diff --git a/src/NzbDrone.Core/MediaFiles/UpdateTrackFileService.cs b/src/NzbDrone.Core/MediaFiles/UpdateTrackFileService.cs
index e873a7970..e7767aa3c 100644
--- a/src/NzbDrone.Core/MediaFiles/UpdateTrackFileService.cs
+++ b/src/NzbDrone.Core/MediaFiles/UpdateTrackFileService.cs
@@ -4,6 +4,7 @@ using System.IO;
 using System.Linq;
 using NLog;
 using NzbDrone.Common.Disk;
+using NzbDrone.Common.EnvironmentInfo;
 using NzbDrone.Common.Extensions;
 using NzbDrone.Common.Instrumentation.Extensions;
 using NzbDrone.Core.Configuration;
@@ -26,6 +27,7 @@ namespace NzbDrone.Core.MediaFiles
         private readonly IConfigService _configService;
         private readonly ITrackService _trackService;
         private readonly Logger _logger;
+        private static readonly DateTime EpochTime = new DateTime(1970, 1, 1, 0, 0, 0, DateTimeKind.Utc);
 
         public UpdateTrackFileService(IDiskProvider diskProvider,
                                         IConfigService configService,
@@ -66,6 +68,12 @@ namespace NzbDrone.Core.MediaFiles
                         // avoiding false +ve checks and set date skewing by not using UTC (Windows)
                         DateTime oldDateTime = _diskProvider.FileGetLastWrite(trackFilePath);
 
+                        if (OsInfo.IsNotWindows && relDate < EpochTime)
+                        {
+                            _logger.Debug("Setting date of file to 1970-01-01 as actual airdate is before that time and will not be set properly");
+                            relDate = EpochTime;
+                        }
+
                         if (!DateTime.Equals(relDate, oldDateTime))
                         {
                             try
@@ -96,12 +104,12 @@ namespace NzbDrone.Core.MediaFiles
                 return;
             }
 
-            var episodes = _trackService.TracksWithFiles(message.Artist.Id);
+            var tracks = _trackService.TracksWithFiles(message.Artist.Id);
 
             var trackFiles = new List<TrackFile>();
             var updated = new List<TrackFile>();
 
-            foreach (var group in episodes.GroupBy(e => e.TrackFileId))
+            foreach (var group in tracks.GroupBy(e => e.TrackFileId))
             {
                 var tracksInFile = group.Select(e => e).ToList();
                 var trackFile = tracksInFile.First().TrackFile;