours U. with radio station

She may not be Howard Stern, but College senior Debra Pickett is definitely a natural on the air waves, according to several of her friends. Pickett, who guest-hosted the WMMR morning program last Friday after winning a contest, gave a live tour of the University campus, accompanied by WMMR radio personalities Pierre Robert and Buzz Barkley. "She's just flowing," said College senior Dan Hurwitz, who also participated in the tour. "I knew she'd do a better job than she thought she would." Traveling with Pickett were Lays Potato Chip spokesperson Chris Calhoun, who handed out free bags of Lays to pedestrians, and Elizabeth Edsen, a spokesperson for Sunbolt, who had a six-foot float of the beverage tied around her waist. "We're standing right across the street from the Quadrangle, the very spot where Candice Bergen lost her virginity," said Pickett, who received $120 in cash, a T-shirt and a key chain for hosting the show. She also received as many bags of Lays chips and bottles of Sunbolt as she could consume. When Pickett led the tour to Houston Hall, she was able to make a pitch for the Women's Center, where she works as a member of the Penn Women's Alliance Leadership Team. "Since we are standing here, can I mention that we are in front of Houston Hall, where we have the Women's Center, which is understaffed, underfunded and underspaced?" Pickett said. Many passersby became excited when they saw Robert and Barkley. "Hello, Pierre!" cried out a group of construction workers at the Hospital of the University of Pennsylvania. "Hello, citizens!" Robert called back. Robert interrupted the tour when he came across College senior Michael Ray, who was sitting in a car decorated with "Re-Elect Bush/Quayle" and "Grateful Dead" bumper stickers. "A Republican Dead-head," said Robert. "A young Republican -- nothing makes me sadder." The tour was the last in a series of features on Philadelphia college campuses. When Pickett concluded the tour, she and her friends were asked to sing "The Red and the Blue." Under Robert's direction, though, the students instead sung "Ed Can't Eat Eggs or He'll Die," a song written by Drexel University sophomore Steve Cherubin for WMMR's tour of that campus earlier this month. "On his birthdays, just one wish he would make -- he wished that he could eat his cake. But Ed can't eat eggs or he'll die," the students crooned in unison. The song is about Cherubin's friend, Drexel sophomore Ed Woolford, who is allergic to eggs. Pickett said she enjoyed hosting the tour -- although she said she was surprised to learn how live radio broadcasting is done. "I'm a little surprised at how completely spontaneous it is," she said.