diff --git a/install_minimal/airtime-install b/install_minimal/airtime-install
index 06c317f08..0b73569b1 100755
--- a/install_minimal/airtime-install
+++ b/install_minimal/airtime-install
@@ -185,6 +185,14 @@ if [ "$DO_UPGRADE" -eq "0" ]; then
 fi
 set -e
 
+echo "* Making sure /etc/default/locale is set properly"
+update-locale
+cat /etc/default/locale | grep -i "LANG=.*UTF-\?8"
+if [ "$?" != "0" ]; then
+    echo "non UTF-8 default locale found in /etc/default/locale.".PHP_EOL;
+    exit 1
+fi
+
 $SCRIPTPATH/include/airtime-copy-files.sh
 $SCRIPTPATH/include/airtime-initialize.sh $@
 
diff --git a/python_apps/media-monitor/airtime-media-monitor b/python_apps/media-monitor/airtime-media-monitor
index 553568032..4af3f4be8 100755
--- a/python_apps/media-monitor/airtime-media-monitor
+++ b/python_apps/media-monitor/airtime-media-monitor
@@ -15,7 +15,7 @@ cd ${media_monitor_path}
 exec 2>&1
 
 export PYTHONPATH=${api_client_path}
-export LC_ALL=`cat /etc/default/locale | grep "LANG=" | cut -d= -f2`
+export LC_ALL=`cat /etc/default/locale | grep "LANG=" | cut -d= -f2 | tr -d "\n\""`
 
 # Note the -u when calling python! we need it to get unbuffered binary stdout and stderr
 exec python -u ${media_monitor_path}${media_monitor_script} > /var/log/airtime/media-monitor/py-interpreter.log 2>&1