diff --git a/helpers/funcs b/helpers/funcs
index ccfba46..8c20d94 100755
--- a/helpers/funcs
+++ b/helpers/funcs
@@ -1218,8 +1218,6 @@ check_timestamps(){
     local aligned=$(<<< "$local_stamps" jq -r '.response.publishedfiledetails[]|"\(.publishedfileid),\(.time_updated)"')
     readarray -t remote_ids < <(<<< "$aligned" awk -F, '{print $1}')
     readarray -t remote_times < <(<<< "$aligned" awk -F, '{print $2}')
-    readarray -t old_ids < <(< $versions_file awk -F, '{print $1}')
-    readarray -t old_times < <(< $versions_file awk -F, '{print $2}')
 
     if [[ ! -f $versions_file ]]; then
         logger INFO "No prior versions file found, creating"
@@ -1229,6 +1227,9 @@ check_timestamps(){
         return 0
     fi
 
+    readarray -t old_ids < <(< $versions_file awk -F, '{print $1}')
+    readarray -t old_times < <(< $versions_file awk -F, '{print $2}')
+
     declare -A remote_version
     declare -A local_version