diff --git a/recipes/wsj.recipe b/recipes/wsj.recipe
index 23c2ca9be5..c3313516c0 100644
--- a/recipes/wsj.recipe
+++ b/recipes/wsj.recipe
@@ -92,7 +92,9 @@ class WSJ(BasicNewsRecipe):
         try:
             br.open(url)
         except Exception as e:
-            url = e.hdrs.get('location')
+            hdrs_location = e.hdrs.get('location')
+            if hdrs_location:
+                url = e.hdrs.get('location')
         raw = read_url(self.storage, 'https://archive.is/latest/' + url)
         pt = PersistentTemporaryFile('.html')
         pt.write(raw.encode('utf-8'))