diff --git a/pywis_pubsub/publish.py b/pywis_pubsub/publish.py
index aa7867f..9e024a5 100644
--- a/pywis_pubsub/publish.py
+++ b/pywis_pubsub/publish.py
@@ -234,6 +234,10 @@ def publish(ctx, file_, config, url, topic, datetime_, identifier,
 
     config = util.yaml_load(config)
 
+    datetime_2 = None
+    start_datetime = None
+    end_datetime = None
+
     broker = config.get('broker')
     qos = int(config.get('qos', 1))
 
@@ -248,10 +252,6 @@ def publish(ctx, file_, config, url, topic, datetime_, identifier,
         else:
             topic2 = topic
 
-        datetime_2 = None
-        start_datetime = None
-        end_datetime = None
-
         if datetime_ is not None:
             if '/' in datetime_:
                 start, end = datetime_.split('/')