diff --git a/CMakeLists.txt b/CMakeLists.txt
index 36c2078..5ede330 100644
--- a/CMakeLists.txt
+++ b/CMakeLists.txt
@@ -82,10 +82,10 @@ endif()
 # Find PyZMQ bindings
 ########################################################################
 include(GrPython)
-GR_PYTHON_CHECK_MODULE("PyZMQ" "zmq" "int(zmq.__version__.split('.')[0]) >= 13" PYZMQ_FOUND)
-if(NOT PYZMQ_FOUND)
-    message(FATAL_ERROR "Python ZMQ bindings not found.")
-endif()
+#GR_PYTHON_CHECK_MODULE("PyZMQ" "zmq" "int(zmq.__version__.split('.')[0]) >= 13" PYZMQ_FOUND)
+#if(NOT PYZMQ_FOUND)
+#    message(FATAL_ERROR "Python ZMQ bindings not found.")
+#endif()
 
 ########################################################################
 # Setup the include and linker paths
diff --git a/python/__init__.py b/python/__init__.py
index 29e0475..77441bf 100644
--- a/python/__init__.py
+++ b/python/__init__.py
@@ -51,6 +51,12 @@ from air_modes_swig import *
 
 # import any pure python here
 #
+
+try:
+    import zmq
+except ImportError:
+    raise RuntimeError("PyZMQ not found! Please install libzmq and PyZMQ to run gr-air-modes")
+
 from rx_path import rx_path
 from zmq_socket import zmq_pubsub_iface
 from parse import *