diff --git a/geomagio/Controller.py b/geomagio/Controller.py
index 2d6bf659c4f795ca0c58a4af26d5ec67ab8e87ff..7111ef576923149835b1d7146fad99ef34f0cb38 100644
--- a/geomagio/Controller.py
+++ b/geomagio/Controller.py
@@ -186,11 +186,6 @@ class Controller(object):
                 timeseries=timeseries, renames=options.rename_input_channel
             )
         processed = algorithm.process(timeseries)
-        # for averaging filter steps, return data with aligned starttime/endtime
-        # if no data is available, return empty trace with aligned starttime/endtime
-        if options.output_interval in ["hour", "day"]:
-            starttime = processed[0].stats.starttime
-            endtime = processed[0].stats.endtime
         # trim if --no-trim is not set
         if not options.no_trim:
             processed.trim(starttime=starttime, endtime=endtime)